Understanding Donors and Giving Units

Collecting Contribution totals is essential to you, but remember that your Donors will need their giving records at the end of the tax year. Empower helps you accurately track who is giving and how, when, and to what they are contributing.

Before we walk through how to add, track, and organize your Donors, let’s get an overview of how Empower structures these contributors.

There are two important terms that we’ll cover, donors and giving units.

Donors

A Donor is any one person who contributes income or a receipt to the organization. These are typically tax-deductible offerings, but not always.

Not every person in Empower will be a Donor.

Giving Units

Giving Units are to whom each Contribution record is attributed. There can be more than one Donor in a Giving Unit. An easy way to think of this is by the person(s) tax needs. Will they receive one Contribution Statement or separate statements?

Giving Units are NOT the same as Households. Each Household can include multiple Giving Units. However, individuals MUST be a part of the same Household to be in a Giving Unit.

Let’s say a husband and wife both give together. Both of their names are on the check- they most likely fall under the same Giving Unit. Today, their daughter gave for the first time. Only her name was on the donation; therefore, we will assign the daughter to her own Giving Unit. Their household will receive two Contribution Statements.

Keep in mind that it will be easier to Merge Donors than separate Giving Units (though it’s not impossible in Empower). For the best records, if in doubt, consult the Donors’ preference. There could be times when you will need to ask a family how they prefer to be structured.

If you have any further questions about Donors or Giving Units, these detailed support articles might help clarify:

And if these don’t help, our Support Team is here to make sure Empower works for you!