Import donation history
Keeping track of historical donation information after switching to new software can feel complicated. With Giving, it doesn't have to be. Use the donation import tool to avoid tracking donations in two places. This article will guide you through the process of importing donations, including preparing your account, uploading your CSV, and mapping all fields and values.
Important
Giving was designed to handle tax-deductible donations only. While Giving also tracks certain types of non-deductible donations, such as qualified charitable distributions (QCD) and donor-advised funds (DAF), other payments should not be imported into Giving. Additionally, in-kind donations cannot be imported.
A Giving administrator or bookkeeper can import donations following these steps:
After an import is finalized, in-progress batches separated by year will be created on the Batches page in Giving. A Giving administrator or bookkeeper can then review the import and commit the batch.
Prepare your account and CSV file
Before importing any donations, spend some time preparing your account and CSV file to make sure the process is as smooth as possible.
Prepare your People database
All imported donations will be matched to a profile in your People database, if one exists. Any donation that does not match an existing profile will result in a new profile being created.
There are a couple of things you can do before you import donations to avoid duplicate profiles from being created. First, if you are also importing data into the People product, consider using a remote ID that exists in each file. This is the best way to match profiles during an import. Second, if you already have profiles in People, spend some time merging any duplicate profiles before the import. During a Giving import, a new profile is automatically created if a duplicate profile already exists.
For the best match results, make sure your CSV is formatted to align with how Planning Center stores donor data. Profiles are matched based on name and contact information, so following these tips can increase the chances of more matches.
Use separate columns for first and last name.
If your file includes middle name or suffix columns, include them! These fields will improve match accuracy when mapped to fields in Giving.
Don't include multiple name values in a single cell. For example, the following formats will fail to match an existing profile:
First name: Jane Elizabeth (first and middle name included in a single cell)
First name: Jane and John (joint donor names included in a single cell)
First name: John III (first name and suffix included in a single cell)
First name: John A. (first name and middle initial included in a single cell)
First name: Jonathan (John) (first name and nickname included in a single cell)
The name in your CSV file must match a profile name in Planning Center. The Giving import tool checks against first name, given name, and nickname, so if a profile has "Jonathan" as a first name and "John" as a nickname, either will match. If the CSV file contains a name that doesn't exist in Planning Center, a new profile will be created.
Important
Profile matches to profiles in People that are inactive will not reactivate the profile.
Set up Giving
To make the import process a bit quicker, take some time to make sure the following things are set up in Giving before you begin an import:
Create payment sources: Payment sources are used to indicate which external system your donations came from, likely the previous donation software you used. You can only import donations from one payment source at a time. If you need to import qualified charitable distributions (QCD) or donor-advised funds (DAF), complete a separate import for each using separate payment sources. Payment sources are required for every import.
Create funds: Funds are used to track a donor's intent for their donations. Every imported donation must be mapped to a fund, so be sure to have a Giving administrator create funds before you begin an import.
(Optional) Create labels: Labels are used to organize donations. Review the support fields listed in this article, and then use labels to track data from your CSV file that doesn't have an equivalent in Giving.
(Optional) Add campuses: If you receive donations from multiple campuses, have an organization administrator add them in your account settings before you begin an import.
(Optional) Turn on donor numbers: If you use donor numbers, Giving administrators can turn this setting on in Giving on the Settings page before you begin an import.
Prepare your CSV
The best thing you can do to make the import process go smoothly is to prepare your CSV file. Spend some time reviewing the information, suggestions, and requirements below, then adjust your CSV accordingly.
Tip
CSV files can have up to 152,000 rows and a maximum file size of 30MB. If your file exceeds these limits, split the CSV into two parts and complete two imports.
Things to do before uploading your CSV:
Include a header row with column titles as the first row of your CSV.
Make sure your CSV contains all six required fields: donation amount, fund, received date, payment method, donor first name, and donor last name.
Remove non-deductible payments for goods or services. All donations are imported as tax-deductible and included on statements by default.
Remove refunded or failed transactions. All donations will be imported as successful donations.
Separate donations from donor-advised funds or qualified charitable distributions into their own respective CSVs and complete separate imports using the correct payment sources. These types of donations must be imported separately from deductible gifts to avoid tax implications on donor statements.
Check to make sure you've created all labels and funds
Check online donations to verify the payment method column. Payment method is a required field with four accepted values: card, ACH, cash, and check. If your CSV only includes 'online' as a value, consider adjusting it to include more context. For example, change all card donations to have a value of 'online - card' to speed up the mapping process.
