Skip to main content

Gift Configurations 2.0

Updated

Overview 

Gift Configurations 2.0 serve as an enhancement to the original Gift Configuration functionality to provide greater transparency as to which gifts are contributing to the various components of reporting in GiveCampus Volunteer Management so that you can easily make adjustments and reconcile numbers. 

Gift configurations also allow you -- at a granular level -- to separately configure the various reporting elements of GC VM, from admin-level aggregate reporting tiles to the various graphs and charts on the constituent record. You will now be able to leverage advanced conditions such as allocation, soft gifts, and anonymous giving to determine these reporting elements as well!

This article will help answer questions such as:

  • How do I only count or display certain gift types, dates or allocations?
  • How do I ensure I don't double count spouse gift totals but credit both donors?
  • Which gift data source(s) should I rely on for reporting and sharing with volunteers?
  • How are anonymous gifts and pledges counted?
  • When should I restrict counting by fiscal year, and when should I include all historical gifts?

How It Works 

To navigate to Gift Configurations, click on Settings from the left navigation bar (under the “Administration” section). Then, click on the Gift Configuration section. 

With the Gift Configuration section expanded you’ll see links for the following subsections: Constituent Record, Administrator Dashboard, Volunteer Dashboard, and Automated Gift Notifications.

 

Click into one of the subsections and you’ll see all the reporting elements (numbers or graphs) that can be configured. 

For example, within the Volunteer Dashboard you can configure Total Donor Count, Total Dollars Pledged, and Total Dollars Raised.

 

From here, you’ll see either Modify Configuration or Configure, depending on if a reporting element already been set up or not. 

Selecting a Gift Source

Once you’ve clicked into a specific element, you’ll first be able to pick which Gift Source should be used when determining how this reporting element is calculated. The full range of options are as follows, however the options you see in the dropdown list will be based on what data you send into the VMS and which gift source can be used in a specific reporting element:

  • Detailed Gifts - From a Gift File where gifts are listed transaction-by transaction
  • Gift Summaries - From a Gift Summary File where gifts are aggregated and sent across as a single summary per gift type per constituent per year
  • Last Gift Details - From a Constituent File where Last Gift Details are sent using the Last_Gift_Amount, Last_Gift_Date and Last_Gift_Designation columns.

For more details on which gift sources can be used within each reporting element, check out the FAQ's below.

 

Anonymous Giving

Within each reporting element, you will see an option under Anonymous Giving to include Anonymous gift data within this element. If your GC VM configuration includes an Anonymous Giving flag  (e.g. you send in an Anonymous_Gift column with T/F entries in a Gift File or Gift Summary File to indicate whether a gift should be anonymous), you can leverage this option. 

By default, anonymous gifts will not contribute towards any of your reporting elements. However, when you check off the box for “Anonymous gift data should appear in this section of GC VM”, anonymous gifts will be counted. 

Soft Gifts

GC VM has a Soft Gifts feature with which you can ensure that gifts do not double up and inflate the Dollars Raised and Dollars Pledged counts in the Volunteer Dashboard, while also ensuring that individual donors are getting credit for a soft gift in GC VM. 

This option is only available for schools who send in a Gift File and use Detailed Gifts as the “Gift Source” for the configuration of the reporting element. 

If there are multiple gifts with the same gift transaction ID sent through the Gift File, and the configuration of a reporting element results in those same gifts being counted towards this one reporting element, then if the Soft Gifts option is enabled, the gift amount will only be counted once. 

For example, if John and Susie -- both Class of 2000 -- are a married couple and make a gift of $100 with gift transaction ID 123, the data would be sent as follows: 

Constituent_ID, Gift_TransactionID, Gift_Amount, Gift_Allocation, Gift_Date

JohnABC, 123, $100, Annual Fund, 11/01/19

SusieEFG, 123, $100, Annual Fund, 11/01/19

In the “Volunteer Dashboard” > “Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Raised” section of gift configurations, if Soft Gifts functionality is disabled, the gift would count twice, adding $200 to the total. However, if it is enabled, multiple gifts with the same transaction ID feeding this section will only get counted once in the dollar total, resulting in $100 counting in the Total Dollars Raised report.

