Gifts as Opportunities

Learn how GEM uses Opportunity records to track gifts.

A gift is any item of value (cash, stock, or other item) that a donor gives, pledges, or promises to your organization. Remember, in Salesforce, we use Opportunity records to track gifts. Any gift created through Single Gift Entry or the Gift Entry tool results in a new Opportunity record, along with the related records to track payment and allocation information.

GEM installs a number of Opportunity record types. A gift Opportunity created through Single Gift Entry always defaults to the Donation record type, so make sure that you don't delete or rename this record type. Other than this important caveat, the record type you choose for a gift has little impact. What matters is how you enter the gift, and the records to which it’s associated. For example, you can create a gift from an individual by associating it with a Contact, and you can create a household or organization gift by associating it with an Account.