Soft Credits
Instructions for configuring and using this integration with Rock RMS.
Requires Rock V.15 and above.
Overview
The Soft Credits Plugin enables your church to assign and track soft credit donations, ensuring visibility into contributions that support individuals or organizations beyond the direct donor. This updated version introduces the ability to designate Soft Credit From and Soft Credit For, ensuring that giving is accurately reflected in giving reports and profile giving graphs.
A soft credit applies when a donation is made on behalf of another individual or entity, such as a business or foundation. In these cases:
The donor (person or business) is assigned the transaction.
The designated recipient—the individual or entity for whom the donation is made—receives a soft credit.
Key Features
The Soft Credits Plugin, allows you to:
✔️ Establish soft credit relationships between Soft Credit From and Soft Credit For.
✔️ Edit existing transactions to ensure accurate soft credit assignments.
✔️ View all soft credit transactions using date range filters and other relevant criteria.
✔️ Include soft credits in giving reports and profile giving gifts.
✔️ Include soft credit details on giving statements.
Example
📝 Ted Decker owns Tip Top Tree Shop.
🌳 Tip Top Tree Shop makes a donation on behalf of Ted Decker.
As a result:
✅ The transaction is assigned to Tip Top Tree Shop.
✅ A soft credit is assigned to Ted Decker.
Installation & Configuration
System Job: Sync Soft Credits
When the Soft Credits Plugin is installed, a system job called "Sync Soft Credits" is automatically added. This job runs daily at midnight, ensuring that soft credits are correctly assigned to the designated recipient.
The Sync Soft Credits job allows you to select a Soft Credit Direction, optimizing the use of the Soft Credit For and Soft Credit From attributes. This update provides flexibility, enabling you to choose between Soft Credit or Soft Credit From when processing transactions.
✅ To reflect transactions on a person's profile as a soft credit:
Use the option "Move transaction to person and add 'Soft Credit from' value for this business." This ensures that transactions will appear under the person's profile for whom the soft credit is For (designated).
Establishing the Soft Credit Relationship
Assigning Soft Credit to a Person for a Business Profile
The Soft Credit Plugin introduces two new attributes—Soft Credit For and Soft Credit From—to the Transaction Detail entity. These attributes allow you to designate who should receive soft credit for a business's donation.
Steps to Assign Soft Credit:
Navigate to Finance > Businesses.
Select the business you want to update.
Click Edit.
Locate the Soft Credit Recipient attribute, which defines who the soft credit is for.
Select the Person who the soft credit should be for.
Save the changes.
Once configured, the Soft Credits list on both the Business Details page and the recipient's profile will display Soft Credit For and Soft Credit From values.
Updating an Existing Transaction
📝 Important Note:
Establishing a soft credit relationship does not retroactively update past transactions. The relationship applies only to future transactions.
📝 Important Note:
When updating the Soft Credit values on a Transaction Detail you only need one value. In the case of a business transaction detail, you'd specify the Soft Credit For (person).
Soft Credit Move Utility Block
The Soft Credits Plugin includes a new feature called the Soft Credit Move Utility. This tool allows you to convert soft credits between "For" and "From" designations.
If you previously used the Soft Credit For value in earlier versions of the plugin, this utility helps transition to the updated Soft Credit From model.
Steps to Use the Soft Credit Move Utility
Navigate to Admin Tools > Installed Plugins > Soft Credit Move Utility.
Choose how to update Soft Credits:
Selecting For ⮕From will convert the transaction to be From the business For the person.
This process can also be reversed as needed.
⚠️ Important Limitation:
If a business donates on behalf of multiple people, this utility cannot update those transactions.
Viewing All Soft Credits
To view all assigned soft credits, navigate to:
📍Finance > Soft Credit
This section allows you to filter and review soft credit transactions efficiently. A new filter option lets you choose between:
✔️ Soft Credit For
✔️ Soft Credit From
This filtering capability helps you quickly locate and analyze the relevant soft credit records.
Including Soft Credits in Giving Statements
After installing the plugin, two new Lava shortcodes will be available in:
📍Admin Tools > CMS Configuration > Lava Shortcodes
These shortcodes can be added to your giving statement template to include Soft Credit For and Soft Credit From transaction details.
📝 Note: The previous shortcode is still available, as it is likely already included in your current giving statements.
Steps to Add Soft Credits to Giving Statements:
Navigate to Finance > Financial Settings and select the Statement Template you wish to update.
The plugin includes a Soft Credit Sample template to help demonstrate how to use the new shortcodes in giving statements. This sample template provides additional features, such as:
If you are running the statement for a person that has transactions on their record from an organization, you don't want to add those to their giving total. These shortcodes will show For or From contributions.
Excluding transactions from an organization that appear on a person's record from their giving total.
Displaying business transactions made From the business For a person.
Showing transactions on a personal record that are soft credits from a business.
Paste the Lava shortcode in the desired location within the template.
Save the changes to update the giving statement format.
Additional Features
✔️ If soft credits are present, the statement will display an alert message stating that Soft Credits are not tax-deductible gifts.
✔️ The statement will categorize soft credit transactions into three different total categories for clarity.
✔️ A new Soft Credit From column will be added to list the associated business.
Preparing for End-of-Year Contribution Statements
Before generating end-of-year statements, you must ensure that you are using Rock v14.2 or later.
This version allows you to modify endpoints used for downloading contributions.
Steps to Configure the Statement Generator:
Open the Statement Generator and log in.
Click on the Tools button in the top-left corner.
Select Options from the dropdown menu.
Adjust the necessary settings, then click Save.
Process your statements as usual.
Important Note
When choosing between Soft Credit For and Soft Credit From, consider the following:
✅ Advantages of 'For':
Appears in the Giving Overview under the Contributions tab.
❌ Disadvantages of 'For':
Not included in any giving reports.
Not added to a pledge.
❌ Disadvantages of 'From':
The transaction is recorded under a profile that did not write the check.
✅ Advantages of 'From':
Transactions will still be designated as Soft Credits, ensuring visibility in reports.
Summary
The Soft Credits Plugin enhances your ability to track and manage soft credit donations, ensuring accurate financial records and transparency in giving reports. By leveraging features like Soft Credit For and Soft Credit From, configurable system jobs, and giving statement integration, your organization can properly attribute donations while maintaining clear donor relationships.
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