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Revenue Credits
A credit is a secondary attribution row on a revenue (or expected revenue) record that recognizes an additional contact for the gift, in addition to the primary contact who made the payment. The primary contact never changes — credits sit alongside it.
A credit has a type:
- Hard credit — fully counts toward that contact's giving totals for tax and reporting purposes. Used when the credited contact is legally a co-giver (joint household giving, organization-on-behalf-of) or when the soliciting org wants the credited contact's totals to reflect the full gift.
- Soft credit — recognizes influence or relationship without affecting the credited contact's tax-receiptable totals. Used for someone who influenced the gift but didn't pay it: a spouse on a single-name check, a board member whose ask landed the gift, an in-honor-of honoree, the household member behind a corporate matching gift.
Credits never change who actually paid. They are reporting and recognition records.
Common Uses
- Spouses / households — credit the partner so both show the gift in giving history
- Tribute donations — credit the in-honor-of or in-memory-of contact
- Matching gifts — credit the matching company or the originating individual
- Soliciting board members or volunteers — credit the person who secured the ask (also see Solicitors, which is a separate field tracking who asked)
Adding Credits
- Open the revenue or expected revenue record
- Go to the Manage tab
- Click Credits in the sidebar
- Click Add Credit or use Actions > Add Credit
Credits work the same on both record types — credit the ask on a pledge when the commitment is made, not just when the money arrives.
Credit Fields
- Contact/Organization - Who receives credit
- Amount - Credit amount (can differ from the record's amount)
- Type - Hard or soft
- Category - Why they're credited: tribute, matching, solicitor, household, or other
Viewing Credits
From any revenue record:
- Go to the Manage tab
- Click Credits in the sidebar
Credits are also visible on contact records under their giving history.
Exporting Credits
There are two ways to get credits into a spreadsheet:
- One row per credit — go to Finance > Rev. Credits (credits on donations, installment payments, ticket orders and registrations) or Finance > Exp. Rev. Credits (credits on pledges), then click Export. Each row is one credit: the credited contact or organization (Revenue Credit Name), amount, type, category, the gift's team page and comment, and any of the gift's revenue and campaign columns — for example Organization (CRM) Name for the organization that gave. The same Export button is on an organization's Rev. Credits and Exp. Rev. Credits tabs, limited to that organization's credits. Every credit is included, tributes too, and the Revenue Credit Category column tells them apart.
- One row per gift — add the Soft Credit Names column to a Donations, Pledges, Installment Payments, Ticket Orders, Revenue or Expected Revenue export. It lists everyone soft-credited on the gift in one cell, separated by "; ". Tribute honorees are left out of this column. See Quick Exporting.
Use the first when you need each credit's own amount or category; use the second to keep your usual export and see who was credited beside each gift.
Save the columns you use as a preset in the export dialog so they load next time.
Credit vs Donation
A credit is not a donation. Donations create revenue records (money received). Credits attach to existing revenue records and attribute the gift to additional contacts.
| Credit | Donation |
|---|---|
| Secondary attribution | The payment itself |
| No payment processed | Payment received |
| Attached to an existing revenue record | Standalone record |
| Hard or soft type | n/a |
Use Cases
Spousal Recognition
When one spouse donates, credit the other for household recognition.
Matching Gifts
Track corporate matching by crediting the matching organization.
Solicitor Recognition
Credit the board member or volunteer who secured the gift.