Import donations

Important

Fundraising and Engagement is being retired. Support for Fundraising and Engagement will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on December 31, 2026. For more information, go to What’s new in Fundraising and Engagement.

You can import donation data into Fundraising and Engagement with the Donation import wizard. The import wizard provides the following capabilities:

  • Simplified navigation that walks you through the import process
  • Template to help you match import fields
  • Ability to monitor the import process while continuing with other work

During the import process, the import wizard performs the following actions:

  • If a donor doesn't already exist in Fundraising and Engagement, the import wizard automatically creates a new contact record.
  • Automatically link all imported financial transactions to the donor record and assume that the payment has already been made. As a result, the import process doesn't deduct any money from donor accounts.
  • Imports all records and mark them as active.

Preparing data for import

Before importing any records, ensure your data is clean, because all data is imported and automatically marked as active. You can preview the data before importing, but after the records are imported, they'll be live in the system.

You can use the standard import template. To use the import template, select Get Import Template on the command bar on the Import donations page.

You can import donation data by using the original Excel or CSV file from the source. To use the original file, follow the steps in Import donations with the Donation import wizard.

The import template includes data validation on some of the columns to ensure that data is properly formatted for import. If you import without using the template, note the following requirements:

  • You must express donation amount currency values using comma and decimal separators (for example, ###,###.##).
  • You must express dates in month/date/year format (for example, MM/DD/YY).

Important

At a minimum, the source document must have the transaction amount and either the organization name or the first and last name of the donor.

Your Dynamics data format must be set to English (United States) to ensure that dates and donation amounts are imported properly. If your settings are not set to English (United States), you will receive a notification at the beginning of the import process. To confirm or change the format, click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner and select Personalization Settings -> Formats. This limitation will be addressed in a future release.

Import donations with the Donation import wizard

  1. Select Gifts from the options area in the bottom left of the screen.

    Select Gifts on the bottom left.

  2. On the left navigation panel, select Import Donations.

    Select Import donations on the left navigation panel.

  3. On the command bar, select Import Donations.

    Select Import Donations on the command bar.

    The Donation import wizard opens.

    The Donation import wizard.

  4. On the Select file page, either select the main panel to navigate to your CSV or Excel file, or drag and drop the file into the main panel.

    After you select a file, the panel will display the following items:

    Screenshot showing first step of the wizard where the source import file is selected.

    Select Next to continue.

  5. On the Review data page, a preview of the selected file appears if the file meets all the import criteria. Select Next to continue.

    Preview of a file to be imported.

    If the file has no data or is too large, one of the following messages displays. Correct the source file and try again.

    Error message if the source file contains no data.

    Error message if the source file is too big.

  6. On the Required page under Mapping, you need to map the fields from your data source to the fields in Fundraising and Engagement. You can save the mapping for future imports.

    The symbols at the end of the fields have the following meanings:

    The four icons are red, yellow, green, and black.

    You must map the following mandatory fields:

    • Transaction amount
    • Either Organization or First Name and Last Name.

    Mapping the source file with Fundraising and Engagement fields.

    Select Next.

  7. On the Additional page under Mapping, you can add any other fields detected in the source file. You need to map any fields that you want to upload into Fundraising and Engagement.

    Additional fields in your data source that you need to map to fields in Fundraising and Engagement.

    Note

    You only need to map fields that are relevant to your import. You can ignore any fields that aren't required.

    To save your mapping, select Create new data mapping at the top of the screen.

    Create new data mapping.

    Enter a name to identify the data source that you're using to import your data. The next time you import data using a file in this format, you can select the mapping name from the dropdown list, and it will automatically populate the required fields.

    Create new data mapping to save the mapping settings.

    Select Next.

  8. On the Error check page, a warning message appears if any fields in the source field aren't mapped. You don't need to include these fields if they aren't required.

    Warning message if any columns in the source data file haven't been included in the mapping.

    Select Cancel to map the remaining fields, or select Continue to start the import.

    The data is checked to ensure that the data in each column is in the correct format.

    Screenshot showing a moving circle as the data is being checked to ensure that it's in the correct format.

    Any errors found in the data source are highlighted. You can either Reupload source file or select Next to continue without those fields. If there are any errors in the mandatory fields, you must fix the issues in the source file, and then reupload the source file to continue.

    Screenshot of the error message if any data isn't in the correct format to be imported into Fundraising and Engagement.

    Select Next.

  9. The Confirmation page shows the status of your import.

    Confirmation page of the Donation import wizard.

    Select Track my import to check the progress of the import.

    Note

    You can continue with your work during the import process. If you receive a notification message with the title "Leave this page?", select OK to proceed.

See also

Gifts overview
Contacts in Fundraising and Engagement
Transactions in Fundraising and Engagement