Create your workspace
A workspace holds one organization’s donors, gifts and settings. Getting three things right at the start saves work later.
Before you import anything
Section titled “Before you import anything”-
Your organization’s name. Use the name as it appears publicly and on your charitable registration. It is printed on official receipts, so it needs to match your registration.
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Your fiscal year. This decides which year every gift counts in, which decides every total you will ever report. Many arts organizations run a year ending in March, June or August rather than December.
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The account owner. One person with admin rights. Others can be invited afterwards.
Your fiscal year, in practice
Section titled “Your fiscal year, in practice”If your year ends 31 March, then a gift on 20 March 2027 belongs to the year ending March 2027, and a gift on 2 April 2027 belongs to the following one.
You can name each year something you recognise, and the name reads through everywhere you see it.
Settings worth doing now
Section titled “Settings worth doing now”Your major-gift threshold. The amount above which a gift is a major gift for your organization. There is no sector standard, and it should reflect your reality. For many small arts charities it sits between $1,000 and $5,000.
This threshold shapes what gets flagged for a personal response, so setting it at a number you would drop everything for is more useful than setting it aspirationally.
Funds and designations. Two different things that are easy to confuse.
- A fund is where the money goes, and carries a restriction and a general ledger code for your finance lead. Unrestricted, or the endowment.
- A designation is what the gift recognises. The youth programme, the building, a named chair.
You can add both later. If you have no restricted giving, one general fund is enough to start.
Custom properties. Leave these until after your first import, when you can see which columns arrived.