Meanwhile, because this configuration only applies to Total Dollars Raised, both donors would still be added to the class’s Total Donor Count. Both John and Susie would be marked as "Has Given" and could have the $100 gift amount count towards their individual dollars given. Ultimately, the individuals both receive credit for the gift, but dollar amounts will not duplicate!

Note: At this time, Soft Gifts functionality is only available within the “Volunteer Dashboard” sections for the following:

  • “Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Raised”
  • “Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Pledged”
  • “My Assignments Tiles: Total Dollars Raised”
  • “My Assignments Tiles: Total Dollars Pledged”

This is to ensure reporting numbers are accurate for your volunteers first and foremost. In time, we may extend soft gift functionality to the Administrator Dashboard, as well!

Creating Conditions: What Gift Data To Include/Exclude?

The heart of improved Gift Configurations is answering the question “what gift data should be included in this configuration?” Each reporting element is configured using a combination of conditions to help you determine exactly which gifts should contribute towards that element. You’ll need to define at least one condition. 

To start, click the Add Condition button. The values will vary based on the data you send in, but the basic layout is as follows: 

  • Pick a type of gift data you want to specify 
  • Pick an operation (e.g. a gift must have all of the following, or must not have any, etc)
  • Then, select the values. 

You can use groups of conditions (via Add Group) to define a scenario. Within a group, you determine whether “All conditions must be met” (all of the following) or “At least one condition must be met” (any of the following) to be included in the reporting element. 

For example, when configuring how a reporting element should be calculated, you might click Add Group, and then pick “For this condition, look at the following gift data....[Gift Type]”, and then select “The gift must have one of the following types…[Cash]”. Once you click “Save Condition”, this creates a condition where “The Gift Type must be “Cash". You might then add another condition to the same group, or add a new group with its own set of conditions. Please see an example below:

 

After you’ve configured a reporting element how you’d like, click Save Configuration. 

FAQS 

What does each reporting element configuration impact?

Constituent Record 

  • 'Has Pledged' Flag - the “HAS PLEDGED” that’s visible beside an assignment’s name on the “My Assignments” page and is used for the filters
  • 'Has Given' Flag - the “HAS GIVEN” that’s visible beside an assignment’s name on the “My Assignments” page and is used for the filters
  • Total Dollars Given - the “Total paid this FY” on an assignment’s snapshot on the “My Assignments”  page
  • Total Dollars Pledged - the “Total commitment this FY” on an assignment’s snapshot on the “My Assignments” page, as well as what is used for Dollars Pledged when an assignment’s pledge balance is being calculated by GiveCampus for the “Pledge Balance” configuration
  • Annual Giving Bar Chart - the Annual Giving History chart on an assignment’s snapshot on the “My Assignments”  page
  • Annual Giving Participation (Checkboxes) - the Annual Participation chart on an assignment’s snapshot on the “My Assignments”  page
  • Giving History Summary - the Giving History Summary table on an assignment’s snapshot on the “My Assignments”  page
  • Pledge Balance - the Pledge Balance datapoint on a constituent’s partial and/or full record (under the Giving History section). 

Constituent Snapshot (from volunteer’s “My Assignments” page)

