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Processing Donations

Rachael Norris
Rachael Norris
  • Updated

Once you have one or more Funds set up, you can start asking customers to make Donations. You can process Donations through your Spektrix system both online and in the Sales Interface.

If you are an Opportunities Interface user, you can also process Donations within the Opportunities Interface.

In this article, we’ll cover a number of different ways you can process Donations:

Before learning about processing Donations, make sure you’re familiar with:

 

Processing Donations in the Sales Interface

Donations made in person or over the phone will be processed by your team in the Box Office using the Sales Interface. This also includes Donations that come in via a cheque/check or BACS / bank transfer.

In this section, we’ll cover two ways you can process stand alone Donations (Donations that are not Ticket Donations) in the Sales Interface.

VIDEO: Jump ahead to our Spektrix Training: On Demand video - Processing a Donation in the Sales Interface for a guided walkthrough of this process.

 

Adding a Donation to an Order

You can add a Donation to an order stage of a transaction by navigating to the Other tab > Donations and adding a Donation to the basket.

We’ve outlined steps below, which you can follow to process a Donation. In this example, we start by adding the Customer Record first. 

  • Start by navigating to the Sales Interface. 
  • Search for and add a Customer Record to the basket.
  • Select the Sales Channel (phone, counter, counter quick, web). 
  • Go to the Other tab > Donations. Here you’ll see the Funds that you have set up that are active. 
  • Choose the Fund and enter the value of the Donation into the box.

TIP: If you have the Donation Recognition and Tributes feature switched on then you’ll also see the Add Recognition check box. You can check this box and add any Recognitions or Tributes before adding a Donation to the basket/cart. For further details, read Adding Recognition and Tributes to a Donation in the Basket.

  • Click the blue basket icon to add this Donation to your order.

TIP: For UK organisations, at this stage you’ll be prompted to add Gift Aid information. You can learn more about processing Gift Aid in the article Tracking and Claiming Gift Aid.

 

Processing Donations alongside other purchases

Another way you can process Donations in the Sales Interface is through Pre Payment Options as part of the checkout process.

In order to do this you’ll need to have the Pre Payment Panel enabled. You can turn this on in the Settings Interface under System Setup > Basket. 

Toggle the switch marked Display pre-payment panel in the basket.

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With this switched on, all eligible Funds will appear in the Pre Payment Options section of the screen.

To add a Donation to the fund, click the Add button. You can also amend the value of the Donation by editing the default amount.

 

After you click Add, the Donation will be added to the Items section on the left side of the Basket / Cart.

 

On-Demand Training Video - Processing a Donation in the Sales Interface

In this section of our Spektrix Training: On Demand video on Fundraising and Opportunities, we cover the processing a Donation in the Sales Interface process.

This chapter is a guided walkthrough of:

  • Changing the Accounting Date
  • Adding Soft Credits
  • Capturing Recognitions and Tributes
  • Selling a Donation
  • The Donation Prompt in the Basket/Cart

VIDEO TIP: With our Spektrix Training: On Demand videos- you can stop, restart or move to specific chapters. Click the CC option to turn on captions. Click into the Settings menu cog icon to control speed, captions and quality.

 

Taking Donations Online

Donations can appear on your website in different ways, depending on how your website is integrated with Spektrix, 

Below, we’ve listed some common ways you can ask for Donations in your web journeys:

  • In the purchase path - Donations will appear during the purchase path for eligible customers and Events.
  • iFrames - setting up a Donation page on your website using iFrames so that customers can donate without needing to purchase other items.
  • Web Components - adding a donate button on your website.

REMINDER: To make a Fund available online, you’ll need to have set up a Fund which has the Display on web checkbox checked.

 

In the purchase path

When making a purchase online, customers will see the Fund they're eligible to donate to based on the Event and customer criteria set up in the Fund. The Donations page will appear after the customer logs in, or after the checkout button is selected in the basket if they are already logged in. 

