New Tool for Import to Gift Batch?

Vince Roe

What free tools are available to import external gifts to a batch? For our org, gifts must belong to a batch for our business office to reconcile.

We have been using Importacular but I just saw an announcement that their free version will no longer support gift importing to batch beginning in 2024. ?

I have also seen answers from people using Importomatic but I'm under the impression that is not a free tool.

I'm really not looking for any niche tool here - just something that can import a spreadsheet of basic gift info: constituent id, amount, fund, etc (i.e. I don't need to match anything). Does anyone have any suggestions or are the days of importing to batch for free coming to an end?

Austen Brown

@Vince Roe - Potentially you could do this through Power Automate. Have a flow read the import file, and then create gifts in a batch in Web View. Take a look at the associated API for more information:

https://developer.sky.blackbaud.com/api#api=gift-batch&operation=CreateGiftBatch

https://developer.sky.blackbaud.com/api#api=58bdd5edd7dcde06046081d6&operation=CreateGift

JoAnn Strommen

@Vince Roe If you want to go old school there is always RE db import. ?

Alex Wong

@Vince Roe
Not aware of any other free tool that can import into gift batch (web or database).

JoAnn's method of importing in db (the old school route) import gifts directly into constituent record. if your org doesn't want to invest into any tool, then this is the best way to go as you already got constituent id and all gift info.

Austen's method is the same, you can use Power Automate to read the file and create gift directly into constituent record too. The Create Gift Batch is pretty useless in my opinion (unless I miss an endpoint I'm not aware of), as there is no API endpoint that allows the creating of gift into a gift web batch. So if your org is ok with gift being created directly in constituent record without the “batching” step.. then go to JoAnn's.

Lee Grisham

@Vince Roe Agreed! Very annoyed at BB for making it harder for Zeidman to keep up with Importacular. I've had to debug an issue for them with the batching suddenly not applying business rules. This has only happened in the last few months and BB is blaming Zeidman for their API issues.

That being said, since BB is not really supporting database view and webview batching is “lacking” to say the least, there isn't really another good option out there without paying monies.

We are looking to support Zeidman since their products work better than what BB develops anyway. Can't believe that BB can't support the batching function which is so integral to so many finance departments in this sector! ?

Bobby Steurer

@Vince Roe Thank you for posting this, Vince. I wasn't aware of this development. We rely pretty heavily on Importacular's batching for our many events where hundreds of donations are made through third party platforms.

Erin Flowers

@Vince Roe

Just to clarify- you do NOT want to use the import feature in the Database View as that requires you to match the headers of your csv with fields in the database, correct? This is how I do the imports using a constituent ID.

Alex Wong

@Erin Flowers
You do not need to use the exact header name. Mapping is automatic if it is., but not required. If not matching, you do have opportunity to manual map your column to RE fields

Erin Flowers

@Alex Wong
Yes, I am aware. Thank you!

Vince Roe

@Erin Flowers
If there is a way to use the db view import tool AND have a batch number assigned to the gifts - that would work. It's my understanding that is not possible though. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Erin Flowers

@Vince Roe
I see your issue… Do you connect your RE with FE? We do not. We reconcile with business based on the fund id. What is the reason for the mandatory batch? Could you use a gift attribute and call it Batch and assign all the gifts in that import the same gift attribute batch number? It doesn't look like you can do a global add for batch number either.

Christine Robertson 4

@Bobby Steurer The change for Importacular importing to gift batch will only affect those using the free version.

Stu Manewith

@Vince Roe ImportOmatic is probably your best bet. While not free, it's relatively inexpensive and will open up a number of doors; importing gifts into an RE gift batch (db view or NXT) is just the beginning. info@omaticsoftware.com.