Import donors and gifts from a spreadsheet

Moving from another system, or from spreadsheets? Export your data as CSV and import it here. Nothing is written until you confirm, and a dry run shows exactly what would happen first.

Prepare the file

• CSV (also .txt or .tsv) with a header row. Up to 25 MB and 50,000 rows per file.
• One row per donor, or one row per gift (with the donor's details repeated on each row). Both work; gift rows create or match the donor and then add the gift.
• Helpful columns: an External ID from your old system, Email, First/Last name (or a full name), address, phone, Tags, and for gifts: Gift amount, Gift date, Fund, Campaign, Payment method, Check number.

Import

1. Open Donors → Import and upload the file.
2. Map columns. We guess from your headers; fix any that are wrong and set unused columns to "Skip". You can map to your own custom fields too.
3. Choose options:
   • Match existing donors by External ID, Email, or Email then name. See How imports avoid duplicates.
   • Default fund for gifts with no fund column.
   • Create missing funds, campaigns, appeals and tags as they're encountered (recommended on a first import).
   • Fill blanks on donors that already exist, without overwriting anything already filled in.
4. Dry run. Review the counts: donors to create, donors matched, gifts to add, rows with problems. Open the row list to see each warning. Fix the file and re-upload if needed.
5. Commit. The import runs in the background; large files take a few minutes. You can leave the page.

What imported gifts do and don't do

• They appear in donor histories, reports and year-end statements.
• They do not send receipts or thank-you emails; donors were thanked by your old system.
• A gift with the same donor, amount and date as one already on file (or earlier in the same file) is skipped as a duplicate.
• Imported gifts never carry a platform fee.

Important: there is no undo after commit

You can discard an import any time before committing. Once committed, the records are in your database for good; cleaning up means archiving donors or editing gifts by hand. Always read the dry run carefully, and consider importing a small test file first.

Coming from Neon CRM, Bloomerang, Little Green Light or DonorPerfect?

Export your donors and your donation history as two separate CSVs from the old system's reports, import donors first, then gifts (matching by External ID or email). If you'd like us to look at your export before you import, send us a ticket with a few sample rows (no card numbers, please).