If a customer is eligible for multiple Funds, the Fund with the highest suggested donation amount will appear.

REMINDER:  If you would prefer to set your system to show every Fund which a customer is eligible for, you can amend this. Go to the Settings Interface > System Setup > Website and select the Show all matching funds option.


From here, customers can:

  • Choose Continue with Donation to add a donation of the suggested amount.
  • Amend the suggested amount by changing the number in the Amount box and then clicking the Continue With Donation button to add this to the order.
  • Continue Without Donation. This option is not available by default but you can switch this on or off in the Settings Interface, under System Setup > Website. If you turn this option off, customers will need to amend the donation amount to £0.00 in order to proceed without donating. 

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Here’s an example of how a Donation ask in the purchase path might appear online. Bear in mind that any styling that you have will determine how this will look on your website:

 

 

iFrames

The Donations iframe can be embedded into a page on your website to provide customers with a way of donating without needing to purchase tickets.

By default, this page will show all of the Funds set to be available online. 

Here’s an example of how a Donations iframe might look. Bear in mind that any styling that you have will determine how this appears on your website:

To add the Donations iframe to your website you’ll need to request support from your web developer.

There are guides on the Integration Portal to support web developers with making these changes. To add the Donations iframe they’ll need to:

 

Filtering iFrames

You can also use Fund Attributes to filter the Donations iFrame.

This means you can set up different pages on your website that each only show a single Fund, or a selection of your Funds.

REMINDER: To filter iframes based on Attributes you’ll need to request assistance from your web developer. Guidance for web developers on how to filter iFrames based on Attributes can be found on the Integrations Portal.

  • How to use Fund Attributes to filter iFrames.
    If, for example, you want one type of Fund in the purchase path and another type of Fund on a separate donations page, you would need both to be active. You would then use Attributes to stop both from displaying in each context.

    Follow these steps to do this:

    • Go to Settings > Attribute Templates and set up a new Fund Attribute. 
    • Give the new Attribute a descriptive name like Fund Type and add a dropdown list of options which identify the different types of Funds.
    • Edit each of the Funds. Attach the relevant Attribute from the dropdown list.
    • Under Event Criteria, set the Fund you wish to display in the purchase path to be forced on the way to checkout, by going to Event Criteria > Always or For specific Events. Set the Event Criteria for the Fund you do not wish to display in the purchase path as Never.
    • You can then embed the Donations iframe into a separate page on your website, using an Attribute as part of the URL. Visit our Integrations Portal for more information about using Attributes to filter iframes.

    REMINDER: Make sure the Display on web check box is ticked for both Funds.

 

Web components

Web Components are a way to insert a Donation ask into an existing page on your website. This offers customers an option to donate outside of the purchase path and without having to navigate to a specific Donations page.

 

 

REMINDER: To add the Donations Web Component to your website, you’ll need to request assistance from your web developer. Guidance for web developers on how to add the Donations Web Component can be found on our Integrations Portal.

 

Exchanging a Donation

It’s possible that you might need to exchange a Donation, for example, if a donor wants to change the restrictions on their gift. 

VIDEO: Jump ahead to our Spektrix Training: On Demand video - Exchanging Donations for a guided walkthrough of this process.

Follow the steps below to learn how to exchange a Donation from one Fund to another:

  • To start, go to the Sales Interface and find the Order which contains the original Donation. You can do this by looking up the Customer Record or searching by the Order ID. 
  • The donation will appear in the box marked Other Items. 
  • Before exchanging, make a note of the amount of the original Donation, the Fund, and if the Donation has a Tribute, Soft Credit, Opportunities or the original Accounting Date.

TIP: If the tribute is a longer message you can pull the Donations Report to get the full message.

