Understanding Soft Credits
In fundraising, you may wish to track both who gives and who should be recognized for giving. That’s where soft credits come in.
Hard Credits
A hard credit is a gift credited to the actual donor who makes the payment. For example, if a donor gives $100 online, they receive the hard credit.
Soft Credits
A soft credit recognizes someone who influenced or initiated the gift, even if they didn’t directly make the payment. Common examples include:
- A spouse being recognized for a household gift
- An individual credited for a gift from their business, foundation, or Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)
- A donor receiving soft credit for a matching gift made by their employer
Soft credits help you track donor influence, recognize key relationships, and understand true donor engagement.
How Dataro Handles Soft Credits in Modelling
By default, Dataro’s models use hard credit or actual gift data only, not soft credits. There are several reasons for this, including that soft credits usually apply to a very small minority of gifts in a dataset (especially in individual giving) and there is very little standardization in the way that different organizations record soft credits. However, in some case our tech team can make custom adjustments to models and reports on your behalf, especially where soft credits affect a meaningful proportion of your total gift volume. If you are interested in learning more, Log a Ticket and our support team will be happy to assist you.