Best Practices: Gift entry for a couple (AKA a household)

In this article:

How to think about entering a gift from a household

Unless you have a compelling reason to treat a couple as two constituents, each with an independent relationship to your organization, the best and easiest option is to track one record per couple, containing the primary constituent’s name and the spouse/partner name in the appropriate fields of the one record. 

If you need to split the one constituent record into two because, for example, one member has separate volunteering records that need to be tracked or one is a board member and you want to track their relationship to your organization independently, then you can clone the original constituent record to create another, and connect the two records via a reciprocal relationship. But you’ll need to be aware of the caveats and complications that are involved with taking that approach, which are discussed later in this article.

NOTE: A couple with two constituent records, one set as the “Primary” contact and the other as the “Spouse/Partner” contact, is also known as a household in Little Green Light. 

This is because when you’re entering a gift from a household, how the gift is entered into Little Green Light will impact how you’ll later be able to search and report on that gift. Everything will hinge on how you have set up the household in your database.

NOTE: We don’t recommend which constituent in a household, or couple, is best practice for assigning the “Primary” contact type to.

One constituent record versus two

Households can be managed using either one record containing data for both constituents or two records, one for each constituent, joined by a reciprocal relationship (set up so the spouse/partner receives a soft credit). 

If the household is contained in one record, gift entry is simple: All gifts, soft credits, and so on are entered in the one record. This makes gift entry, searching, and reporting straightforward and foolproof. 

When there are two records for a couple (or household), gift entry can end up being both complex and complicated. There can be complexity in deciding which spouse is "Primary". Societal norms might suggest one choice while the household’s practical engagement with your organization’s mission might suggest another. 

Then there can be complication as gifts are entered and choices are made about which of the two spouse/partner records should contain the gift (hard credit) versus the soft credit. (NOTE: There are other more complicated scenarios affected by this than only gifts, such as employer-matched giving.)

This article offers a recommendation for gift entry in these scenarios, as well as what to consider when you, with your organization, choose a path other than what is recommended.

How we recommend entering a gift from a household

In cases where the household is one constituent record, entering the gift on that record is the obvious and only option. 

Where the household comprises two constituent records, one assigned the “Primary” contact type and one assigned the “Spouse/Partner” contact type, we recommend entering all gifts received from either member of the household on the “Primary” constituent record. This approach is both the simplest way to track household gifts, and it also allows for the simplest searching and reporting on household giving. 

What this translates to is, when you enter a gift from a household, ensure the constituent whose record you’re entering it into is marked with the “Primary” contact type.

The benefit of using this method is that, despite the existence of two records for the household, the "Primary" record represents the complete picture of all giving (gifts, soft credits from DAFs, pledges, pledge payments, etc.), with all of the giving data collected in one place; in other words, a single record showing a complete picture of the household’s giving. 

There is great simplicity and benefit in doing this. Here are the practical advantages:

  • A single annual tax statement instead of two. Annual tax statements are only produced based on gifts (hard credits) entered. Entering 100 percent of these gifts on the “Primary” record equals one annual tax statement
  • Pledge tracking. Pledge entry on the “Primary” record enables the pledge balance to be accurately paid down as pledge payments are made on that same record
  • Soft credits from a DAF or family foundation. The “Primary” record represents the whole household. When you filter by “Primary” only, you’ll see the correct soft credit amount without needing to do any review of soft credit amounts that were entered in the spouse/partner record
  • Searching for lapsed donors by household. When all gifts are entered on the “Primary” record, you can rely on data in that record to easily and accurately find lapsed donors

What is simple and straightforward can also have drawbacks, however. These include:

  • Inherent complexity in LGL Forms data. With online giving and the likelihood that credit card gifts can originate from either spouse, following the recommendation can be challenging. If, for example, the “Primary” is set to spouse #1 but 90 percent of the online gifts are made by spouse #2 (the spouse/partner) then following the recommendation takes additional work. A solution for this scenario might be setting spouse #2 as the “Primary” contact type and changing spouse #1 to the “Spouse/Partner” contact type

    NOTE: In these cases, be sure the salutation and addressee fields for the primary constituent reflect both names so that communications are correctly addressed to the household

  • Gift entry. Without careful procedures/training in place, members of your LGL team might casually enter gifts on the spouse/partner record if they find that record first. Extra work will be required to follow the recommended approach
  • Importing data. Potential drawbacks are similar to the above, meaning that extra attention to detail is required to follow the recommendation when importing gift data
  • Integrations. Similar to the issue that can arise in LGL Forms data, sources might more "automatically" match gifts coming into the “Spouse/Partner” record and require extra attention in terms of switching who is “Primary”, or both

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your preferred method of entering gifts, such as in the case of a couple in which each member always gives independently, keep in mind you would always need to make accommodations for the items listed under “Drawbacks” in the section below.

What happens if your organization chooses not to follow the recommendation?

You are free to choose a gift entry approach that goes counter to what we recommend, but if you do so please be sure you review and understand the benefits and drawbacks you’ll need to make accommodation for, listed below.

Benefits

  • Easier gift entry, with not as much work or training required to allow gifts to appear on whichever record from the household is tied to the credit card or check, etc.
  • Less review required, since the organization is not relying on “Primary” = household, so there is less need to keep an eye on data consistency related to gift entry
  • Data coming in from all sources can be processed without the same review time needed as is typically required when following the recommended approach

Drawbacks

  • Annual statements. The need to produce two (2) annual tax statements, each accurately reflecting only the gifts entered on that spouse/partner's record. For example, in the course of a calendar year, if 40 percent of gifts are entered on the “Primary” record and 60 percent are entered on the “Spouse/Partner” record, the tax statement sent to the “Primary” will need to show 40 percent of the household giving and the tax statement sent to the “Spouse/Partner” will need to show 60 percent of the household giving 
  • Pledges. Pledges cannot display on a second constituent record, and soft credits cannot reduce pledge balances. So if the pledge is entered on the “Primary” record but some pledge payments (gifts) are entered on the “Spouse/Partner” record, the pledge balance will not be reduced accordingly or accurately. Choosing in which record to enter pledges will determine where all pledge payments must be entered, so careful attention will be required for all gift entry/forms/imports related to any gifts that are pledge payments
  • Soft credits from a DAF or family foundation. If the couple's DAF granted $5,000 and both spouses are soft-credited $5,000 each (this is correct), then determining the correct household effort will require carefully reviewing soft credits to remove any "extra" amounts.
  • Searching for lapsed donors by household. Finding these data for multiple members of a household will require more complex searching and reporting

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