DonorPerfect Split Gifts

Send a multi-line order to DonorPerfect as a split gift, so ticket revenue, auction revenue and added donations can each be booked to a different general ledger code.

What splitting changes

By default, a BetterUnite order arrives in DonorPerfect as one gift at the order total, with the non-deductible portion in the fair market value field and the purchased lines named in the gift narrative. That is already correct for receipting and for tax reporting.

With Itemize multi-line orders as split gifts on, the same order arrives as several linked records: a main gift carrying the total, plus one line per item, each with its own general ledger code.

The only thing splitting buys is separate general ledger coding per line. If your organization books gala tickets and auction wins to the same code, splitting adds nothing and costs several API calls per order instead of one. Leave it off.

Turn it on

Open Sync Options on the DonorPerfect setup page and switch on Itemize multi-line orders as split gifts, then Save Options.

The switch is unavailable until a general ledger code exists for the splits to land in. Set a default general ledger code in Sync Options, or give every campaign with donations waiting a code of its own. The page names the campaigns it is waiting on.

Changing this setting only affects gifts synced afterwards, in both directions. Gifts already in DonorPerfect keep the shape they arrived in. The DonorPerfect API cannot delete a gift, so nothing already sent can be re-shaped by BetterUnite; changing history would mean your staff editing records by hand.

Set a code per line item

Switching itemizing on adds a Line Items tab to the setup page, listing every purchasable item across your campaigns, newest campaign first.

Each row has a general ledger drop-down and a Save button. Leave a row on Use the campaign's code and that item falls back to its campaign's mapping, and then to the organization default.

This is where the value is. A gala with a ticket at one code, a sponsorship at another and auction items at a third needs three rows set here, once.

What arrives in DonorPerfect

A split order arrives as a main gift plus its lines:

The main gift carries the full order total. Every financial code on it reads SEE_SPLIT, which is how DonorPerfect marks a parent whose real values live on its lines.
One gift per purchased item, each carrying the amount paid for that item, coded with the item's own general ledger code, then the campaign's, then the default.
A balancing line, when needed, carrying whatever the items do not account for. It uses the campaign's code, then the default, and its narrative reads "Additional gift".

The balancing line matters more than it sounds. A gala order is often tickets plus an added donation at checkout, and DonorPerfect rejects a split whose lines do not add up to the parent exactly. The difference becomes a line of its own rather than being dropped.

Fair market value moves onto the lines that earned it, so a ticket line carries the value of the meal and a pure donation line carries none.

If an order cannot be split

Some orders are not worth splitting and some cannot be. In both cases the order is still sent, as a single gift:

An order with one line, or none. A parent with a single line underneath it is one gift wearing a costume, so BetterUnite sends one gift.
An order whose lines do not add up to the total. Rather than fail the gift, BetterUnite sends it whole. One gift is always a correct answer.

What to expect on a big event

Each record in a split is a separate request to DonorPerfect, because their API takes gifts one at a time. A three-line order is four writes instead of one.

If a sync is interrupted partway through an order, you may see a parent gift in DonorPerfect with only some of its lines. That is visibly wrong rather than quietly wrong, and it is recoverable: each line is recorded as it lands, so re-running the sync finishes the order instead of duplicating the lines that already arrived.