A Deep Dive into the Donorflex API

Q: One of the main priorities from the team at Donorflex was the correct matching of new donations to existing donors. How does our work ensure this?

A: The Integration Manager performs constituent matching for each donation against data in the client’s Donorflex environment. It will automatically assign new donations to existing donors only if it can make a strong enough match using the submitted user data.

This matching process consists of an exact match of the donor's full name, along with one or more identifying fields, such as address, email or phone number.

We’ve taken every precaution to ensure no data is matched with incorrect donors.

Q: In the scenario that only a partial match is made, what happens to the data then?

A: It is essential not to incorrectly assign a donation to the wrong donor, so a ‘strong’ match is required for the system to perform this automatically. In cases where only a partial match with an existing donor has been made, order records will be held in the Integration Manager’s new Moderation Queue.

The Moderation Queue will provide one-click controls to resolve submission conflicts such as this, allowing users to review the match and either submit held records to the Donorflex matched donor or create a new donor.

Q: The matching process sounds very robust and efficient. Is the processing of regular payments just as efficient?

A: Definitely, the Integration Manager uses Donorflex’s Regular Giving Agreement feature for recurring donations. Instead of submitting individual payments for such donors, the Integration Manager will create a regular giving agreement for the donor and raise all subsequent contributions against that agreement.

Q: We understand this process is in line with Donorflex’s recommendation of recording recurring payments; what are the benefits of this?

A: All the regular payments will be grouped in the agreement, so it’s easier to see which donations to a donor are for a specific agreement. When you create the agreement, you can see the yearly amount you expect to receive immediately, which is an excellent tool for forecasting. The Donorflex application then creates a schedule for when each payment is expected, alongside the status of each of these scheduled payments. (i.e. Paid, Not Due, Overdue).

Essentially, it’s a streamlined approach that makes it much easier to report on regular giving.

Watch for more information on our upcoming Donorflex API work, including the highly anticipated launch date!