Adding Donations in Batch

This guide walks you through creating a batch of donations, either by entering them manually or importing from a spreadsheet.

Creating a New Batch

1. Go to Data > Batch Import
2. Click Create and confirm — the batch is named with the date and time; rename it on the batch page if you like (e.g., "December Checks")
3. Under What do you want to import?, choose Donations

TIP

Use descriptive batch names to make them easy to find later. You can edit the batch name anytime before processing.

Adding Donations Manually

Click Add to open the donation form. The form is organized into the following sections.

Required Fields

Every donation requires these 9 fields. Fields with defaults are pre-filled for you.

Field	Description	Default
Display Name	The name to display for this donation (e.g., "John Smith")	—
Amount	The donation amount	—
Currency	Currency code (locked when a campaign is selected)	Organization default
Created Date	When the donation was made (UTC)	Current date/time
Campaign	Which campaign to credit this donation to	—
Anonymous	Whether to hide donor information publicly	false
Anonymous Type	What to hide: name, amount, or both	name
Payment Method	How the donation was paid	none
Revenue Status	Payment status of the revenue record	completed

Campaign & Context

Link the donation to a campaign and optionally to a donation form and/or fundraising page.

Field	Description
Campaign	Which campaign to credit this donation to (required)
Donation Form	Which donation form to associate — also loads form-specific custom fields
Site	Fundraising site association
Project	Fundraising project association
Team	Fundraising team association
Network	Fundraising network association

Contact/Organization

There are two ways to link a donation to existing records in your CRM:

Contact/Organization selector — Use the dedicated selector at the top of this section to explicitly search for and link to an existing contact or CRM organization.

Auto-suggest while typing — As you type in the Display Name, First Name, Last Name, or Email fields, the form searches your existing contacts in real-time and shows suggestions. Selecting a suggestion links the donation to that contact and pre-fills their details (name, email, address).

Auto-linking by email

If you provide an email address but don't explicitly link a contact, the system will search for an existing contact with that email and link to them automatically. If no matching contact is found, a new contact is created from the donor details you provide. This prevents duplicate contacts from being created when a matching email already exists.

New contact creation — If no contact is linked (either manually or via email matching) when the batch is processed, a new contact is created from the donor details you provide (name, email, address). The exception is a gift from an organization: when a CRM organization is linked, no contact is created.

A person or an organization, not both

A donation comes from either a contact or a CRM organization. A row that links both is refused when the batch is processed. Link the donor, and add the other party as a soft credit — on the row, or afterwards in a Credits batch.

Donation Details

Core information about the donation.

Field	Required	Description
Display Name	Yes	Donor display name — typing triggers contact search suggestions
Reference ID	No	External or unique identifier. If a donation already exists with this reference ID, core fields, revenue payment fields, tags, and custom values will be updated; if more than one does, the row is refused. Revenue splits, revenue credits, revenue solicitors, and tribute soft credits are only set on initial import; add or correct credits on donations already imported with a Credits batch.
Amount	Yes	Donation amount. Must be greater than 0. For a gift in kind, enter its fair-market value.
Currency	Yes	Currency code — locked when a campaign is selected (inherits campaign currency)
Created Date	Yes	Date and time the donation was made (UTC). Defaults to now. Used for donor wall ordering.
Donation Tags	No	Tags for organizing the donation
Fund Designation	No	The donor's fund choice (originating from the form or resource). When set, a fund amount is required (up to the donation amount) and a matching revenue split is auto-created on the revenue record.
Tribute	No	Honor or memorial designation — select "In honor of" or "In memory of", then optionally provide an honoree name and/or linked contact.
Custom Fields	No	Custom fields configured on the selected donation form. Only appear when a donation form is selected.

Fund Designation vs Revenue Splits

Fund Designation reflects the donor's fund choice (from the form or resource). When you set a fund designation, the system automatically creates a matching revenue split on the revenue record.

Revenue Splits (in the Revenue Details section below) are fund allocations on the revenue record that let you split across multiple funds. You can use both — the fund designation is a convenience for the common single-fund case.

