Donors & imports
Tags, custom fields and households
The three ways to organize donor records beyond name and address, and when to use each.
1 min read · Updated October 31, 2026
Tags
Free-form labels you attach to any number of donors: board, volunteer, gala-2026, newsletter. Use tags for groups you'll want to filter by.
- Add tags from the donor page or in an import column (separate several with
;|or,). - Filter donor lists and the Donor list report by tag.
- Tags are managed under Settings → Tags & fields.
Custom fields
Structured fields you define once and fill in per donor: text, number, yes/no, date, or a dropdown of choices (Preferred contact: email / mail / phone). Define them under Settings → Tags & fields. They appear on the donor page and in the import column mapper (as custom: columns).
Use a custom field when the information has a value; use a tag when it's just membership in a group.
Households
A household groups people who live together, so a couple's giving can be seen together while tax receipts stay individual, issued to whoever gave. Households are created from the donor record, or during an import by mapping a Household name column.
Other record fields
Every donor also has: email, phone, mailing address, an external ID from a previous system, a do not contact flag (statements and thank-yous aren't emailed to them), notes, and tasks you can assign to teammates. Global search finds donors by name, email, phone or external ID, and gifts by check number or exact amount.
Archiving
Archived donors disappear from lists by default but keep their history; their gifts stay in reports and the deposits tie-out. Donors aren't deleted outright, since that would change your financial records. There is no merge tool yet for duplicate records; archive the extra one.