Donor-Advised Fund Gifts and Soft Credits

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) allow donors to recommend charitable distributions from funds held by a sponsoring organization. When your organization receives a DAF gift, the DAF provider generally makes the payment, while an individual donor may have directed or recommended the contribution.

DonorDock allows you to track both sides of this relationship by recording the received gift on the DAF provider's Organization record and using a Soft Credit to recognize the individual donor who directed the gift.

This allows your organization to accurately track the funds received without losing the connection to the donor responsible for the contribution.

Hard Credit vs. Soft Credit

A simple way to think about DAF gifts in DonorDock is:

The Soft Credit Amount is used for recognition and reporting. It does not replace or increase the Received Amount recorded on the original gift.

DAF Gifts Received Through DAFpay

When a donor completes a DAF gift using DAFpay through a DonorDock Online Giving Page, DonorDock automatically creates and connects the appropriate records.

DonorDock will:

1. Create a Received Gift on the Organization contact record for the DAF provider.

2. Create a linked Soft Credit Gift on the individual donor's contact record.

3. Link the Soft Credit Gift to the received DAF gift.

4. Apply the applicable system Badges and Gift Tags.

The following tracking is added automatically:

This allows you to report on both the DAF provider that sent the funds and the individual donor who directed the contribution.

Track a DAF Gift Manually

If you receive a DAF contribution outside of DAFpay, you can recreate the same relationship manually.

1. Create or Locate the DAF Provider

Create a contact record for the organization that issued the DAF payment if one does not already exist.

Set the Contact Type to Organization.

💡 Consider adding a Badge such as DAF Provider or DAF Organization if you want an easy way to identify these organizations in Contact Reports.

2. Record the Received Gift

Create the gift on the DAF provider's Organization record.

Enter the actual amount received and the applicable gift details, including the Gift Date, Payment Type, Campaign, Appeal, Fund, or other tracking information.

This gift represents the funds actually received by your organization.

3. Add a Linked Soft Credit for the Donor

From the received DAF gift:

1. Locate the Linked Gifts section on the Gift Overview.

2. Click + Linked Gift.

3. Select Add New Soft Credit.

4. The Add Gift panel will open with the Soft Credit Amount prefilled based on the original gift.

5. Select the individual donor who directed the DAF gift.

6. Enter any additional applicable gift information.

7. Click Create and Save.

The new Soft Credit Gift will be connected to the received DAF gift.

💡 When a Soft Credit Gift is linked to another gift, DonorDock automatically adds the Gift Tag: Linked Soft Credit

Understanding Soft Credit Gifts

Soft Credits are not limited to Donor-Advised Fund gifts. You can use them whenever your organization wants to recognize a person or organization for helping generate a contribution without recording that recognition as additional received revenue.

A Soft Credit can either be:

• An independent Soft Credit Gift

• A Soft Credit Gift linked to another received gift

Linking the records is useful when you want DonorDock to show the direct relationship between the received contribution and the person receiving soft credit recognition.

Create an Unlinked Soft Credit Gift

A Soft Credit Gift does not have to be linked to another gift. To create an independent Soft Credit:

1. Click to add a new gift using the Quick Add Menu, a Contact record, or Transactions > Gifts.

2. Enter the applicable gift details.

3. Enter the recognition amount in the Soft Credit Amount field.

4. Enter any other applicable gift information.

5. Click Create and Save.

If the contribution relates to an In-Kind gift, set the applicable Payment Type to In-Kind.

💡 Use the Soft Credit Amount field for the value you want attributed to the contact. This provides recognition without increasing the Received Amount tracked for your organization's actual fundraising totals.

Create a Linked Soft Credit Gift

If the Soft Credit relates directly to another gift, create it from the original gift record.

1. Navigate to the received gift.

   • You can access gifts from a contact record or from Transactions > Gifts.

2. Locate the Linked Gifts section.

3. Click + Linked Gift.

4. Select Add New Soft Credit.

5. The Add Gift panel will open with the Soft Credit Amount prefilled.

6. Select the contact who should receive the Soft Credit.

7. Enter any additional applicable information.

8. Click Create and Save.

The new Soft Credit Gift will be created and connected to the original gift.

Link an Existing Soft Credit Gift

If the Soft Credit Gift already exists, you do not need to create another gift.

1. Navigate to the received gift you want the Soft Credit connected to.

2. Locate the Linked Gifts section.

3. Click + Linked Gift.

4. Select Link Existing Soft Credit.

5. Search for the contact associated with the existing Soft Credit Gift.

6. Select the appropriate gift from the available results.

7. Confirm the connection.

The existing Soft Credit Gift will now appear as a Linked Gift on the original gift.

💡 When an existing Soft Credit Gift is linked, DonorDock automatically applies the Linked Soft Credit Gift Tag to the Soft Credit Gift.

Viewing Linked Soft Credits

Linked Soft Credits appear in the Linked Gifts section of the Gift details page.

The received gift and Soft Credit remain separate gift records. This allows each record to retain its own contact, amounts, dates, and other gift information while preserving the relationship between them.

Gift Reports also include fields for reviewing these relationships, including:

You can also use the Linked Soft Credit Gift Tag to identify linked Soft Credit Gift records in reports.

Otto Tips

• ⚓ Record the money where it came from. For a DAF contribution, record the Received Gift on the DAF provider that issued the payment.

• 🦑 Recognize the donor with a Soft Credit. A Soft Credit allows you to attribute the contribution to the donor who directed the gift without increasing actual received revenue.

• 🐚 Link related records when possible. Linking the Soft Credit to the received gift makes the relationship easier to see from the Gift Overview and in reporting.

• ⚓ DAFpay handles the relationship automatically. Gifts received through DAFpay automatically create and link the provider gift and donor Soft Credit with the applicable Badges and Gift Tags.