Ops Insights Ops Insights #089 - Split Gifts
May 14, 2026 | Read Time: 4 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
A donor signs a pledge agreement for $100,000 to support two different funds. As we enter that pledge into the database, should we use the split gift feature to keep it as a single gift line, or enter two separate gift lines?
This is a question that comes up often in my work with philanthropy teams. I’ll walk you through the response I give when working with RENXT clients.
Question: One specific topic I'd love to explore is not splitting gifts for some of our major gifts that would be for multiple purposes. This would allow us to better track pledge details rather than combining information from multiple pledges when communicating with the donor (e.g., pledge reminders).
This particularly worded question was from the leader overseeing major gifts. He recently started at the nonprofit and discovered that the team has been entering major gifts as two separate gift lines, even when the donor had multiple designations.
My response: I do see about 30% of my clients choosing not to split gifts, with the reasoning always coming down to reporting. My stance aligns with your thinking: to use split gifts as the functionality is intended to be used. I do understand the desire not to split gifts, but from a donor-centric perspective, it’s always been the better approach. Either way, there are pros/cons. It’s a matter of picking the route, documenting the why, and moving forward consistently.
Here’s the start of documenting:
Using split gifts: Example, someone donates $100K, and $50K goes to one fund and the other $50K goes to another fund. We add it as a single gift line/pledge of $100K, using the split gift feature, with $50K going to each fund.
Shows as one gift on the donor’s giving history.
Shows as one gift when pulling lists and reports.
Shows as one gift when doing data modeling such as gifts at a certain gift level (this will show as one $100K gift).
Pulls as one Acks/thank you.
Pulls as one pledge reminder as typically the donor pays the overall pledge installment, with half going to each fund.
When receiving the pledge payment, we’d apply it to the pledge, and the payment amount would be evenly divided among the 2 funds, which some places do not like.
If we go this route, anytime we pull data, lists, reports, etc., we need to make sure we are using the Split Fund Amount instead of the overall Gift amount when totaling dollars raised.
Overall, a better donor-centric approach.
Not using split gifts: Example, someone donates $100K and $50K goes to one fund and the other $50K goes to another fund. We add it as two gift lines/pledges of $50K each going toward each fund.
Shows as two gifts on the donor’s giving history.
Shows as two gifts when we pull lists and reports.
Shows as two gifts when we do data modeling such as gifts at a certain gift level (this will show as two $50K gifts); often for reporting to the board or leadership we have to manually combine this into one as they want to see one gift at the $100K level. I literally just did this for a board report.
Pulls as two Acks/thank you that need to be combined into one.
Pulls as two pledge reminders that need to be combined into one.
When we receive the pledge payment, we can apply it to the two different pledges separately so we can determine which amount to apply to which pledge.
It is easier to pull data, lists, reports, etc. as we can always use the Gift Amount rather than having to worry about using the Split Fund Amount.
Overall, a more transactional approach.
If it helps:
You have 28 pledges in the database of $100K+, and you’ve never used the split gift feature for pledges. Cons ID XXXX, pledge date 9/26/2024 is on two separate gift ones, one for $125K to one fund and the second for $125K to another fund. This falls into #2 above.
You have used the split gift feature 109 times on other gifts, 10/20/23 was the last time. Cons ID: XXXX, pay-cash 10/20/2023 is an example. It’s split between 4 Funds.
The bottom line is I recommend option 1, the donor-centric way, but neither option is right or wrong. It’s a matter of picking the route, documenting the why, and moving forward consistently.
Take Action
To work toward consistency in how you handle split gifts in your database, follow these 3 steps:
1 ➡ Run a query to see how often you have used split gifts in the past, if you have, to gather the stats.
2 ➡ Compare that to your existing practices.
3 ➡ Have a conversation as a team, including the database lead, frontline fundraisers, and the leader, to talk through past and current practices and ensure they align with your strategies today.
You’ve got this!
👋 See you next time,
Jenny
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