Some gifts arrive from an entity when the relationship belongs to a person. The check comes from a community foundation; the donor is the family who directed it. The wire comes from a corporate matching program; the donor is the employee who requested it.
If you record only the entity, your reports are correct and your stewardship is wrong — you thank a foundation and never thank the family. If you record the person as the donor, your stewardship is right and your revenue is double-counted. A soft credit is how you get both.
When a soft credit is created as a gift linked under another gift, DonorDock tags it on its own — Linked Soft Credit for the general case, Linked Matching for a match, and DAFpay Soft Credit for one created through a DAFpay donation on a giving page. You do not have to remember to tag anything, and the tags make the whole set findable later. See gift tags.
A donor whose giving all arrives through a DAF can look, in a naive database, like someone who has never given. That is the person who gets dropped from the major gift list by accident. Soft credits are what keep their real contribution visible on their record, which is the whole point of tracking any of this. See gift reports.
What is a soft credit?
A way to acknowledge an individual or entity that helped bring a donation about without directly making it — recorded separately from the hard revenue on the gift.
Where do I enter a soft credit in DonorDock?
On the gift record, in the Soft Credit amount field, directly below the Fee Amount field.
When should I use a soft credit?
Most commonly for donor advised fund gifts, matching donations, and the estimated value of in-kind contributions.
Does a soft credit inflate my revenue totals?
No. Soft credit amounts are tracked separately from the gift's hard revenue, so totals stay accurate.
Are soft credits tagged automatically?
Yes. Linked soft credits receive automatic gift tags, including Linked Soft Credit, Linked Matching, and DAFpay Soft Credit.
Can I report on soft credits?
Yes. Gift reports can be filtered for soft credits, giving summary reports can include them, and connected gifts show the link between a gift and its soft credit.
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