If you already use badges on contacts, gift tags work the same way one level down. They attach to a gift record and stay there indefinitely, characterizing that donation by whatever quality you care about. Common ones: Major Gift, Matching Gift, Silent Auction Gift.
The reason this matters: without gift tags, teams start abusing the appeal field to record things that are not appeals, and two years later nobody can report on either one cleanly.
Some tags do not need a human at all. These are added automatically:
Reactivation Gift is the quietly valuable one. It means you can answer "did our lapsed donor mailing actually work" with a filter instead of a guess.
What is a gift tag?
A label attached to a gift record that characterizes or segments that donation based on qualities the campaign, appeal, and fund fields do not cover.
How are gift tags different from badges?
Badges apply to contact records. Gift tags apply to gift records. Same idea, different object.
How do I add gift tags in bulk?
Run a gift report, then assign the tag across the whole result set. Tags can also be assigned in bulk during an import.
Which gift tags are applied automatically?
Seven: Major Gift, Spike Up Gift, Reactivation Gift, Linked Soft Credit, Linked Matching, DAFpay gift, and DAFpay Soft Credit.
What is a Reactivation Gift tag?
It is applied automatically when a gift moves a contact from Lapsed status back to Donor status — useful for measuring whether a reactivation campaign worked.
Can I remove a gift tag from every gift at once?
Yes. A tag can be deleted from all gifts carrying it, and individual tags can be corrected.
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