Export: Wrong gift summary total while using a gift query on split gifts

Dan Kirk

This one is going to be a challenge to explain, but here goes nothing...


We have some funds that utilize the Fund Type field, but most do not. The problem I am having is creating a Total Gift Amount in Export when there are split gifts involved and when applying a query in the criteria filter based on the Fund Type value.


So for example. A constituent makes a $400 donation, split among three funds. One of those funds has a fund type designated, and the other two have a blank fund type. When I total this constituents giving in Exports, and apply a query in criteria selecting ONLY gifts with the chosen fund type, it will generate a summary total based on the entire combined gift total, and not the individual split amount total of based on chosen fund type. 


In other words, the query filter appears to use Gift Amount instead of Split Amount.


Does that make sense? Can anyone reproduce with your data? You need a split gift with at least one of the funds having a fund type, and at least one other fund with a different or blank fund type. Use a gift query that is only generating results for one of the fund types. Then apply that query in your Export summer criteria. 

Alan French

Hi Dan,


The behaviour you're seeing is actually working correctly; the issue here is with using a gift query. That query is merely selecting any gift, in its entirety, where all or part of it meets the conditions you've specified. When you use that query in an export, it doesn't remember that you were only interested in the part of a gift where the fund has a particular type, it just records a list of gifts that met the original criteria.


To get the value you're after, you'll need to create a fund query to specify the fund types that you want to include. Then you can select that fund query in the export, rather than the gift query.

Ryan Hyde

Alan's solution here should work, but I wanted to just point out that this is the main reason we never split gifts. If I were to have a $400 donation split across three funds as you described, I would physically enter three gifts, one per fund. 


This is not a perfect solution, mind you, but for me (and I know many otheres here in the Community), the tradeoffs are acceptable and more manageable than dealing with the built in split gift functionality.

Dan Kirk

Alan French:

Hi Dan,


The behaviour you're seeing is actually working correctly; the issue here is with using a gift query. That query is merely selecting any gift, in its entirety, where all or part of it meets the conditions you've specified. When you use that query in an export, it doesn't remember that you were only interested in the part of a gift where the fund has a particular type, it just records a list of gifts that met the original criteria.


To get the value you're after, you'll need to create a fund query to specify the fund types that you want to include. Then you can select that fund query in the export, rather than the gift query.

Thank you Alan. That makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, I think it means that I can't use the VSE report (under Analytical Reports) to generate accurate totals for some sections because the report criteria only allows the use of a gift query, and not a fund query. At least, to my knowledge it's the only option for that report.


It's not a big problem because I can generate the totals in other ways, but I was wondering what exatcly was going on with this situatuion. Thanks for the info. 

Jen Claudy

In a Gift Query, you can also find [Split Amount] fields under Campaign, Fund, or Appeal.  Build a Gift Query using Criteria of [Gift ID one of] and grab a couple of gifts that you know are split.  Then in Output, include [Gift Amount] and any one of the CFA [Split Amount] fields.  Look at your Results and see how it works.  You'll see each Gift listed multiple times, based on how many splits there are, and the total Gift Amount will be the same for each instance of each gift, but the Split Amount will show the split.


Hope this helps!  If you search "split gift" in the Community, I think I've written out an example of this at least twice...more thoroughly than here.    Oh, here's one of them.