How External Donations sync to Donor Portal

How External Donations work

External Donations brings donation history from your CRM into Fundraise Up so supporters can see those donations in the Donor Portal alongside donations processed by Fundraise Up.

After the initial import:

• New qualifying donations can continue to sync from the CRM
• Existing imported donations can be updated when supported donation details change
• supporter profile details are not continuously re-synced from the CRM

How supporter matching works

Fundraise Up matches imported donations to supporters by email.

If a matching supporter does not already exist, Fundraise Up creates one using the core details available through this flow:

• email
• firstName
• lastName

This is important because later changes to supporter identity in your CRM, such as merges or profile edits, do not retroactively reorganize donation history that has already been imported.

FAQ

What happens if two supporters or contacts are merged in the CRM?

Nothing changes automatically in the Donor Portal for donations that were already imported.

Previously imported External Donations stay attached to the supporter record they were originally matched to. Fundraise Up does not retroactively merge or reassign that historical donation history after a CRM merge.

New donations imported after the merge are matched by email. In practice, that usually means future donations will follow the primary email that remains on the merged CRM record.

Does Fundraise Up track CRM-side merges?

No.

If two records are merged in your CRM, Fundraise Up does not treat that as an instruction to reorganize existing imported donation history in the Donor Portal.

What happens if the supporter profile data is updated in the CRM?

Those profile updates do not automatically sync to Fundraise Up through External Donations.

Supporter details used by this feature are written when the supporter is first created from imported donation data. After that, the External Donations sync no longer continuously refreshes the supporter profile information.

For example, if you update a mailing address in your CRM, that change should not be expected to automatically appear in Fundraise Up or Donor Portal through this feature.

Which supporter fields are imported?

For this workflow, Fundraise Up uses these core fields when creating a supporter from imported donation data:

• email
• firstName
• lastName

These fields help Fundraise Up create and match supporter records for imported donations.

What happens if a donation is deleted in the CRM?

External Donations do not provide a general deletion sync from the CRM to Fundraise Up.

In most cases, deleting a donation in the CRM should not be understood as a direct instruction to remove that donation everywhere in Fundraise Up automatically.

There are, however, some CRM-specific exceptions:

• Virtuous G&C Import Write: if Virtuous sends a deletion event for a gift, Fundraise Up can treat that imported donation as deleted.
• Salesforce NPSP: direct deletion is not synced in the same way, but if an Opportunity stops qualifying as a successful donation, Fundraise Up can treat the imported donation as deleted.

Are External Donations additive-only?

In general, yes, meaning the sync is focused on bringing donation data into Fundraise Up rather than continuously mirroring every CRM-side change.

During ongoing sync, Fundraise Up can:

• Add new imported donations
• Update existing imported donations when supported donation details change
• Leave supporter profile data unchanged

So while the sync is additive in purpose, it is not limited only to brand-new donations. Existing imported donations can also be updated.

What kinds of donation updates can sync after the initial import?

Ongoing sync can update supported donation details such as:

• Amount
• Currency
• Exchange rate
• Receipt URL
• Success-state related changes, where supported by the CRM

How often does the data update after the initial import?

Ongoing sync runs approximately every 10 minutes.

That timing applies to donation sync activity, but it is important to distinguish between donation updates and supporter profile updates:

• Donations can continue to sync after the initial import.
• Supporter profile information is not continuously refreshed through this process.

Does ongoing sync apply only to new donations?

No.

Ongoing sync can do both of the following:

• Import new donations
• Update existing imported donations when supported donation details change

It does not continuously refresh the supporter profile data.

What happens if the initial import is run again?

If the initial import is run again for the same connection, Fundraise Up rebuilds the imported donation data for that connection.

This is a special case and should not be confused with the normal ongoing sync, which focuses on keeping imported donation records up to date over time.

What this feature does not do

To set the right expectations, External Donations should not be treated as a full CRM mirror.

It does not provide:

• Retroactive supporter merges in Fundraise Up
• Continuous supporter profile re-syncing
• A general CRM-to-Fundraise Up deletion sync
• Retroactive reassignment of historical imported donations after a CRM merge