The OneCause integration is a one-way sync that allows gifts, tickets purchases, and event registration data to flow from OneCause to Virtuous CRM+. This data is synced in batches via the Gift & Contact Import tool. This article covers how to configure the integration, settings to manage, and connecting Events and Projects from OneCause.
To learn more about how data is mapped between systems, check out this article.
Login to OneCause
To enable the integration, navigate to Virtuous Connect. Select Integrations from the left navigation menu, and then select Virtuous Connect.
You’ll see several tiles for the available integrations. Click the View button under the OneCause tile to access the settings.
Then, click the Actions drop-down and select to Edit Settings.
Here, enter the Organization ID and API Key for your OneCause account. (Click here to find your OneCause API Key.)
Below, you’ll see toggle for Staging Mode and to enable the sync:
-
Staging Mode: This should only be used to connect to the
Stagingenvironment in the OneCause platform. (This is uncommon. Most likely you will need to leave this off.) - Enable Sync: This will turn on the sync, however, you’ll need to go through the other settings before enabling the sync. Once this is switched on, data will begin to flow between systems. To prevent Event and Gift data syncing incorrectly, you must configure the Settings before toggling on Enable Sync.
Once you have your OneCause credentials set, move on to the next tab: Event Settings.
Event Settings
Here, you’ll determine how Event transactions—including ticket purchases, donations, winning auction bids, and more—are mapped to Virtuous CRM+. Primarily, you’ll be setting up rules for attributing transactions to Campaign Segments and choosing how Fixed-Price Items should be synced.
First, select an existing Campaign that will serve as a default Campaign for all Event-related transactions.
When new Gifts are synced to Virtuous CRM+, a new Campaign Communication will be created for each Event (if one doesn’t already exist) and Segments will be created (if they don’t already exist) for each type of Event transaction, all under the default Campaign.
So, for example, you select My Pretend Campaign as the default Campaign. Then, someone buys a ticket to your Annual Gala via OneCause. That will create a new Communication for Annual Gala with the Communication Type: Event and a Segment for Annual Gala Ticket, all as part of My Pretend Campaign. This way, you can easily see your event revenue and the breakdown by source.
Segments will be automatically created for these transaction categories:
- Tickets
- Donations
- Sponsorships
- Silent Auction (winning bids)
- Live Auction (winning bids)
- Raffle
- Fixed-Price Items (if they are marked Track as Gifts)
Fixed-Price Items
Fixed-price items in OneCause can represent many things. In some cases, they may be ticket add-ons like valet parking or event drink coupons. They may also be used to track donations for a giving tree or other event activity. This means that there are multiple ways for this data to be synced to Virtuous CRM+.
By default, Fixed-Price Items are marked Track as Purchases. Which means these will not generate Gift transactions nor Segments. Instead, purchase activity will be mapped to a Custom Collection called OneCause Activity which will be visible on each Contact record. Mapping e-commerce purchases in this way ensures they will not be tracked as tax-deductible donations, included in Receipts, or inflate Contact giving totals.
If your organization prefers to track these as Gifts, toggle that option on for all Fixed-Price transactions, and then specify if you’d like Premiums to be automatically created for each item, to offset the tax-deductibility. This is a global default that will apply for all Fixed-price items.
Custom Event Settings
Next, you’ll have the option to customize mapping for specific Events that bypass the default Event Settings.
Here, select an existing OneCause event and click the plus icon. Use the toggle option to expend to select any existing Segment and assign it to each of the specific transaction types. This allows you to structure your Campaigns however you like and ensure that revenue is tracked according to your specific needs.
For each selected Event, you can choose to track Fixed-pPrice Items as purchases or Gifts, with the added option to select a mapping Segment and create Premiums when syncing as Gifts. This fixed-price handling at the Event level takes precedence over the default Event mapping, so even if you typically treat Fixed-Price Items as purchases, you can still map them as Gifts just for a specific Event.
Once you have configured your Event Settings, you’re almost finished! Move to the next tab: Other Gift Settings.
Other Gift Settings
There’s more to OneCause than Events! This is where you can customize the Campaign attribution rules for Recurring Gifts and donations made on Fundraising Pages in OneCause.
First, select an existing Campaign Segment to be used for all Recurring Gifts.
This Segment will be used for any new Recurring Gifts and any payments applied to Recurring Gifts, including those made via a Fundraising Page or as an event donation.
Then, as with Events, under Fundraising Pages, select an existing Virtuous Campaign and a Communication from that Campaign to allow the sync to create new Segments within that Communication for each Fundraising Page.
Also, just like Custom Event Settingss, you have the option to customize mapping from an existing OneCause Fundraising Page and map it to an existing Campaign Segment. This way, you can structure your Campaigns in Virtuous however you’d like.
Once you made your mapping selections, click Save.
Now the settings are configured, but before you enable the sync, you’ll need to create a Custom Collection.
Creating the OneCause Activity Collection
As part of the sync, some OneCause data, like Fixed-Price Items marked as purchases, may be mapped to a Contact Custom Collection instead of coming through as a Gift or event registration. Even if you intend to map all Fixed-Price Items as Gifts, we strongly recommend creating the Custom Collection as a way to ensure no data is lost in the event of a misconfiguration in your settings.
You can learn more about how the Custom Collection data is used in this article. To create the collection, select Settings from the main navigation menu in CRM+ and then click on Bulk Data Tools. There, select the third step, Organization Data, and look for the Custom Collections import.
Note: be sure to use the Custom Collections import (1C) and NOT the Custom Collection Data import (1D).
Then, download the attached csv file at the bottom of this page and simply drag it or upload it to the Custom Collections import. And that’s it!
Connecting Events
In order to connect a OneCause event with an existing Virtuous Event, you will first need to create both Events in each system. Note: This is a Standard Event in Virtuous CRM+.
Once you have created both, look for the Event ID for the Event in CRM+. It is easily visible from the main Events page.
Then, find the corresponding Event in OneCause. Under Event Settings, click on Integrations. There, you will see the option to enter an External ID. Enter the ID for the Virtuous Event, and now the two Events will be linked!
Once the Events are linked, any new tickets assigned to a person in OneCause will add the person to the corresponding Virtuous Event as an Event Attendee.
If a ticket is purchased for a OneCause event and the event is NOT linked to Virtuous, then the attendee information will be logged in the OneCause Activity Custom Collection instead.
Connecting Funds with Projects
Similar to linking Events, Projects in CRM+ should be linked to Funds in OneCause. To establish a link, find the Project Code for an existing CRM+ Project. Then, find the corresponding Fund in OneCause. Click to edit the Fund, and you’ll see the option to enter a Fund External ID.
Enter the Project Code there and save. Now the Fund will be linked to the corresponding Project in Virtuous!
Funds can be specified for Events or Fundraising Pages in OneCause. When the Fund for transaction has an External ID, that will be used to specify the Project in Virtuous. If there is no Fund, of if the fund specified has no External ID, OneCause Gifts will not have any Project designation included.
Time to Enable
Once you have configured your settings and created the Custom Collection, you can go back to the Credentials tab in the integrations settings and click the toggle to enable the sync (be sure to save!).
Data will begin syncing regularly and Gift and Contact transactions will be bundled for import overnight in CRM+.
To learn more about how OneCause data will sync to Virtuous, check out this article on data mapping.