Volunteer Dashboard

  • Class Year Reporting: Total Donor Count - as a volunteer, the Total Donors tile under “Class of YYYY Stats” on the “My Assignments” page. If the volunteer has role permissions to “View Reporting on Volunteers”, this configuration is also used to count  Total Donors in the Class Stats table and # Given in the individual volunteer reporting
  • Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Pledged - as a volunteer, the Total Pledged tile under “Class of YYYY Stats” on the “My Assignments” page. If the volunteer has role permissions to “View Reporting on Volunteers”, this configuration is also used to count  Assigned $ Pledged in the Class Stats table and $ Pledged in the individual volunteer reporting
  • Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Raised - as a volunteer, the Total Raised tile under “Class of YYYY Stats” on the “My Assignments” page. If the volunteer has role permissions to “View Reporting on Volunteers”, this configuration is also used to count  Total Dollars and Assigned $ Received in the Class Stats table and $ Received in the individual volunteer reporting
  • My Assignments Tiles: Total Donor Count - as a volunteer, the Donors tile under “Your Assignments” on the “My Assignments” page.
  • My Assignments Tiles: Total Dollars Pledged - as a volunteer, the $ Pledged tile under “Your Assignments” on the “My Assignments” page
  • My Assignments Tiles: Total Dollars Raised - as a volunteer, the $ Raised tile under “Your Assignments” on the “My Assignments” page

Volunteer’s “My Assignments” Page

 

“Reporting” Page if Volunteer has Role Permission to “View Reporting on Volunteers”

Administrator Dashboard

  • Total Dollars Pledged - as a school admin, any $ Pledged column in Reporting (within the ‘Stats for All Roles’ table, ‘Class Years’ table and drilldown reporting on individual volunteers), as well as what is used for Dollars Pledged when pledge balance is being calculated by GiveCampus for the “Total Pledge Balance” configuration
  • Total Dollars Raised - as a school admin, the Total $ tile and any Total $ column in Reporting (within the ‘Stats for All Roles’ table, ‘Class Years’ table and drilldown reporting on individual volunteers)
  • Total Donor Count - as a school admin, the Total Donors tile and any Total Donors column in Reporting (within the ‘Stats for All Roles’ table, ‘Class Years’ table and drilldown reporting on individual volunteers)
  • Total Pledge Balance - as a school admin, the Total Pledge Balance column in Reporting (within the ‘Stats for All Roles’ table, ‘Class Years’ table and drilldown reporting on individual volunteers)

Note: The Annual Giving Bar Chart, Annual Giving Participation (Checkboxes), and Pledge Balance tiles require a Detailed Gift or Gift Summary file. These elements are not configurable with Last Gift Detail in the Constituent file.

Automated Gift Notifications

  • Automated Gift Notifications (Volunteers) - which gift data should volunteers receive a notification about when one of their assignments makes a gift? ‘Website Notifications’ appear in the ‘Notifications’ page in the VMS for volunteers, while ‘Email Notifications’ are sent to the volunteer as an email. It is best practice to enable both Website and Email Notifications for your volunteers.
  • Automated Gift Notifications (Volunteer Managers)  - which gift data should ‘Handlers’ receive a notification about when an assignment of one of the volunteers the ‘Handler’ manages makes a gift? ‘Website Notifications’ appear under the ‘Notifications’ page in GC VM, while ‘Email Notifications’ send the volunteer manager an email.

 

How is the "Date Range" condition used?

The majority of reporting elements in GC VM are designed to be specific to the current fiscal year (e.g. You likely only want a constituent to be marked with the ‘Has Given’ Flag if they’ve made a gift in this FY). However, there are often multiple years of giving data sent into GC VM. So, for most reporting elements, you will want to use the “Date Range” condition to specify that only gifts made during the current fiscal year should contribute to the reporting element. 

When using the Gift File, the "Date Range" condition will give you the option of using either "Gift Date" OR "Gift Year". 

  • "Gift Date" will use the explicit payment date that you have provided in the Gift File under the 'Gift_Date' column, and then determine if that date falls within the current FY. For example, if the Gift_Date is 10/20/18 and you are using the "Gift Date" condition, the gift will be considered a FY19 gift.
  • "Gift Year" will use the value you've provided in the 'Gift_Year' column. For example if the Gift_Year sent through a row is "2020" and you are using the "Gift Year" condition, the gift would be considered a part of FY20 for gift configurations.

Whichever field you choose will be used to determine which fiscal year any transaction falls into, so we recommend choosing the field that is most consistent or accurate in your Gift File creation. 

