You will need the Contributions Settings permission to add, edit, merge or delete designations. If you are limited to some campuses, editing a designation needs access to one of its campuses, and deleting it needs access to every one of them.
When adding a transaction, you can specify details such as the designation, which will appear on giving statements. You can also determine if a designation is active, which can be selected from the giving portal and used for text giving. Additionally, you can assign a text-giving keyword to make it easier for donors to give to specific designations.
Adding a designation
Click on Contributions > Settings in the left-hand navigation menu. This will display the designation tab. Click on the "Add Designation" button.
A pop-up will appear with the following fields:
Name - the name of the designation. This is what appears on the giving statement, giving portal, and confirmation emails.
Abbreviation - the internal code for the designation. This does not appear in outside communication or the giving portal.
Description - text that appears when the designation is chosen on the giving portal or in batch.
Category - an optional category for the designation. Categories are used to group designations and make it easier to organize long lists of designations.
Tax Deductible? - This determines the default setting when someone gives to this designation. You can override this on individual line items when adding new transactions manually to a batch. By default, non-tax-deductible transactions are not included in giving statements.
Active? - If yes, the designation can be given from the giving portal and text giving. You also cannot create a transaction for this designation manually from within a batch.
More fields
Campus - where the designation sits. Link any designation that is meant for one campus to that campus, because a gift's campus comes from its designations. If your account has more than one organization, the designation belongs to exactly one organization, and any campuses on it must be inside that organization.
Memo Field
This section holds the settings for the designation's memo field.
Show Memo Field? - This enables the memo field for the specific designation.
Type - The type of memo field for the designation. The two options are:
Text - This field will accept text up to the character limit. A text memo can be used when an unspecified option is desired, such as a person's name or general information.
Placeholder - This is the default text that will be displayed in the text field. This can be used to indicate the type of information desired, such as a name or additional info for context on the donation.
Character Limit - The limit to the number of characters that can be entered into the memo field.
Dropdown - This field will display multiple options where only one can be selected. Used to add one of the predetermined options to be selected for the memo field.
Choices - the selectable options from the dropdown
Bulk add - adds the ability to add many options at once.
- Add a choice
- hide a choice
- delete a choice
- rearrange choices
Is Required? - A memo will be needed to record or process the donation.
Is Hidden? - Temporarily hides the memo from view.
Editing a designation
Click on the horizontal dots in the row of the designation you want to modify. A drop-down will appear with the options to Edit, Delete or Merge.
Deleting or merging a designation
Select the "Delete" button from the drop-down menu at the end of the row containing the designation you want to delete. A confirmation message will appear.
If you receive an error message after attempting to delete the designation, this means the designation cannot be deleted because it is in use.
However, you can merge it into another designation by choosing the "Merge Into..." option in the dropdown. If your account has more than one organization, designations of two organizations cannot be merged. Merging needs Contributions Settings on both designations, and access to every campus of the one being removed.
Warning: Merging a designation updates all previous transactions, including closed batches. Accounting entries are not affected unless the batch is closed and reopened.
Deactivating a designation
Select the horizontal dots and then "Edit" from the drop-down menu containing the fund you want to deactivate. A pop-up will display, and you will see "Active." Select to deactivate the designation.
Note: Deactivating a designation, one at a time or in bulk, removes it from every giving portal. Recurring giving schedules keep processing under the deactivated designation.
With more than one organization
A designation is a financial record, so it belongs to exactly one organization. Any campuses on it must be inside that organization.
Moving a designation to another organization
A designation cannot move to another organization once it has gifts, recurring gifts, giving portals, text-giving keywords or campaigns, or once it is the default designation of a batch or campus. Trying shows this message:
This designation already has gifts, recurring gifts, giving pages, text-giving keywords or campaigns, or is the default designation of a batch or campus, so it can't move to another organization.
Other rules
Each organization has its own default designation. Moving a default designation into another organization clears its default mark.
Two organizations can use the same text-giving keyword. Inside one organization a keyword must be unique, and its merchant account must belong to the designation's organization.
A bulk Category change files each designation under a One Church Giving merchant account of its own organization. A designation whose organization has no onboarded merchant account is skipped.
(Blanks) has been removed from the campus filter on the designation list.
Note: A gift's campus comes from its designations, not from the donor. How you set a designation's campuses decides which campus-limited staff can see the gifts made to it. How do I add contributions? explains this with an example.