Soft Credits Overview
Soft Credits allow your organization to recognize a person or organization for their role in a contribution without increasing the amount your organization shows as received.
When creating or editing a gift in DonorDock, the Soft Credit Amount field is available in the Gift Details section. This field can be used to record an amount you want attributed to the contact for recognition or reporting purposes while keeping the actual received revenue separate.
Soft Credits are commonly used when:
A donor directs a contribution through a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)
Your organization wants to record the estimated value associated with an In-Kind gift
Another person or organization should receive recognition for helping facilitate a donation
Received Amount vs. Soft Credit Amount
Received Amount and Soft Credit Amount serve different purposes.
Gift Amount Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
Received Amount | Records the actual amount received by your organization. |
Soft Credit Amount | Records an amount attributed to a contact for recognition or tracking without increasing your organization's received fundraising total. |
For example, if your organization receives a $5,000 DAF payment from a DAF provider, the provider's gift can record the $5,000 Received Amount, while the individual donor who directed the contribution can receive a $5,000 Soft Credit.
This recognizes the donor's role in generating the contribution without recording an additional $5,000 as received revenue.
Create an Unlinked Soft Credit Gift
A Soft Credit can be recorded as an independent gift without connecting it to another gift record.
Add a new gift from the Quick Add Menu, a Contact record, or Transactions > Gifts.
Select the contact who should receive the Soft Credit.
Enter the applicable gift information.
Enter the attributed amount in the Soft Credit Amount field.
Complete any other relevant fields.
Click Create and Save.
An unlinked Soft Credit can be useful when your organization needs to track recognition but does not need to maintain a direct connection to another gift record.
Create a Linked Soft Credit Gift
When the Soft Credit relates directly to another gift, you can create the Soft Credit from the original gift record.
Navigate to the received gift.
Gifts can be accessed from a Contact record or from Transactions > Gifts.
Locate the Linked Gifts section on the Gift Overview.
Click + Linked Gift.
Select Add New Soft Credit.
The Add Gift panel will open with the Soft Credit Amount prefilled based on the original gift.
Select the contact who should receive the Soft Credit.
Enter any additional applicable information.
Click Create and Save.
The new Soft Credit Gift will be created and connected to the original gift.
💡 When a Soft Credit Gift is linked to another gift, DonorDock automatically adds the Gift Tag Linked Soft Credit to the Soft Credit Gift.
Link an Existing Soft Credit Gift
If the Soft Credit Gift already exists in DonorDock, you can connect it to another gift without creating a duplicate.
Navigate to the received gift you want to connect the Soft Credit to.
Locate the Linked Gifts section.
Click + Linked Gift.
Select Link Existing Soft Credit.
Search for the contact associated with the existing Soft Credit Gift.
Select the applicable gift from the available results.
Confirm the connection.
The existing Soft Credit Gift will now appear in the Linked Gifts section of the original gift.
The Linked Soft Credit Gift Tag will also be applied automatically.
Soft Credits and Donor-Advised Fund Gifts
Soft Credits are commonly used when tracking Donor-Advised Fund contributions.
With a DAF gift, the DAF provider generally receives the funds, while an individual donor directed or recommended the contribution.
A common DonorDock setup is:
Record | How It Is Tracked |
DAF Provider | Received Gift for the actual funds sent to your organization |
Individual Donor | Linked Soft Credit Gift recognizing the donor who directed the contribution |
When a gift is processed through DAFpay on a DonorDock Online Giving Page, DonorDock automatically creates this relationship.
The received DAF gift is tagged DAFpay Gift, while the donor's linked Soft Credit receives the Gift Tags DAFpay Soft Credit and Linked Soft Credit.
For more information, see Donor-Advised Fund Gifts and Soft Credits.
Soft Credits and In-Kind Gifts
Soft Credits may also be useful when tracking the estimated value associated with an In-Kind contribution.
An In-Kind gift represents donated goods or services rather than a traditional cash payment. When entering this type of gift, set the Payment Type to In-Kind and use the applicable gift amount fields based on how your organization wants to record and recognize the contribution.
Use the Soft Credit Amount when you want to track an attributed or estimated value for recognition purposes without treating that amount as additional received revenue.
💡 Your organization should determine its own accounting and acknowledgment practices for In-Kind gifts. The Soft Credit Amount is a DonorDock tracking field and does not determine the tax treatment or deductible value of a contribution.
View Linked Soft Credits on a Gift
Linked Soft Credits appear in the Linked Gifts section of the Gift Overview.
The original gift and the Soft Credit Gift remain separate gift records. Each record can maintain its own:
Contact
Gift Date
Gift amounts
Campaign
Appeal
Fund
Giving Page
Gift Tags
Other gift information
The link preserves the relationship between the records without combining them into a single gift.
Report on Soft Credits
Soft Credit information is available in Gift Reports.
Useful Soft Credit fields include:
Report Column | Description / Usage |
Soft Credit Amount | Displays the Soft Credit Amount entered directly on the gift. |
Related Soft Credits | Displays the number of Soft Credit Gifts linked to the gift. |
Related Soft Credit $ | Displays the Soft Credit Amount associated with linked Soft Credit Gifts. |
Find Gifts with a Soft Credit Amount
To identify gifts that contain a Soft Credit Amount:
Navigate to Reporting > Reports.
Create or open a Gift Report.
Run the report using your primary filters.
Click the Columns icon.
Add the Soft Credit Amount column if it is not already visible.
Click the Filter icon on the Soft Credit Amount column.
Set the filter to Is Greater Than 0.
Click Filter.
The report will now display gifts with a recorded Soft Credit Amount.
Find Gifts with Linked Soft Credits
You can also report specifically on gifts that have another Soft Credit Gift connected to them.
Add the Related Soft Credits column to your Gift Report.
Click the Filter icon on the column.
Set the filter to Is Greater Than 0.
Click Filter.
You can also filter Gift Reports using the Linked Soft Credit Gift Tag when you want to find the Soft Credit Gift records themselves.
When Should I Link a Soft Credit?
Both linked and unlinked Soft Credits can be used in DonorDock.
Consider creating a linked Soft Credit when a specific received gift directly relates to the recognition. Linking the records makes that relationship visible from the Gift Overview and through Gift Report connection fields.
An unlinked Soft Credit may be sufficient when you only need to record the recognition amount and do not need to associate it with another individual gift record.