 

A "Date Range" condition is required for all gift configurations within the "Volunteer Dashboard", "Administrator Dashboard", and "Automated Gift Notifications." 

Within the "Constituent Record" section, the "Date Range" condition is not required; however, you should include the “Date Range” condition of “This gift must have been made during the current fiscal year” within all reporting elements, except for those that rely on historical data from previous fiscal years. The only reporting elements where this condition should not be used are the following:

  • Constituent Record: Annual Giving Bar Chart
  • Constituent Record: Annual Giving Participation (Checkboxes)
  • Constituent Record: Giving History Summary

By default, if using the Gift File, the "Gift_Date" column will be used to determine which FY a gift falls into (e.g. a gift with Gift_Date "11/10/18" would fall into FY19).

Pledge Balance Method: Explicitly Providing Pledge Balance vs Calculating Pledge Balance

For Pledge Balances in GC VM, you have the option of explicitly providing the pledge balance, or having GiveCampus calculate the pledge balance. 

If explicitly providing the pledge balance, you will select the conditions for which gift data should be aggregated to count as the pledge balance dollar amount. For example, you may send in a Gift Type of “Pledge Balance” through the Gift File or Gift Summary File, and can use the Gift Type condition so that all “Pledge Balance” gifts are aggregated to be the Pledge Balance.

If GiveCampus is calculating the Pledge Balance, you will create conditions to determine which gift data should qualify as a payment towards a pledge. GiveCampus will use a configuration for Dollars Pledged within any given reporting section as the total dollars pledged, and then subtract the gifts that qualify as a pledge payment from the total dollars pledged to calculate Pledge Balance (Dollars Pledged - Pledge Payments = Pledge Balance)

Can I see which specific gifts are feeding into my reporting numbers?

School Admins will see a small letter "i" icon on some of the Stat Summary tiles under 'Reporting'. Clicking on this "i" icon will bring you to a page that explains the criteria that's being used to calculate the tile (per your Gift Configuration), and lists the gifts that match this criteria and are therefore contributing to the tile. 

Specifically:

  • Assigned Donors and Total Donors link to the "Administrator Dashboard > Total Donor Count" configuration
  • Assigned Dollars and Total Dollars link to the "Administrator Dashboard > Total Dollars Raised" configuration

This an enhancement that comes with Gift Configurations 2.0 and is currently only available for the reporting elements specified above on the 'Reporting' page for GC VM School Admins.

 

 

Which Gift Source can be used for each reporting element?

'Detailed Gifts' and 'Gift Summaries' can be used for any reporting elements.

'Last Gift Details' can be used for a limited number of reporting elements. However, we do not recommend using it for elements which require dollar amounts to be aggregated or differentiation in the 'gift type' due to the limited gift data available via 'Last Gift Details' in a Constituent File. For an optimal GC VM experience with maximum flexibility, 'Detailed Gifts' and/or 'Gift Summaries' are recommended. 

'Last Gift Details' can be used for the following reporting elements: 

Constituent Record:

  • 'Has Pledged' Flag (not recommended, unless differentiation between 'gift' and 'pledge' is not required)
  • 'Has Given' Flag
  • Total Dollars Given (not recommended)
  • Total Dollars Pledged (not recommended)

Administrator Dashboard:

  • Total Dollars Pledged (not recommended)
  • Total Dollars Raised (not recommended)
  • Total Donor Count

Volunteer Dashboard

  • Class Year Reporting: Total Donor Count
  • Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Pledged (not recommended)
  • Class Year Reporting: Total Dollars Raised (not recommended)
  • My Assignments Tiles: Total Donor Count
  • My Assignments Tiles: Total Dollars Pledged (not recommended)
  • My Assignments Tiles: Total Dollars Raised (not recommended)

Still Have Questions?

Check out these two GC Video pages that contain a video walk through and some tips and tricks for creating a Gift Configuration and Modifying a Gift Configuration. Send us a note at vms@givecampus.com and our team will be happy to help!

Related articles