Every donation in Raise More is attached to one contact. This article covers how to set the right contact when you add a donation by hand, how to fix the contact on a donation that is already in your database, and how donations from ActBlue and imports get matched to contacts automatically.
Set the contact when you add a donation
You can add a donation from a few places. All of them open the same Add Donation window with the same fields.
From the Donations page:
Open the Donations page.
Click New donation.
In the Contact field, type a name. Matching contacts appear as you type. The search needs at least two characters.
Pick the contact from the list.
Fill in Amount (USD) and Date. Both are required.
Fill in any other fields you want, such as Receipt ID, Reference Code, Fundraising Page, Line Item ID, Donor Email, or Donor Phone.
Click Add Donation.
From a contact's profile:
Open the contact's profile.
Find the Donations section and click the plus icon next to the heading.
The Contact field is already filled in with that person. Leave it as is.
Fill in Amount (USD) and Date, then any other fields.
Click Add Donation.
If you try to save without choosing a contact, you will see the message "Select a contact before saving the donation". The donation will not save until a contact is selected.
Move a donation to a different contact
If a donation is attached to the wrong person, edit the donation and change the Contact field. You do not need to delete and re-create it.
Find the donation, either on the Donations page or in the Donations section of a contact's profile.
Open the donation's actions menu and click Edit.
In the Contact field, clear the current name and search for the correct contact.
Pick the correct contact from the list.
Click Save Changes.
The donation now belongs to the contact you selected. If you do this from a contact's profile, the donation will move off that profile and onto the new contact's profile.
How ActBlue donations get attached to contacts
When a donation comes in from your connected ActBlue account, Raise More tries to match it to an existing contact. It checks for any of the following:
A contact with a matching email address.
A contact with a matching phone number.
A contact with the same normalized first and last name.
If none of those match, Raise More creates a new contact from the donor information on the ActBlue donation (name, email, phone, address, employer, and occupation) and attaches the donation to that new contact.
A donation is sometimes attached to a brand-new contact that is really the same person you already had under a slightly different name or email. If that happens, you can merge the two contacts, which moves the donations onto one record. You can also edit the donation and move it to the correct contact using the steps above.
How imported donations get attached to contacts
When you import a file of donations, each row is matched to an existing contact using any of the following identifiers that appear in the file:
A Raise More ID
A CallTime ID
A Numero ID
A LAL ID
An NGP VAN ID
A matching first and last name
A matching email address
A matching phone number
A matching Line Item ID on an existing donation
All of these checks run at the same time. If a row matches on any identifier, the donation is attached to that existing contact. The more identifying information your file includes (especially email, phone, or an ID), the more accurately donations land on the right existing contact. If a row has no match on any identifier, a new contact is created and the donation is attached to it.
Avoiding duplicate attribution
A donation gets recorded twice most often when the same person exists in your database under two records, so an incoming donation matches one record while older donations sit on the other. To clean this up:
Merge the duplicate contacts. Merging moves donations and the rest of the history onto a single contact.
Or edit individual donations and move them to the contact you want to keep.
Notes and limits
A donation can only be attached to one contact at a time.
Contact search in the donation window matches by name only, and needs at least two characters before results appear.
The contact you choose must already exist in your database. The donation window does not create a new contact. If the right person is not in your database yet, add the contact first, then attribute the donation.