For anonymous donations, enter ‘anonymous’ in the donor_first_name column and‘donor’ in the donor_last_name column.
See the table below for a list of fields available in Giving, including the six required fields that every file should contain. Use this information to edit your CSV column names before uploading the file.
Field | Required? |
Donation amount | Yes |
Received date | Yes |
Fund | Yes |
Payment method | Yes - Accepted values: cash, check, card, ach |
Donor first name | Yes |
Donor last name | Yes |
Donor middle name | No |
Donor suffix | No |
Donor email | No |
Donor phone | No |
Remote ID | No |
Donor number | No |
Donor street | No |
Donor apt/unit/box | No |
Donor city | No |
Donor state | No |
Donor zip code | No |
Donor country | No |
Fees | No |
Card type | No - Accepted values: credit, debit, prepaid, unknown |
Payment method brand | No - Examples: Mastercard, Visa, Bank of America |
Payment last 4 | No |
Check number | No |
Check date | No |
Campus | No |
Memo | No - Memos reflect a donor's intent for their donation and are visible in their Church Center donation history. |
Admin notes | No - Admin (donation) notes are for internal use |
Labels | No - Create additional labels in Giving to add information beyond what's available in this list. |
Upload a CSV file
After you have prepared your account and formatted your CSV correctly, you're ready to start your import! First, you'll upload the file.
Select the Manage page in the top navigation in Giving.
Select Import donations on the left.
Select New import.
Choose the import payment source from the dropdown. The payment source must be added before you begin the import.
Drag and drop your CSV or select or click to browse to upload the file.
Select Next: Map fields.
Map fields and values
After uploading the file, you will need to map fields and values from your CSV to fields and values in Giving to make sure data ends up in the right place.
Tip
If there are fields and values from your old system that do not have matches in Giving, create them as labels to maintain the data record.
The first set of data that needs to be matched is the columns of your CSV, or fields. This is information about the donations you are importing, such as donor names, payment methods, funds, and more. After mapping fields, the next step is to match the information inside the cells of your CSV, or values.
Only one field can be mapped to a field in Giving. Once you've mapped a field, it will be grayed out from the list. Multiple values from your CSV file can map to a single Giving value. For example, two funds from your CSV can map to a single fund in Giving.
Follow the steps below to match fields and values in your CSV to those in Giving. Fields and values will be auto-mapped based on exact name matches, and any left unmapped will be skipped during the import.
Select the dropdown in each Giving field, and choose a field to map to your CSV columns. There are six fields you are required to map: donation amount, received date, fund, donor first name, donor last name, and payment method.
Select Next: Map values.
Select the dropdown in each Giving value and choose a value to map to your CSV values. Fund and payment method values are required, but label values are optional.
Select Next: Review.
Review and finalize import
After you've mapped all fields and values, it's time to review the donations to be imported. During this step, it is important to review all of the donations that are ready to be imported. You'll want to pay special attention to any donations that are being matched to existing profiles to ensure they are accurate matches.
From the Preview page of the import:
Select the Ready to import tab.
Select the Donations to new profiles tab on the left to review all new profiles that will be created through this import.
If you notice any issues, check the box to the left of a donor name to skip that donation. If that donor has more than one donation included, choose to skip all donations or only the single donation.
Select the Matched to existing profiles tab and review all donations that will be matched to existing profiles.
(Optional) Select the donor name to view their profile in Giving.
If you notice any issues, check the box to the left of a donor name to skip that donation. If the donor has more than one donation included, choose to skip all donations or only the single donation.
Select the Donations with errors tab.
Review all errors that were found in the CSV file.
After you have reviewed all the information to be imported, select Import [number] donations.
View the summary page for an overview of all imported donations.
Select View and commit batch to review the in progress batches that were created through the import, and commit the batch.
Donation receipts are disabled for imported donations. If you'd like to send a receipt to a donor, you can do so from their donor profile once the import batch is committed.
Export errors and skipped rows
Once you have reviewed all the donations to be imported and the errors that were found, export the errors and skipped rows so you can fix the issues and complete another import.
Select the Manage page in the top navigation in Giving.
Select Import donations on the left.
Find the import where the errors are located and select Continue.
Select Export errors & skipped rows in the top right of the Preview page.
Open the downloaded file, correct the errors, and complete a new import.
All of the field and value mappings you completed during the initial import will be retained when you import the corrected donations again.
Undo an import
If you need to undo an import for any reason, contact the Planning Center support team up to two weeks after the import took place.
All donations included in the import will be removed from giving and from existing profiles. Profiles that were created from the import will be deleted unless they have had additional activity outside of Giving since the import took place.