Use Record a gift when you receive a donation by check, cash, or in kind — anything that did not come in through the Noctern online donation page. The gift appears immediately on the patron's Giving tab and rolls up into their lifetime giving total.
Before you start
- Venue Admin with the canViewDonors capability is required.
- Your venue must be a nonprofit. If the Fundraising section isn't visible, ask your super-admin to enable it.
- Set up at least one fund before recording gifts. See the Funds & Appeals topic.
Steps
Go to AdminVenuesFundraising and click Record a gift.
The Record Gift dialog opens.
1Donor search2Amount3Payment method4Gift date5FundRecord Gift dialog with patron, amount, fund, method, and date fields visible In the Donor field, type the patron's name or email. Select them from the results. If they don't have a patron record yet, click + Add a new donor and fill in their name and email inline.
Enter the Amount (required), select the Fund, and pick the Payment method: Check, Cash, In-Kind, or Other.
- For a check, enter the Check number in the field that appears.
- For in-kind gifts, enter the fair-market value as the amount.
Set the Gift date — this is the date the gift was received, not today's date. Using the correct date keeps your year-end statements accurate.
Optionally, select an Appeal if you're tracking which campaign prompted the gift. The Appeal field only appears once your venue has at least one active appeal — see the Funds and Appeals topic.
Check Anonymous if the donor has asked not to be identified in acknowledgments.
Click Record gift. A receipt number is assigned automatically and shown in the confirmation message. The gift appears immediately on the patron's Giving tab.
Coming soon: dedicating a gift ("in honor of" / "in memory of") isn't available from this admin dialog yet — it's only settable from the public donate page today. If a donor tells you about a dedication after the fact, note it in the gift's Notes field for now.
Adding soft credits
Soft credits give another patron recognition for helping bring in a gift — a board member who solicited it, a household partner, or a donor-advised fund. Soft credits do not add to the credited patron's lifetime giving total; they appear separately on their record labeled "not counted in totals."
Expand the Soft credits section.
1Soft credits section2Patron to credit3Reason4"Not counted in totals"Soft credits section of the Record Gift dialog with a patron search field and reason dropdown Search for the patron to credit and select them.
Choose a Reason:
household,matching,solicitor,daf(donor-advised fund), orother.Click Add to add the soft credit row. You can add more than one.
Tips
Recording a gift does not send any acknowledgment email to the donor. Use Fundraising → Acknowledgments to send individual or batch tax receipts after recording.
You can also record a gift from the patron's own detail page: open their record, go to the Giving tab, and click Record a gift there.
Watch out
Soft credits are for recognition only — they do not count toward the credited patron's lifetime giving total or appear in year-end statements. If you want the gift counted for someone, record a separate gift under their name instead.
Matching gifts (employer match) are recorded separately once the matching contribution arrives. Use the Matching gift section to note the employer and expected amount; then record the matched donation as a new gift when received.
- Open the demo patron record in the demo venue and navigate to their Giving tab.
- Record a $100 cash gift to the Annual Fund, dated last month.
- Confirm the receipt number appears in the confirmation and the gift shows in the Giving tab.
- Record a second gift with a soft credit for the board member patron. Confirm the soft credit appears on the board member's record and is labeled "not counted in totals."