Donor Details

Personal information attached to the donation record (not the contact record). These fields are also used to create a new contact if no existing contact is linked.

Field	Description
First Name	Donor's first name — typing triggers contact search suggestions
Last Name	Donor's last name — typing triggers contact search suggestions
Email	Donor's email address — typing triggers contact search suggestions
Address	Street (line 1 and line 2), city, state, zip code, country

Site Options

Controls how the donation appears on public fundraising sites.

Field	Required	Description
Anonymous	Yes	Hide the donor's information publicly. Default: false
Anonymous Type	Yes (when anonymous)	What to hide. Options: name (hide name), amount (hide amount), both (hide name and amount). Default: name
Comment	No	Donor's public comment or note

Revenue Details

Each donation creates a revenue record. Configure payment details and fund allocations here.

Payment Information

Field	Required	Description
Payment Method	Yes	How the donation was paid. Default: none. See values below.
Revenue Status	Yes	Payment status. Default: completed. See values below.
Payment Channel	No	Where the payment was received (online, in person, mail, phone, mobile app, other)
Payment Reference	No	Reference number — label changes contextually (e.g., "Check Number" for checks, "Wire/ACH Reference" for bank transfers, "Receipt Number" for cash). Only shown for manual payment methods.
Payment Notes	No	Additional payment details

Payment Method values (defaults shown — your organization may customize these). A batch only accepts your organization's own payment methods. An import accepts either the value or the label (for example check or Check, in any capitalization), and a row with any other payment method is refused at upload.

Value	Label
none	None
cash	Cash
check	Check
credit_card	Credit Card
debit_card	Debit Card
paypal	PayPal
crypto	Cryptocurrency
bank_transfer	Bank Transfer
gift_in_kind	Gift in Kind
other	Other

Revenue Status values:

Value	Label
completed	Completed
pending	Pending
failed	Failed
refunded	Refunded
partial_refunded	Partial Refund
chargeback	Chargeback

Any other value refuses the row at upload.

TIP

For check donations, use check as the payment method — the Payment Reference field will change to "Check Number" automatically.

Revenue Splits

Split revenue across multiple funds. Each split has a fund and an amount. The form shows the allocated total vs the donation amount to help you balance.

Field	Description
Fund	Which fund to allocate to
Amount	Amount to allocate to this fund

Click Add Split to add additional fund allocations. If a Fund Designation was set in Donation Details, its corresponding split is auto-created here.

Revenue Credits

Link additional contacts or organizations to a donation as soft or hard credits. Each credit has:

Field	Description
Contact/Organization	Who receives the credit — a contact or a CRM organization (one required)
Amount	Credit amount
Type	soft (Soft Credit) or hard (Hard Credit). Default: soft
Category	Optional: tribute, matching (Matching Gift), solicitor, household, or other

Click Add Credit to add revenue credits.

Revenue Solicitors

Solicitors track who secured the gift. Each solicitor has:

Field	Description
Contact/Organization	The solicitor — a contact or a CRM organization (one required)
Amount	Attributed amount (for reporting)

Click Add Solicitor to add revenue solicitors.

Revenue Tags & Custom Fields

Field	Description
Revenue Tags	Tags for the revenue record (separate from donation tags)
Revenue Custom Fields	Organization-level custom fields configured for revenue records

Editing and Removing Rows

• Edit: Click anywhere on a row to open the form and make changes
• Delete: Click the trash icon on the right side of a row

Importing from Spreadsheet

For large batches, importing from a spreadsheet is faster:

1. Click Import from Spreadsheet at the bottom of the batch
2. Select your CSV or Excel file
3. Map your columns to the correct fields (if needed)
4. Review the imported rows

See Importing from Spreadsheet for detailed instructions on the import process.

Automatic contact linking during import

When importing from a spreadsheet, if you include an email column but no contact_id, the system automatically searches for an existing contact with that email and links them — similar to how online donations work. If no matching contact is found, a new contact is created from the donor details you provided (name, email, address).

