What Are Import Settings?

The Gift and Contact Import Tool provides granular control over how new or conflicting Contact data is handled during imports, which reduces the repetitive manual decisions that cause most records to land in the Update Needed section of an Import. The Import Tool includes eight configurable settings that enable organizations to define rules for matched Contacts, Recurring Gift warnings, Addresses, Emails, and Phone numbers. By allowing organizations to set their own data handling preferences, CRM+ reduces the volume of manual work for admins while maintaining full control over data quality standards.

Table of Contents

Enabling Import Settings

Gift and Contact Import Setup

Auto Import Details

Import Settings

Partial Imports

Enabling Import Settings

Import Settings are disabled by default and need to be configured in Organization Settings. To enable these settings, navigate to Settings from the left-hand menu. Then, select Organization Settings. 

Here, select: 

1. Opt-in to Partial & Auto Imports allows the Import Tool to automatically import records that are confident matched and have no updates. This also allows the user to trigger smaller batched Partial Imports as they work through records in the Import Tool. This means in a batch of Gifts, there may be a portion of the records that are imported while another portion requires manual review from admin. Partial imports allow clean data to flow into CRM+ progressively, so that matched Gifts are not held until the entire batch is reviewed. Once this is enabled, you can optionally choose to configure the following two settings for all Imports or leave them disabled to configure them at the individual Import level:
   1. Enable ability to Create New Contacts with no match automatically after Processing: when a Contact has no matching records, the Import Tool will automatically create the new records during the initial import processing
   2. Enable ability to automatically import any records in Ready for Import after bundling: this means the Import Tool will automatically import any records in Ready for Import following the initial processing phase
2. Enable ability to set default rules for how data is handled in an import allows you to set specific guidelines for which Gifts or Contacts are automatically imported and which are flagged for review. Once this is enabled, you can optionally choose to configure the following three settings for all Imports or leave them disabled to configure them at the individual Import level:
   1. Show warnings when Recurring Gift Payment is matched by amount only: Controls whether Gifts matched to Recurring Gifts by amount only require manual review or can auto-process. This can be set at the Organization Setting level to apply to all Imports or set for specific Imports.
   2. Require manual review of all matched Contacts with this Tag: Optionally choose a pre-existing Tag to flag all Gifts from Contacts with selected Tag. This can be set at the Organization Setting level to apply to all Imports or set for specific Imports.
   3. Require manual review of Gifts above this Amount: Optionally choose a Gift Amount threshold to flag for all Gifts that are more than the set amount. This can be set at the Organization Setting level to apply to all Imports or set for specific Imports.

Gift and Contact Import Setup

Once your Organization Settings are enabled, navigate to the Import Tool and select to create a New Import. 

Beneath the standard Gift Import Details or Contact Import Details areas (depending on your Import type) on a new Import form, two new sections will appear and allow you to configure your preferences more granularly for each Import. 

Auto Import Details

These two checkboxes are enabled by the Organization Settings configured above. Select or de-select based on your preference for the specific Import. 

• Automatically Import my records in Ready for Import: Confident matches automatically are imported into CRM+. If this is off, records in Ready for Import will not be automatically imported until manual selection. If the Organization Setting for automatically import any records after bundling is enabled, this will be enabled already.
• Automatically create new contact records for any unmatched Contacts: When no Contact record match exists, CRM+ will automatically create a new record. If this is off, records with no viable matches will remain in Match Needed until manual creation. If the Organization Setting for Create New Contacts with no match automatically is enabled, this will be enabled already.

Import Settings

In addition to the Auto-Import settings, there are additional Import Settings to configure. 

Matched Contacts: Controls overall behavior for Contacts that match existing records in the CRM+. 

• Update matched contacts with new data (Default): Matched Contacts can receive record updates and may be flagged for review
• Skip matched contacts, only import new: Ignore all changes to data on matched Contacts (Contact and Individual data). When this is selected, all address/email/phone dropdowns are hidden or grayed out as they become irrelevant. Gifts and Pledges still import and attach to matched Contacts even when Contact updates are skipped.

