Importing your existing giver data into the Giving module
In this article
Make sure your data is in the right format
Importing the CSV file of givers
Just as you can import people into the Address Book and Children modules, you can also import giver data into the Giving module. If you have an existing system that you're transitioning from, we've made it simple to get that existing data into your ChurchSuite account. In this article, we explain how to import givers into the Givers section of the module.
Make sure your data is in the right format
Before uploading, make sure your data is in the correct format - a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file. The first row in the file must contain the header information - the column labels that ChurchSuite will use to match the fields in your data to the correct field in ChurchSuite. There is a full list of supported fields on the Import givers page in the Givers section of the module. You don't have to supply data for every field in your CSV file but ChurchSuite will import every column in your CSV file that has a field header that it recognises.
Importing the CSV file of givers
When importing data to a multi-site account, giver data will be imported to the site you're currently viewing. If viewing as All sites, the data will be created in your first site. If your data includes givers from different sites, we recommend that you specify each giver's site with a Site column in your CSV file and import your giver data viewing as All sites - make sure that the site name specified in your data precisely matches the site names you have created in ChurchSuite.
Working within the Givers section of the module, click Import givers.
The Import givers page opens. Notice the option to Download an example file, which may be helpful as you're preparing your existing giver data. When you are ready to proceed, click Choose file to navigate to and select the CSV to be uploaded. Then click Upload CSV File.
ChurchSuite now displays a preview of the first 5 records in your CSV file so that you can check that the
However, you can use the drop-down Import As selector to choose the correct ChurchSuite field that the CSV Header item should be mapped to. In the example below, "christian_name" is not a recognised CSV Header, but needs to be imported into the "First Name" field in ChurchSuite. The yellow warning triangle will disappear once a field to Import As has been selected, or you can select --Do not import-- if you do not want to import the data in a particular column.
Once you are satisfied that all CSV Header fields will be Imported As the correct field in ChurchSuite, scroll to the end of the page and click Import All Records to complete the import. Alternatively, click Cancel if you discover an issue that needs to be addressed in your CSV file.
The import progresses to the Preview/Edit stage. Valid givers are distinguished with a green tick next to their name. Invalid givers requiring attention are distinguished with a yellow warning triangle and details of the Errors are provided. You can View, Edit (to fix the invalid data) or even Remove a giver from the import.
Continue working through and resolving each error in the list. Note that you can Pause or Delete a giver import at any time. You can also Process givers at any time - only valid givers will be processed and imported; invalid givers with errors will remain in the "Preview/Edit" until resolved or removed.
To resume a Pending import, click Import givers from the Givers section of the Giving module. Partial/incomplete imports are shown on the Imports tab. From here you can Resume or Delete a partial import. Resuming an import takes you back to where you last left off.
Having resolved all remaining errors you can now Process to complete the import. A success message confirms the completion of a successful import.
The completion of the import process takes place in the background. For large imports, this may take a little while. During this time the import progress is shown on the partial Imports list. Failed imported givers are also surfaced here - typically a failure will be due to a validation error where errors may have been resolved individually for each giver during the 'Preview" stage, but now during import, a further validation error arises - for example, two givers with the same giver reference - each giver has a valid giver reference when edited individually, but validation fails when both givers with an identical valid reference are imported and processed in the background. Follow the steps above to return to the partial import; click to Resume the import and Edit the affected givers to resolve the validation errors before processing the import again.
Successfully-imported givers are assigned to a Giving module Tag called Import <date time> where <date time> is in your local format e.g. Import 01-01-2018 11:59 am. Import tags can be useful if you identify an issue after import - for example, if you missed a field during the import. Using this import tag you can easily select and bulk-delete just those imported givers, and then re-run the import process again. You can safely delete import tags when they are no longer required.
Linking givers to Address Book contacts
During the import process, ChurchSuite will not auto-link givers to existing Address Book contacts - we don't assume or derive any assumptions from the giver data being imported. After you have completed the Import givers process, we recommend using the Potential Contacts report in the Giving module's Reports section to help identify possible Address Book contacts to optionally link to. Note that it is not a requirement that all givers be linked - you may well have givers who have no involvement with your organisation and therefore do not exist in the Address Book - those givers can remain unlinked.