This differs from manual entry, where you use the contact selector or auto-suggest to explicitly link a contact before processing.

Supported CSV Columns

Below is the full list of columns supported when importing donations from a CSV or Excel file.

Core (required)

Column	Description
display_name	Donor display name
amount	Donation amount, greater than 0. A value that isn't a valid amount (like $1,200.00 or 0) is cleared and flagged on the review screen, and the batch can't be processed until you enter a correct amount.
currency_code	Currency code (e.g., USD, CAD)
created_at	Date and time the donation was made (e.g., 2024-01-15 14:30:00)
campaign_id	Campaign ID to credit the donation to

Defaults (required, pre-filled if omitted)

Column	Default	Description
anonymous	0	Whether to hide donor information publicly (0 = no, 1 = yes)
anonymous_type	name	What to hide: name, amount, or both
revenue_payment_method	none	One of your organization's payment methods, by value or label (e.g., check, Cash, credit_card)
revenue_status	completed	Revenue status: completed, pending, failed, refunded, partial_refunded, or chargeback

Revenue

Column	Description
revenue_payment_channel	Where the payment was received (e.g., online, offline)
revenue_payment_reference	Reference number (check number, wire reference, etc.)
revenue_payment_meta	Additional payment notes

Donor

Column	Description
first_name	Donor's first name
last_name	Donor's last name
email	Donor's email address
line1	Street address line 1
line2	Street address line 2
city	City
state	State or province
zipcode	Postal/zip code
country	Country

Associations

Column	Description
contact_id	Link to an existing contact by ID
crm_organization_id	The organization that gave the gift, by its CauseVox ID or its reference ID. The organization must already exist or be in the same batch; if a row runs before that organization is saved, it fails — click Resume batch once the batch finishes. An organization gift gets no contact, so leave the person columns empty.
donation_form_id	Associate with a donation form
site_id	Associate with a fundraising site
project_id	Associate with a fundraising project
team_id	Associate with a fundraising team
network_id	Associate with a fundraising network

Other

Column	Description
comment	Donor's public comment or note
reference_id	External or unique identifier — if a donation already exists with this reference ID, core fields, revenue payment fields, tags, and custom values will be updated. If more than one donation already has it, the row is refused. Revenue splits, revenue credits, and tribute soft credits are only set on initial import; add or correct credits on donations already imported with a Credits batch.

Fund

Column	Description
fund_id	Fund designation ID — the donor's intended fund
fund_amount	Amount to allocate to the primary fund

Tribute

Column	Description
tribute_type	honor (In Honor Of) or memory (In Memory Of). Any other value refuses the row at upload.
tribute_honoree_name	Name of the person being honored or memorialized. When no tribute_contact_id is given, one contact is created for the honoree.
tribute_contact_id	Link the tribute to an existing contact by ID instead of creating one from the name

Revenue Splits (numbered, via column mapping)

Split revenue across multiple funds using numbered column pairs:

Column	Description
revenue_split_fund_id_1	Fund ID for the first split
revenue_split_amount_1	Amount for the first split
revenue_split_fund_id_2	Fund ID for the second split
revenue_split_amount_2	Amount for the second split

Add more numbered pairs (_3, _4, etc.) as needed.

Revenue Credits (numbered, via column mapping)

Assign soft or hard credits to additional contacts using numbered column sets:

Column	Description
revenue_credit_contact_id_1	Contact ID for the first credit
revenue_credit_crm_organization_id_1	CRM organization ID for the first credit (a credit needs a contact or an organization)
revenue_credit_amount_1	Credit amount
revenue_credit_type_1	soft or hard. Blank means soft
revenue_credit_category_1	Optional: tribute, matching, solicitor, household, or other

Add more numbered sets (_2, _3, etc.) as needed. A type or category outside these lists is refused when you upload (capitals don't matter).

To add credits to donations that are already in CauseVox, use a Credits batch.

