If you have donation history records that you would like to transfer to REACH, you can use our data import tools to do so.

Please note: Before importing your donation history, be sure to first import your sponsorships and supporters as these records build on each other.

Preparing your Data#

• Go to Data Setup > Data Import/Export
• Select the Donation History Import Template. (*Depending upon the version of Excel you have, you may receive a potentially corrupt notification for the .XML import template. The file is not corrupt and is ok to download.)
• The Donation History Template will provide you with instructions and the data needed for each donation. The file downloaded will have several sheets included, the first one lists the column names and the information REACH needs in the columns. The second sheet is where you can enter the information for the import.  The other sheets included are for your reference when setting the referral and referral_type columns.  
  • For the Donation History Import, there are 12 required fields: first_name, last_name, address1, postal, city, state (if the country is the United States or Canada), country, phone, date, amount, payment_type, and currency.   
  • The first_name, last_name, address1, postal, city, state, and country columns are only needed if the Supporter has not been already uploaded or added to your REACH account. 
  • You can link a donation to an existing supporter in your account by using the permalink REACH created for them, or their email address.  
• Each donation record/row must have a referral_type and referral if you want to designate the donation to a set Place, Project, Campaign, Donation Category, or Sponsorship.  The included sheets in the Excel Workbook will list the permalink to use for the referral.  
• Delete any empty rows from your spreadsheet. This will save time during the import process. Empty columns should not cause a problem.

Important Notes:

• We recommend completing a test import with only a handful of donation records. With the test import completed, you can see firsthand where each data field maps to and fix any errors accordingly before importing all of your records. This is important, as donation history imports cannot be over-written with a re-import. Re-import will result in duplicate records.
• We suggest you limit each file to 2,000 records or under. If you have over 2,000 records, simply build additional spreadsheets in increments of 2,000 records. 

Importing your Data#

• Once your file is ready, save as .CSV (Comma Separated Values)
• Go to Data Setup > Data Import/Export
• Under Import Type, select Donation History
• Choose File
• Click on the green Import Data button
• When the import completes, errors from your import will be flagged with a red caution button. Simply click on the button to review your errors.
• Once imported, do not re-import your donation history file. This will result in duplicate entries that will either need to be deleted manually or will require us to complete a bulk delete of all donation records.

REACH does offer help with your imports using our Retainer Service. Once your retainer hours have been purchased and the data has been sent over to our team, please allow 30-60 days for completion. Contact us for an estimate of hours based on the size of import.