Soft Credit Entry
Soft Credit is a recognition given to a party other than the entity making the payment.
For example, the Smith Family Foundation makes a $1,000 donation, but Joe Smith is the alumnus of the fraternity. Joe will get soft credit and be recognized as the $1,000 donor.
- A donation with a soft credit tied to it will have a small blue “SC” next to the donation on the party’s Donations Tab.
- When you click into the donation, a list of soft credit recipients and the amount of soft credit attributed will be indicated here. If you click on any of the recipients listed, you will be taken directly to that individuals’ record.
- Users can elect to include soft credits in Annual and Cumulative Giving within the admin section on Compass.
- Only users with Fundraising Administrative Permissions can make this change. If at any time you decide to alter how you are counting or not counting soft credits, please let your Senior Client Operations Specialist know. We can recalculate totals for you, so all records are updated throughout Compass.
Attributing Soft Credit
Every action to a soft credit must be done through the linked hard credit. You can do so through the hard credit on the Donation and Payment Entry screen, or on the hard credit donor’s record.
Example 1:
- A common example where you might need to attribute soft credit is when a Foundation makes a gift, but the individual who is responsible for arranging the gift needs to receive soft credit.
- You can click the Attribute Soft Credit button on the hard credit donation to create a linked soft credit donation.
- Once you click on the Attribute Soft Credit button, you will see a Soft Credit Listing screen. This will display any soft credits already associated with this hard credit donation if any exist. To add a new soft credit, click on the Add Soft Credit button.
- Next, the Find Soft Credit Recipient screen allows you to search for a name to add a single soft credit. To add soft credits in mass, click on the Select Multiple Recipients button.
- Now, search for the soft credit donor’s name in the search box. Select your record by clicking on it and you’ll be taken to a new screen to add the new soft credit donation.
- The Add Soft Credit Donation screen functions just like the entry screen for hard credit donations. Donation information and details will default to the information from the linked hard credit donation, but these fields are all editable. If you’d like to send a Thank You letter for the soft credit donation payment, edit the Send Thank You field from “No” to “Yes” here and select the default Thank You letter.
- Please note, fund account information does not appear when adding a soft credit donation. It is inherited from the hard credit donation and cannot be edited.
- After you create your donation, you will be taken to the Allocate Soft Credits screen. This allows you to allocate the payment for the soft credit donation you just created.
Example 2: Mass add of soft credit recipients
Let’s look at another example – say a chapter sends in a check and every member of the chapter needs to receive soft credit for the gift. This is a case where you could use the Select Multiple Recipients tool we discussed.
- You can click the Attribute Soft Credit button to create a linked soft credit donation.
- Once you click on the Attribute Soft Credit button, you will see a Soft Credit Listing screen. This will display any soft credits already associated with this hard credit donation if any exist. To add a new soft credit, click on the Add Soft Credit button.
- Next, the Find Soft Credit Recipient screen allows you to search for a name to add a single soft credit. To add soft credits in mass, click on the Select Multiple Recipients button.
- If you choose Select Multiple Recipients, you’ll be taken to the Mass Soft Credit Entry screen. This screen allows you to create new donation groups for soft credit recipients and enter soft credit payments in mass. There is no limit to the number of recipients.
- The helpful Populate Values tool allows you to copy default values to the soft credit recipients if most or all your soft credits will have the same Donation Amount, Payment Amount, Thank You letter setting, and default Thank You letter. You could edit this information for each individual recipient if donation information isn’t the same for each recipient.
Example 3:
Reducing a donation for a payment from a family foundation. If an individual who has an open pledge on their record also pays on that pledge with money from their family foundation, we can apply a soft credit payment to the pledge and reduce the total due.
- Create a Hard Credit Donation on the family foundation/company record for the payment. Ensure that all dates/campaigns/appeals etc. are tied to the HC on the donor's record and create the donation.
- You can click the Attribute Soft Credit button to create a linked soft credit donation.
- Once you click on the Attribute Soft Credit button, you will see a Soft Credit Listing screen. This will display any soft credits already associated with this hard credit donation if any exist. Here you will choose the existing hard credit on the donor’s record.
- Next, the Find Soft Credit Recipient screen allows you to search for a name to add a single soft credit.
- The Add Soft Credit Donation screen functions just like the entry screen for hard credit donations. Donation information and details will default to the information from the linked hard credit donation, but these fields are all editable. If you’d like to send a Thank You letter for the soft credit donation payment, edit the Send Thank You field from “No” to “Yes” here and select the default Thank You letter.
- Please note, fund account information does not appear when adding a soft credit donation. It is inherited from the hard credit donation and cannot be edited.
- At the bottom of the screen, you will see the original donation you chose in step 3. You will click into the donation and once clicked, it will bring up the original HC donation.
- You will then reduce the legal amount of the donation for the SC payment and add a note in the Notes field stating that the amount of the donation was reduced due to an SC payment on [XX/XX/XXXX]. Once you adjust the donation, you can click on Add Soft Credit.
- After you create your donation, you will be taken to the Allocate Soft Credits screen. This allows you to allocate the payment for the soft credit donation you just created.
Editing/Deleting Soft Credit Donations
- To edit the soft credit donation or payment, go back to the hard credit record.
- To edit the donation, click on the Attribute Soft Credit button again. A listing of all soft credit donations associated with the hard credit donation will appear. You can click the edit button to adjust the amount or terms, or the delete button to delete the donation.
- To edit the soft credit payment, click on the Hard Credit Donation and then select the View Transactions button.
- To delete the hard and soft credit payment if the hard credit was entered in error, hit reverse next to the transaction. This will delete the soft credit payment as well because any action taken to the hard credit donation/payment will affect the soft credit linked to it.
- To simply edit the soft credit payment, click onto the Hard Credit Payment transaction and you’ll see a listing of soft credit payments at the bottom. Amounts can be edited from here.