Note: This is the fastest way to bring data in, but depending on volume of updates ignored, could lead to poor data hygiene if overused (since changes to Contact records are being dropped in favor of speed)

Recurring Payment Warnings: Controls whether gifts matched to recurring gifts by amount only require manual review or can auto-process. This setting is only available on Gift Imports. These warnings remain visible even when Skip matched Contacts, only import new is selected for Matched Contacts. If the Organization Setting for show warnings when Recurring Gift is matched by amount is enabled, this will be enabled already.

• Show warnings when matched by amount only (Default): Flag these matches in Update Needed for manual review
• Import without warning when matched by amount only: Allow these recurring gift matches to pass through to Ready for Import automatically. When importing gifts, the system may match a gift to a recurring gift based on timing, amount, or recurring gift ID

New Address Setting: Controls how to handle addresses when the import file contains an address and the Contact currently has a different existing address or has no address on file. Records with no other conflicts will skip Update Needed when automated options are selected

• Add when empty, manually review any conflicts (Default): Route to Update Needed for review
• Add address and set to primary: Automatically add the address and mark as primary Contact address
• Add address but do not set to primary: Automatically add the address without changing existing primary address
• Ignore new addresses: Do not import new addresses; skip Update Needed and proceed to Ready for Import 

Existing Address Setting: Controls how to handle addresses when the import file contains an address that generally matches an existing CRM address but has formatting differences. Records with no other conflicts will skip Update Needed when automated options are selected

• Manually review any conflicts (Default): Route to Update Needed for review.
• Replace any existing address information: Overwrite the existing address with the new formatted address. (Note: this does not add the information as a secondary address.)
• Ignore address updates: Keep existing address; do not import changes.

Email Setting: Controls how to handle email addresses that come through the import. Records with no other conflicts will skip Update Needed when automated options are selected.

• Add when empty, manually review any conflicts (Default): Current behavior; route to Update Needed for review.
• Add email address and set to primary: Automatically add email and mark as primary email.
• Add email address but do not set to primary: Automatically add email without changing primary designation.
• Ignore email address update: Do not import email changes; skip Update Needed.

Phone Number Setting: Controls how to handle phone numbers that come through the import. Records with no other conflicts will skip Update Needed when automated options are selected.

• Add when empty, manually review any conflicts (Default): Current behavior; route to Update Needed for review.
• Add phone number and set to primary: Automatically add phone and mark as primary phone.
• Add phone number but do not set to primary: Automatically add phone without changing primary designation.
• Ignore phone number update: Do not import phone changes; skip Update Needed.

Review Contacts With Tag: Select from any available Contact Tag to control which records (with the selected Contact Tag) will be manually flagged for user review. Contacts processed in the import will be sorted to Needs Review, despite any other settings configuration that would have normally passed the record through to Ready for Import. This allows users to review any Contacts with important flags (Major Donor, for example) that they may always want to review. If the Organization Setting for manual review of a selected Tag is enabled, this will be populated already.

Review Gifts Above Amount: Enter a dollar amount in this field to control which Gifts get flagged for review regardless of other Import settings. This setting is only available on Gift Imports. If the Organization Setting for manual review of Gifts above this Amount is populated, this will be populated with the same amount.

Any Gifts that meet or exceed the threshold, despite otherwise being able to pass through immediately to Ready for Import, will be flagged for manual review. This allows the user to potentially catch high-value Gifts and take action.

Partial Imports

Regardless of how the toggles are configured, users can import records from the Ready for Import section at any point during batch processing, rather than waiting until all records are processed before any data enters the system. If using the Auto Import setting, the Import Tool may automatically create a Partial Import. To manually create a Partial Import of Gifts, select Start Partial Import in the blue banner presented in the Ready for Import section. 

Or select Start Partial Import from the Actions dropdown menu.

Once confirmed, records in Ready for Import will move to the Imported tab and enter CRM+ immediately for Reporting, Receipting, and other acknowledgement purposes. 

Matched Needed and Update Needed Gifts will still need to be manually updated and saved before they can be imported. If the Auto Import setting is enabled, only the initial group of Gifts that lands in Ready for Import after the initial processing will be automatically imported. From there, if records move into Ready for Import after manual review, users need to manually trigger Partial Imports. The blue Import button in the top right cannot be selected until all Gifts are Ready for Import.