Soft credits are used within Charity CRM for if you have need to log a single payment against multiple records. For example, if two spouses make a joint donation or a corporation sponsored a donation from a person.
There are several different options available to us when it comes to processing soft credits. Some are manual, and others set up automated ways for the system to add soft credits as a batch is approved.
Add a soft credit to an unapproved payment manually
Soft credits can be created before the batch they're held within is approved.
To do so:
Click Finance, then Batches.
Search for the batch that holds the payment.
Click the Payments tab.
Click the Batch Detail ID or the Eye icon against the payment to view it directly.
Click the Soft Creditors tab.
Against the Soft Creditors sublist, click the Plus button.
Select the contact the soft credit should be generated against, and the value of the payment.
Click Save.
When the batch is approved, the soft credit will be generated.
Add a soft credit to an approved payment manually
You can retroactively add a soft credit to a payment if it has already been approved.
If it was missed earlier:
Click Finance, then Batches.
Search for the batch that holds thepayment.
Click the Payments tab.
Click the Eye icon to view the payment directly.
Click More, then Create Soft Credit.
Select the contact the soft credit should be generated against.
Click Yes to confirm your selection.
This will immediately generate a soft credit and add it to the batch containing the original payment.
Adding a soft credit using a datafeed manually
You can also add soft credits in bulk using a datafeed.
If you're unsure how to run datafeeds, check out our article on uploading data in bulk and test your upload in the training system first. The datafeed type you want to use for this is called Soft Credit.
The remaining methods all involve options which cause soft credits to be created under certain circumstances.
Add soft credits to a contact
Soft credits can be permanently set up to be added to a contact:
Click CRM, then Contacts.
Search for the contact that we'll use for the original payments.
Click the Soft Creditors tab. If this is not already available, you may need to click the three dots first to expand your selection.
Click the Plus button found within the Soft Creditors Sublist.
Select the contact we wish to place soft credits against.
Click Save.
All future payments for our original contact will be soft credited against the contact we've added as a soft creditor.
The soft credit payment will be generated at the point the batch is approved. If needed, the soft creditor can be removed from the contat the three dots in their entry against the soft creditors tab.
Add soft credits to a pledge
Soft credits can be permanently added to a pledge:
Click Finance, then Pledges.
Search for the pledge that holds the original donations.
Click the Soft Creditors tab. If this is not already available, you may need to click the three dots first to expand your selection.
Click the Plus button found within the Soft Creditors Sublist. Alternatively, you can click Add Related Soft Creditor to add solely from the related contacts.
Select the contact you wish to apply the soft credit to, as well as set the value of the credit.
Click Save.
All future payments against the pledge will be soft credited to our selected contact once the batch is approved.
Like with contacts, this can be removed again by clicking the three dot menu next to the soft creditor record against the pledge.
Soft credits within JustGiving imports
Payments imported through Justgiving will automatically soft credit the payment between the donor and the fundraiser. Which record is given the payment and which is given the soft credit is determined by the library definition JustGivingSoftCreditSwitch.