Uploading related gifts

Introduction

You can upload related gifts using the Flex Importer from a spreadsheet or a pair of spreadsheets. The example in this article illustrates how to do this using a soft credit gift, but the process works in a similar way for all related gifts except tribute gifts. If you are mapping tribute gifts, please follow these instructions instead.

NOTE: A related gift can’t be created without its parent gift existing first. In an import, this means that if a related gift’s parent hasn’t been imported and saved that related gift will show an error. Sometimes this is a temporary issue having to do with previewing an import that contains both gifts and their related gifts. In such cases, as long as the parent gift record appears in the import file before any of its related gifts, errors will not be present after the import is accepted.

When you upload a gift and its related gift, you need to link the gift and its related gift together. You do this using a Gift ID and the Parent Gift ID.

Gift ID: This is the ID of the primary gift (the “hard credit” gift, if you will). The gift ID can be one of two types:
- LGL Gift ID: The ID LGL assigns to a gift (which it does for every single gift). You can use this ID if, and only if, the gift already exists in LGL.
- External Gift ID: An ID that is assigned to a gift from outside LGL. This can be the ID that was created in a previous database, or you can assign it to the gift.
Parent Gift ID: The identical ID number as in #1 above, but it is used on the related gift to indicate which parent gift it belongs to.

In the illustration below, the actual (hard credit) gift is on the left. We indicate that this gift has a Gift ID. The related gift is on the right. Here, we need to include the ID of the parent gift in order to link the two together. In our example, we'll use the External ID of the Gift (2020-32) when we upload the related gift, where we'll refer to this same number as the External Parent Gift ID.

CAUTION: In our example, we've chosen to use a custom gift category named "Donation". Note that this is part of the parent gift entry and is simply a way to keep track of gifts that are donations. Do not confuse this "gift category" with the "gift type" for the gift on the right (the related gift). To review how gift types and gift categories are related, please see the Gift entry help article.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are exporting related gift data and re-importing it in order to bulk update it, make sure you include the LGL Constituent ID, the LGL Gift ID, and the LGL Parent Gift ID in your export. When re-importing, ensure that you set up mappings for these fields so that the bulk change you are making will occur in the correct constituent, gift, and related gift records.

Preparing your spreadsheet

In your spreadsheet, include columns for the Gift ID and the Parent Gift ID. The ID you indicate on the primary gift should be identical to the Parent Gift ID in your related gift entry. Your spreadsheet will also need to contain a column for the gift type (soft credit) of the related gift.

NOTE: It is critical that LGL receive the primary/parent gift information before it receives the related gift information, otherwise the link between the two will not be created in your data. You can ensure that LGL receives the primary gift information first in two ways:

Upload separate spreadsheets. First upload a spreadsheet with your primary gifts; then upload a second spreadsheet containing your related gifts. Or ...
Upload separate rows. In a single spreadsheet, upload the primary gift row first, and in any subsequent row upload the related gift. LGL processes uploads one row at a time from the top down. This method ensures that LGL will have processed the primary gift prior to processing the related gift.

Terminology note: In this article, we use the terms “primary gift” and “parent gift” somewhat interchangeably. Both refer to the actual gift (hard credit gift) received.

Illustration of spreadsheet upload

In the example below, columns E and F show how you can upload the Gift ID for the primary gift first, and then employ that exact same ID in the column for Parent Gift ID for the related gift.

Mapping columns and reviewing in the Flex Importer

After uploading your file in the Flex Importer, you can review and edit how each column will map to LGL fields.

Gift/Goal/Pledge #1: You might wonder why the related gift is being identified as Gift/Goal/Pledge #1 in the rightmost column of the mapping screenshot. This is because the related gift is in fact its very own gift entry. It has the gift type of “Soft credit” (or one of the other related gift types). Yes, it is linked to the parent gift, but it does become an actual gift entry in its own right. If you were to review “All giving” in the Fundraising tab, for instance, you would see these related gifts as gift entries.

To the right of these mapping columns, you'll see each of the records that your spreadsheet is uploading as mapped, and you can scroll through, record by record:

Once the data is uploaded, you can review the records. The first gift is going in with the gift type "Gift" (and a Gift category of "Donation") and the second is going in with the gift type "Soft credit".

Seeing the results of your import

Upon completion of your file import, look in the Fundraising tab for the gifts you just uploaded. One way to do this would be to search by gift date ("Date" in the search dropdown list). You should see both the primary gift and the related gift in the search results. The related gift will include a “source” link to the parent gift.