  • Select the Donation so that the checkbox is checked. Then click the Return button. This will open the Order so you can edit it. 
  • Add the new Donation to the Order by navigating to Other > Donations. 
  • Apply the information from the original Donation. If the Donation has a Tribute, Soft Credit, Opportunity or Accounting Date, register this information against the new order.
  • Complete the transaction. If the value of the Donation is the same, there should be no need to take payment or issue a refund.

 

On-Demand Training Video - Exchanging Donations

In this section of our Spektrix Training: On Demand video on Fundraising and Opportunities, we cover the exchanging Donations process.

This chapter is a guided walkthrough of:

  • How to exchange a Donation to another Fund

VIDEO TIP: With our Spektrix Training: On Demand videos- you can stop, restart or move to specific chapters. Click the CC option to turn on captions. Click into the Settings menu cog icon to control speed, captions and quality.

 

Exchanging a Ticket to a Donation

Sometimes when a customer returns Tickets they might offer to donate some or all of the value of the transaction. In this section we’ll cover the steps you can follow to do this:

  • To start, go to the Sales Interface and find the Order by looking up the Customer Record or searching by the Order ID.
  • Find the Tickets or Items to be returned.

TIP: If you would like to record information such as why a Ticket is being converted into a Donation, you can add Ticket Attributes. Read Reporting on Ticket Returns for information on how to set up Ticket Attributes as well as how to report on the Ticket Returns.

  • Select the Items so that the checkbox is checked. Then click the Return button. This will open up the Order so that you can edit it. 
  • Add a Donation to the Order by navigating to Other > Donations. Choose the Fund and enter the amount. Complete the transaction. If the value of the Donation is the same as the original payment, there should be no need to process a refund. If there is a difference then you can process the refund or payment.

TIP: If you need to manage a large number of cancelled bookings, take a look at the article on the Ticket Converter Tool.

 

Processing Donations in the Opportunities Interface

TIP: If you don’t currently have access to the Opportunities Interface, contact Support to talk to us about switching it on.

You can also process Donations in the Opportunities Interface.

VIDEO: Jump ahead to our Spektrix Training: On Demand video - Processing a Donation in the Opportunities Interface for a guided walkthrough of this process.

  • Navigate to the Opportunities Interface.
  • Click the Basket icon from the menu on the left of the screen. Here you’ll see the Funds and Memberships that you have set up that are active. 
  • Choose the Fund and enter the value of the Donation into the box.

TIP: If you have the Donation Recognition and Tributes feature switched on then you’ll also see the Add Recognition check box. You can check this box and add any Recognitions or Tributes before adding a Donation to the basket/cart. For further details, read Adding Recognition and Tributes to a Donation in the Basket.

  • Click the blue basket icon to add this Donation to your Order.
  • Next, you’ll be prompted to search for and add a Customer Record to this Donation.
  • Once you have selected the customer, you’ll be prompted to choose an existing, or create a new Opportunity.
  • Select the Opportunity to associate this Donation with.
  • Select the Sales Channel (phone, counter, counter quick, web). 

TIP: For UK based organisations, at this stage you’ll be prompted to add Gift Aid information. You can learn more about processing Gift Aid in the article Tracking and Claiming Gift Aid.

  • Once you have processed the payment, click Confirm to confirm the Order.
  • Finally, you’ll be given the option to send a Confirmation Email for this Order.

 

On-Demand Training Video - Processing Donations in the Opportunities Interface

In this section of our Spektrix Training: On Demand video on Fundraising and Opportunities, we cover the processing Donations in the Opportunities Interface process.

This chapter is a guided walkthrough of:

  • Taking a Donation in the Opportunities Interface
  • Assigning an Opportunity to the sale of a Donation

VIDEO TIP: With our Spektrix Training: On Demand videos- you can stop, restart or move to specific chapters. Click the CC option to turn on captions. Click into the Settings menu cog icon to control speed, captions and quality.

 

Further Reading

To continue learning about Funds and Donations we recommend taking a look at the following articles. You can also find more in the Customer Loyalty and Fundraising section of the Support Centre.