Soft Crediting Spouse - What to do?

Josh Gould · September 2021

How to handle Soft Credits for the following

Joe has given from 1/1/2000
Jane has given from 1/1/2010
Janet has given from 1/1/2019

Life Event 1: Joe married Jane on 1/1/2015.

Does Jane get soft credited for all of Joe's gifts and Joe gets soft credited for all of Jane's gifts, or do they only get soft credited for each other's gifts made on 1/1/2015 and beyond?

Life Event 2: Joe and Jane divorce on 1/1/2018

Do the soft credits stay on both records, do they all get removed, or do only certain soft credits stay on their records?

Life Event 3: Joe married Janet on 1/1/2020

Does Janet get soft credited for all of Joe's gifts and Joe gets soft credited for all of Janet's gifts, or do they only get soft credited for each other's gifts made on 1/1/2020 and beyond?

JoAnn Strommen · September 2021

Valid questions and real situations.

My simplified definition of when/who we soft credit is that the person or organization has shared ownership of the funds being donated.

So, I would SC gifts between records only while married. I would begin SC when the wed and end SC when they divorce but would leave any gifts SC during the marriage on the records.

We don't knowingly SC for gifts made prior to marriage but I'm sure it has happened when we find a couple that is not marked for SC and add that without looking at when they were married.

Your org should create your own guideline defining what SC means and when it should be done.

Heather MacKenzie · September 2021

Echoing what JoAnn said, every org I've worked for has always soft credited for the duration of the marriage and left them on post end of marriage. Pay attention to unchecking the auto soft credit checkboxes if they've been checked. Any new marriage after that point would only soft credit each other starting on that date.

Soft Crediting Spouse - What to do?

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