Revenue Solicitors (numbered, via column mapping)

Record who secured each donation using numbered column sets:

Column	Description
revenue_solicitor_contact_id_1	Contact ID for the first solicitor
revenue_solicitor_crm_organization_id_1	CRM organization ID for the first solicitor (a solicitor needs a contact or an organization)
revenue_solicitor_amount_1	Attributed amount

Add more numbered sets (_2, _3, etc.) as needed.

Custom Fields (numbered, via column mapping)

Add custom field values using numbered columns:

Column	Description
donation_custom_field_1	Value for the first donation custom field
donation_custom_field_2	Value for the second donation custom field
revenue_custom_field_1	Value for the first revenue custom field
revenue_custom_field_2	Value for the second revenue custom field

Add more numbered columns (_3, _4, etc.) as needed.

Tags (numbered, via column mapping)

Apply tags using numbered columns:

Column	Description
donation_tag_1	Tag name to apply to the donation
donation_tag_2	Second tag for the donation
revenue_tag_1	Tag name to apply to the revenue record

Add more numbered columns (_2, _3, etc.) as needed.

TIP

Revenue splits, credits, solicitors, custom fields, and tags use numbered suffixes (_1, _2, etc.) and require the column mapping step during import. When you upload your file, map each numbered column to the correct field.

How Contacts Are Linked

A row with a crm_organization_id is an organization gift: no contact is linked or created, even if the row has an email. A row that has both a crm_organization_id and a contact_id is flagged on the review screen and refused at processing. Keep one, and add the other as a soft credit — on the row, or afterwards in a Credits batch.

When a donation row has no contact_id but has an email:

• Email matches an existing contact → the donation is linked to that contact.
• Email doesn't match any existing contact → a new contact is created using the row's name, address, and email.
• Multiple rows in the same batch share the same unmatched email → rows 2..N are flagged with a warning on the review screen, and all of them link to the single new contact created by the first row. Later rows' name/address fields are discarded.

When a row has no contact_id, no email, and no organization, it's matched on the donor's name, ignoring capitalization. The first and last name are tried first, when the row has them. If they find no contact (or the row has none), the display name is tried. The display name of an anonymous gift (anonymous = 1) is never used, because it's a public label; an anonymous gift with no first or last name gets its own contact. A placeholder name — any word of it is "Anonymous" or "Anon", in any capitalization, like "Anonymous Anonymous" or "Anonymous Donor" — is never matched either: each such row is flagged "Name looks anonymous" and gets its own contact, so gifts from different unknown donors are never merged into one.

Anonymous gifts

To hide a donor publicly, keep their real name in the row and set anonymous to 1 — don't write "Anonymous" as the display name. The flag hides the name (or amount) on your public pages, and the donor is still linked to the right contact.

• One existing contact has that name → the donation is linked to that contact.
• Two or more contacts have that name → the row is flagged and refused at processing until you set its contact_id.
• No contact has that name → a new contact is created. Rows in the same batch with the same name are flagged, and all of them link to that one new contact.

TIP

Email and name lookup happen at upload time. If you add a contact through the UI after uploading but before processing, the batch will create a new contact instead of linking to the one you just added. Use contact_id explicitly to force a specific link, or use reference_id on the donation to keep re-imports idempotent. See Importing from Spreadsheet for details.

Reviewing Your Batch

Before processing, review your data:

• Check that amounts are correct
• Verify campaign assignments
• Confirm contact information
• Look for any error indicators

Processing the Batch

When you're ready to finalize:

1. Click Process Batch
2. Confirm the action
3. Wait for processing to complete

Important

Batch processing cannot be undone. Once processed, each donation becomes a permanent record. Double-check your data before processing.

After Processing

Once processed:

• Donations appear in Manage > Donations
• Revenue records are created automatically
• Contacts are created/linked as specified
• Stats and reports are updated

Tips and Best Practices

1. Start small - Test with a few records before importing thousands
2. Use reference IDs - Makes it easy to update records later
3. Review before processing - Check for duplicates and errors
4. Keep your spreadsheet - Useful for troubleshooting or re-imports
5. Process in batches - Split large imports into manageable chunks