A soft credit recognizes a patron for helping bring in someone else's gift, without counting the dollars toward their own giving. A matching gift notes that an employer plans to match a donation.
Before you start
Venue Admin with canViewDonors, or Super Admin. Both are set from the Record Gift dialog — see the Recording a Manual Gift topic.
Where soft credits show up
Open the credited patron's own detail page and go to the Giving tab. If they've been soft-credited for anything, a Soft credits card appears, badged not counted in totals, listing the date, the gift, the soft-credited amount, and the reason (household, matching, solicitor, daf, or other). The card doesn't appear at all for a patron with no soft credits.
Soft credits never add to the credited patron's lifetime giving, gift count, or year-end statement — they're recognition only. If you want a gift to actually count for someone, record it as a separate gift under their name.
Matching gifts
When recording a gift, the Matching gift section lets you note the employer name and an expected match amount. There's no employer database behind it — it's a plain note for your own follow-up.
Coming soon: there's no way yet to link a matching gift to the actual matched donation once it arrives, or to see that link on the patron page. For now, track expected matches with a tag or an Interaction note, and record the matched gift as its own separate donation when it's received.
Watch out
The Donors segment used in campaigns counts hard-credited donors only. To reach patrons who've only ever been soft-credited, use a tag or custom field instead.
- Record a gift in the demo venue with a soft credit for another patron.
- Open the credited patron's Giving tab and confirm the Soft credits card appears with the correct reason.
- Confirm the credited patron's Lifetime giving tile did not change.