Basics

• The Donor record is one of the 5 main records in MinistryPlatform. It holds information regarding a specific individual's financial donations.
• Donor records are created by any of the following methods:
  • Donating on the Online Giving or Mission Trip Giving pages of Portal,
  • Using the Add Donor dialogue in the Batch Manager Tool, or
  • Using the Add/Edit Family Tool by checking the Create Donor Record box.

Donor Record Fields

• Contact: The Contact record associated with the Donor.
• Stmt Frequency: An informational field (usually used to help create views and selections to send Contribution Statements).
• Stmt Type: An indication of whether the Donor receives an Individual or Family statement.
• Stmt Method: An informational field that can be updated by the Contact via the Portal (usually used to help create views and selections to send Contribution Statements).
• Envelope No: Optional giving envelope number. Use the Assign Envelope Number tool to add the next envelope number to a Donor record.
• Cancel Envelopes: An informational field, usually used in determining whether or not to send out envelopes.
• Notes: A field for Notes about the Donor.
• Always Soft Credit: The Donor record that should always be given Soft Credit for any Donations made by this Donor. This will be set on any applicable Distributions nightly by a Routine.
• Always Pledge Credit: The Pledge record that should always be given Pledge credit for any Donation made by this Donor. This will be set on any applicable Distributions nightly by a Routine.
• Setup Date: The Date the donor record was added to the system.
• First Contact Made: An informational field.
• First Donation Date: A read-only field that is populated nightly Routine. Note: The Donation must be batched to be counted as a First Donation. 
• Last Donation Date: A read-only field that is populated nightly Routine. Note: The donation must be batched to be counted as a Last Donation.
• Donation Frequency: A value set automatically indicating how often this Donor gives nightly be a Routine. See Donor Tracking for details.
• Donation Level: A value set automatically categorizing the amount this Donor gives nightly be a Routine. See Donor Tracking for details.
• Donor Code: A 16-character code that is meant to uniquely identify each donor, but you can define and use this code in any way that fits your needs. For our Catholic instances, you might use this as the diocesan identifier for donors that's separate from the envelope number.