Gift Types

Depending on your fundraising efforts and constituent relationships, your organization may receive many different types of charitable gifts.

One-time gifts are charitable gifts paid outright as cash or by check, payment card, or direct debit.

Note: In the database view, one-time gifts appear as cash gifts.

Gifts-in-kind are contributions of goods or services that have an estimated monetary value, such as auction items, furniture, computer equipment, or pro bono work by a lawyer or contractor.

Stock/property gifts are contributions of stock certificates, land, or estates, which your organization may opt to keep or sell to benefit your fundraising efforts. If you sell the stocks or property, you can track its value as a gift of Stock/property (sold). For more information, see Stock/Property Gifts.

Pledges are commitments to donate in the future with a single gift or through multiple installments, such as a gift of $1200 as 12 monthly payments of $100. When a donor pays toward the commitment, you can track the gift as a pledge payment. For more information, see Pledges.

Note: In the database view, pledge payments appear as pay gifts.

Recurring gifts are gifts given at regular intervals, such as an automatic monthly gift of $50. When a donor fulfills their scheduled payments, you can track the gift as a recurring gift payment. For more information, see Recurring Gifts.

Many companies donate matching gifts when an employee or corporate partner also donates a gift to a nonprofit. With matching gift pledges, you can track matching gifts you expect to receive from a company based on their relationships with other donors. When the matching company fulfills the commitment, you can track the gift as a matching gift payment. For more information, see Matching Gifts.

With PlannedGiftTracker, you can track gifts your organization expects to receive from a donor through a bequest, annuity, trust, pooled income fund (PIF), estate, or life insurance policy. For more information, see Planned Gifts.

You can track miscellaneous gifts that don't fall under another type as Other.

Tip: In addition to gifts your organization receives directly from donors, you might also track when constituents influence contributions from others. For more information about indirect giving, see Soft Credits.

Tip: To further define a gift, your organization can also select a subtype. For example, you may use a subtype of Technology to help describe a gift-in-kind of computer equipment. You can manage available gift subtypes from Gift Subtypes in Tables. For more information, see Tables.