Gift entry

In this article:

As described in the Fundraising overview article, LGL supports multiple types of gifts. You can add any of the four available gift types by clicking the Add gift button on the Dashboard, the Fundraising tab, or from any individual Constituent Details page. Then select Add gift from the dropdown menu that opens. (To learn how to enter a pledge, please read the Pledge entry article).

The Fundraising tab in LGL.

The "Add gift" dropdown menu.

Gift entry

The Gift entry page.

Select the constituent

When adding any kind of gift (or goal or task, for that matter), the first step is to choose the constituent. If you add a gift from the Constituent Details page, the selection will be made automatically. Otherwise, you can set the constituent by clicking on the Set Constituent button.

Then type the constituent name, and click the blue  Search button. If the correct result appears, click the Select button to its left:

Enter the gift amount

The gift amount is the only required field in the Gift entry page. The gift amount should be in dollars and cents (if applicable), without commas. For example:

  • 100.93
  • 1000.00
  • 10000
  • 12.59

Determine if you want to use the "Deposited Amount" field

The Deposited amount field contains the gift amount, unless you manually change it (which you can do when a transaction fee was subtracted if the gift was made online, for example). To use the Deposited amount field, you will first need to enable it. Go to Settings > Subscription Settings > Gift settings, scroll down the page, and check the box as shown here:

Set the gift type

You can select from one of four gift fixed gift types that are always available:

Assuming you are entering a standard gift, leave the gift type of "Gift" selected and continue to the payment type. Otherwise, you can pick "Other Income", "Pledge", or "In Kind". In each case, the Gift entry page fields will update slightly, depending on the gift type you choose. (See the Pledge entry article and the "In-kind" section below for details.)

Set the gift category

Gift categories allow you to further specify what kind of contribution you received. LGL includes a standard set of gift categories that you can customize to your needs:

You can also add a custom gift field, which offers additional single- and multi-select options for categorizing gifts:

The graphic below shows how gift types and gift categories are related. A few key points:

  • The list of gift types is fixed in LGL; you cannot make changes to it.
  • Gift categories, on the other hand, are customizable.
  • There are no gift categories for related gifts.

To learn more about gift categories and custom gift fields, please see our knowledge base article Custom Gift Fields.

Payment type

Set payment type. By default, this can include Check, Cash, Credit Card, or Stock, but these values can be customized to fit your needs, or you can add a new value by clicking the "Add new" option.

Set gift and deposit date

The standard date format for any date in LGL is YYYY-MM-DD (for example, 2010-04-02). However, you can also type dates in the following formats: MM/DD/YY or MMDDYY (04/02/10 or 040210). You can also click on the Calendar icon to pull up a date picker.

The gift date is the date on which the donation was made (the date on the check, for example.), and the deposit date is the date that you processed the donation. If the gift date is left blank, it will default to the current day. If the deposit date is left blank, it will automatically be set to the same value as the gift date.

Campaigns, funds, appeals, and events

You can assign appropriate campaign, fund, appeal, and/or event values to each gift, for use in constituent searches (for example, "Who gave to my Annual Appeal this year?") and other kinds of queries and reports.

Set acknowledgment

You can select an acknowledgment template during gift entry. For more on how this works, see Acknowledging gifts in LGL.

Adding related activities to a gift

You have the option to add several types of related activities as you’re entering gifts. Soft credits and matching gifts may be added to any standard gift by clicking the Add related gift button shown below.

Constituent selection for related gifts is done in the same way as described above in the "Select the constituent" section. You can also choose a letter template for an acknowledgment for the related gift by choosing from the Template dropdown menu.

For more information on how to add related gifts, see Gift entry for soft credits and other related gifts.

In-kind gifts

As described above, in-kind donations can be entered by selecting the In Kind gift type. Constituent and amount settings (as well as any campaign, fund, appeal, or event assignments you’ve already made) will remain in place, but you will not have the option to assign a payment type or a deposit date.

NOTE: Donors cannot receive a tax deduction for donated time, but they can receive one for goods. In-kind gift entry in LGL provides the option to enter a tax-deductible amount for in-kind gifts, however, the only time you would enter anything except zero in this field would be when you have a) a verified third-party appraisal or b) the donor has provided satisfactory documentation establishing a fair market value dollar amount. (Search online for "IRS Publication 561" to find more information on this.)

As with standard gifts, you can enter an amount (if applicable; otherwise enter 0), and set the gift date. The description of the in-kind donation can be entered into the Notes/Description field on the gift record. You can also add related gifts, if multiple constituents should be credited for the in-kind donation.

Adding quantity (in pounds) to an in-kind gift

With an optional setting turned on, you can also add a pound quantity to an in-kind gift. When you select the gift type of "In Kind", the Quantity field appears, where you can enter the number of pounds.

To turn on this setting, go to Settings > Subscription settings > Gift settings, scroll down to the option for In Kind quantity, and check the box.

Pulling in-kind quantity (in pounds) into an end-of-year tax letter or email

You can then pull the total quantity of the in-kind gift (in pounds) into a letter or email by using this LGL Merge Field:

[[gifts.2022.in_kind_qty_total]]

This provides the amount of the total pounds of in-kind donations from a constituent throughout the year, which can be used in end-of-year tax letter content such as what is shown here. 

When the amount is merged into your letter or email, the language will look like this:

NOTES:

  1. This merge field is available for the current year and the previous two years (for example, [[gifts.2020.in_kind_qty_total]] and [[gifts.2021.in_kind_qty_total]]).
  2. The merge field does not include the unit; you will need to include the unit in the letter content, as seen above. 

Related tasks

Related tasks can be added to all types of gifts. This is useful when you want to take action in a specific way in response to a gift or pledge. You can add as many related tasks as needed by clicking the Add related task button. Each task you add will be connected to the constituent who gave the gift.

Adding gifts in bulk

If you want to add multiple gifts from multiple constituents simultaneously, please read these instructions.

Entering multiple gifts for a single constituent

If you have a stack of gifts to enter that have the same attributes (such as campaign, fund, event, appeal, and so on) or are from the same constituent, you can save time by using either one or both of the following options during gift entry:

  • Clicking the Use values for next gift checkbox to save the gift (and any related gifts, tasks, or installments) and reload the blank gift entry page. Values you had set for campaign, fund, appeal, and event information on the last gift will remain populated, making data entry more efficient. 

  • Clicking the Use same constituent for next gift checkbox when you save the gift will keep the same constituent name data saved in the reloaded page, so you don't have to search for the constituent again.

NOTE: For more information on any fields in this form not discussed in this article, please refer to the Data Dictionary on the Flex Importer page in your LGL account.

Cloning a gift

If you need to enter multiple gifts for someone giving the same amount on a regular basis, you can clone the gift to save time. Cloning a gift is equally useful for recurring gifts or in cases where someone gives the same amount multiple times. The process preserves all the information from the gift being cloned, except for the acknowledgment template.

To clone a gift, you will need to enable this setting in your account by going to the Settings > Subscription settings > Gift settings page and selecting the “Clone gifts" check box, as shown below: 

Then search for the gift from the Fundraising tab, click the Actions button for that gift, and select Clone:

Notifying other team members when you enter a gift

The last section of the New Gift screen contains a listing of the team members in your account and gives you the option to send them an email notification by checking the box next to their name before saving the gift:

NOTE: Gift notifications are available for any gift type except "Other income".

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