Can I enter offline donors individually or do a bulk upload?

How to Upload Offline Gifts

Yes! You can add offline donors both individually and through bulk upload to celebrate specific individuals who give through "offline" channels. First, please familiarize yourself with the guidelines listed in the article, Offline Gifts 101.

 

Required Fields and Order for Bulk Upload

To upload offline gifts into your campaign, use the following column headers in this exact order:

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Additional content added 2026-05-01:

Troubleshooting CSV Upload Errors

If you encounter the error message "The columns in your uploaded CSV did not match the sample CSV file.", it means the system’s validation failed because your file’s headers do not exactly match the expected format. The required headers must include all of the following in exact order and format:

• Name,Email,DesignationIdentifier,Amount,State,ZipCode,Country,Affiliation,AffiliationValue,Affiliation2,Affiliation2Value,Affiliation3,Affiliation3Value,Affiliation4,Affiliation4Value,Affiliation5,Affiliation5Value,Affiliation6,Affiliation6Value

Make sure:

1. Every header is present even if some fields are empty.
2. There are no deviations in case or punctuation – the headers must exactly equal the sample provided.
3. If you are using multiple affiliations, the additional affiliation headers must also be included exactly as required.

Remember that while the CSV preview may display only the first 10–25 rows, the system will process all rows in your file. To avoid these errors, you can download the sample file from the Offline Gifts upload tab and compare your file closely against it.

Name,Email,DesignationIdentifier,Amount,State,ZipCode,Country,Affiliation,AffiliationValue,Affiliation2,Affiliation2Value,Affiliation3,Affiliation3Value,Affiliation4,Affiliation4Value,Affiliation5,Affiliation5Value,Affiliation6,Affiliation6Value

A sample file can be found here

Affiliation values for bulk uploads must match your campaign exactly

When uploading offline gifts via CSV, every AffiliationValue must match the options configured for that specific campaign. The labels must use the same wording, spacing, and capitalization. Note that campaign affiliations can differ from school-level settings; using the wrong labels will cause the upload to fail.

How to confirm the correct affiliation options for this campaign

1. Go to Giving Experience > Form Settings & Display and scroll to the Affiliations section.
2. Confirm the affiliation choices listed for your campaign.
3. Update your CSV so that every AffiliationValue (and Affiliation2Value, Affiliation3Value, etc.) uses the exact labels.

Example: grade labels vs. class years

If your campaign uses grade-level affiliations such as "Kindergarten," "Seventh Grade," or "Junior", make sure your CSV reflects these exact labels. Do not substitute class years (for example, 2039, 2034, or 2027) if grade names are required.

Tips for using multiple affiliation columns

• All affiliation columns (AffiliationValue, Affiliation2Value, etc.) must follow the exact-match rule.
• Avoid extra spaces, punctuation, or different capitalization, as these inconsistencies can trigger validation errors.

Quick checklist before you upload

• Ensure you copied the labels from Giving Experience > Form Settings & Display > Affiliations for the specific campaign.
• Confirm that every AffiliationValue in your CSV exactly matches the campaign’s labels.
• If the campaign expects grade names, do not use class years.

Affiliations for individual offline gifts

When adding an individual offline gift, selecting an affiliation and its value from the dropdown does not attach the affiliation to the gift. You must click the Add Affiliation button for it to save.

How to add affiliations when entering a single offline gift

1. Open your campaign's Offline Gifts page.
2. In the Add Individual Offline Donor section, enter the donor's details.
3. Select the desired affiliation and its value from the dropdown menus.
4. Click Add Affiliation to save the affiliation. It will then appear in the list for that donor.
5. Complete the rest of the entry as usual.

Tip: If you select an affiliation (for example, "Alumnus/Alumna" with a specific decade/class year) without clicking Add Affiliation, it will not be recorded.

Editing an affiliation after submission

If you forgot to add an affiliation during the initial entry, you can update it later:

1. Navigate to your campaign's Offline Gifts page.
2. Locate and open the individual offline gift you wish to update.
3. Select the affiliation and value, then click Add Affiliation to attach it.
4. Save your changes.

Remember: Clicking Add Affiliation is required—without it, the affiliation isn’t saved. Individual offline gifts remain editable, so you can add or modify affiliations at any time after upload.

Individual vs Bulk Upload Options

After checking out the resources above, please read through the information below for detailed examples and more information on entering offline donor data individually and as a bulk upload:

• If you have the 'Add Individual Offline Donor' and 'Upload Offline Donor Data in Bulk' sections available to you under your 'Offline gifts' tab...

• You should NOT use an...

Managing Duplicate Entries

If you have a donor with duplicate entries:

Go to the 'Add Individual Offline Donor' section

Find the specific donor entry

Click 'Delete' to remove that entry

If the duplicate is due to variations in name or email, use the 'Offline gifts' tab to enter a negative adjustment (like "-1") to correct the donor count

If the system only allows deleting all references, delete the entire entry and re-add the correct one as needed

 

Common Questions

Q: What if I can only delete all references instead of just one duplicate? A: Currently, if the system restricts deletion to all references only, you'll need to delete the entire entry and re-add the correct information.

Q: How do I fix an incorrect donor count from duplicates? A: Use negative adjustments in the offline gifts section to correct totals without removing valid data.

 

How To Count Multiple Donors from One Household-

Couples and Joint Gifts

If you want an offline gift to count as 2 donors (such as a couple), you must upload each person separately, even if they made a joint gift.

Steps for couples/joint gifts:

1. Create separate entries for each person

2. Split the gift amount between them (or enter the full amount for one and $0 for the second)

3. Upload each donor individually

Moving challenge donor gifts out of campaigns

You can move a donor’s personal gift from a campaign if they are also sponsoring a challenge or match. This prevents double counting and simplifies reporting by keeping the donor’s match pledge and personal gift in separate records.

Why move a challenge donor gift?

• Prevent double counting: Separate the personal gift from the match amount so the donor isn’t counted twice.
• Simplify reporting: Keeping records separate makes it easier to reconcile campaign totals and challenge progress.

How to move a gift:

• Administrators use the gift management interface.
• Open the gift details in the contributions area.
• From the “Move to different campaign” dropdown, select the destination campaign or form.
• Save your changes; the update occurs immediately.

Destination options:

• Gifts can be moved only to campaigns or forms of the same type (for example, between social fundraising campaigns or between giving forms).
• The destination does not need to be active, so moving a gift to a school backup form is a common choice when you want the gift visible in reports but not counted toward the original challenge progress.

What changes after the move:

• Both the source and destination campaign totals update automatically.
• Any match or challenge progress that depended on the original gift adjusts to reflect the move.

Tips:

• Review match/challenge progress and leaderboard details after moving a gift.
• If moving multiple gifts for a donor, process each record individually to maintain accurate donor counts.
• Moving a gift is reversible; subsequent moves update totals in the same automatic way.

Example:

If a donor pledged an offline challenge but also made a $5,000 personal donation that shouldn’t contribute to the match progress, move the personal donation to a school backup form or an alternate campaign. This keeps the match commitment intact while reporting the personal contribution separately.