Using gift batches

What are gift batches?

Gift batches are a way of grouping together gifts that have been entered into LGL. However the gifts are entered, whether manually or via the Integration Queue, they are added to a gift batch and displayed as the most recent entry on the Gift Batches page.

By default, gift batches are set by the calendar day on which they were entered. This means that gifts entered on two sequential days will comprise two separate gift batches.

On the Gift Batches page, you can see a listing of your gift batches, the date each was created, whether a gift batch is open or closed, and a brief itemization of gift totals by gift type:

NOTE: Gifts added to your LGL account through the Flex Importer will not be added to a gift batch.

Can I move or change which gifts are included in a gift batch?

Yes. It is possible to make updates to gift batches via a special setting that we can turn on in your account. This setting allows you to:

Select from a gift batch
Move gifts from one gift batch to another
Close one gift batch and open a new one

If you’d like to have this setting turned on in your account, please go to your Help page and send us a request by filling out the “Submit a help request” form on that page. We’ll be glad to turn on that setting for you.

Can I transfer a gift from one gift batch to another gift batch?

Yes. It is possible to transfer a gift from one gift batch to another by navigating to the gift record for which you need to change the gift batch. Click Edit to make changes to that gift record, and then update the gift batch by selecting the correct one from the Gift Batch dropdown menu (located under Related Information).

Use the dropdown menu to select the desired gift batch, and then click Save.

What is a gift batch export?

A gift batch export is an export of all of the gifts contained within a gift batch. You can either export the gifts or the constituents as a custom report, or you can choose a gift report by fund, which is a PDF report. (Please note that the PDF reports are not customizable.)

Can I save a customized gift batch export to reuse?

Yes. When you export your gift batch, you can select the fields you choose to export as a report template, which you can also name in this screen:

Then, after you save your export as a report, the report template will be available in the "Report Template" dropdown menu next time you export a gift batch. You can choose it to reload all of your previously set column choices from the template.

Can I create a scheduled weekly gift batch report?

It’s possible to design a report that runs at the beginning of each week, which looks for all gifts that meet the criteria from whatever date range you choose (here we are looking for gifts with a date that fell during "This week rel.", meaning "this week relative to today"), along with any other criteria you'd like to use in your search.

Here's an example of how your search might look:

Next click the Export results button in the upper right of the Advanced Search box, and then customize the output (columns) as needed. The "Gift batch ID" field can be added from the "General Giving Fields" menu if desired, as shown below.

During Step 4 of the process, you can select the "Every Monday" option or any of the other dropdown options you prefer to use as the schedule for your report.