Soft Credits

Tieara Power

Hello! Does anyone know for certain if when you ask to include soft credits on a report, does it count the actual gift twice? for example will it report that Bob gave $500 AND Mindy (his wife with the soft credit) gave $500. So instead of counting one gift of 500 the report will show 2 gifts for a total of $1000?

JoAnn Strommen

@Tieara Power Welcome to the BB Community forums.

Yes, in reports the gift is double counted. See the notation at end of report. I can't say it happens with every report but in my experience it does with most canned reports.

Tieara Power

@JoAnn Strommen
Thank you!

Dana Burton

@Tieara Power When I commit a batch of gifts, it shows the company the gift was entered under in the batch log report. When I run my Gift Summary Report ( like a double check and lists more information for accounting,) it lists the person who was soft credited (with * to indicate this) and not the company. Thus - no double gifting on these. ?

Emmet O'Conlon

@Tieara Power it depends on the options you select on the report, and your internal policy on how you handle soft credits.

You can include soft credits on a report and have the dollar amount correct, depending on the details.

Tieara Power

@Emmet OConlon
Omg I feel silly I forgot about this option. So If I keep it at “use distribution on gift” it just keeps it under the original donor and then notates the soft credit, correct?

Dana Burton

@Tieara Power, @Emmet OConlon explained it well.

This is how we have it set for our report that list the constituent the gift is soft credited to rather than the business. It does not list double for spouses either - it lists them as a couple according to head of household. ?

Joe Moretti

@Tieara Power I think a good rule of thumb is if the report is a financial report, where you want the actual count, do not use soft credits. If you are doing a solicitation mailing, when pulling your information. include soft-credits. When doing an internal report for your department to see the total giving of donors, I would use soft-credits, especially since so many people use donor-advised funds or give thru companies. Just my two cents.