Hard credit

The individual or entity that receives the legal and tax credit for making the gift. This may be:

• An individual donor
• One spouse in a household
• A charitable organization or giving vehicle (e.g., Fidelity Charitable)
• A corporate or foundation entity

Soft credit

Individuals recognized for influencing or initiating the gift, but who do not receive the legal/tax credit. This may include:

• A spouse or partner
• Family members
• Individuals connected to a donor-advised fund or organization
• Others associated with the gift

Important: Household Giving (Spouses)

Hard and soft credit may be split within a household. Example:

• One spouse receives hard credit.
• The other spouse receives soft credit for the same gift.

This means:

• Multiple individuals may be associated with one gift.
• Stewardship may still involve the household even if only one person has hard credit.

Important: Program Stewardship Expectations

In most cases, program staff is not responsible for thanking donors directly. DASA Development and Central Development manage donor stewardship and coordinate communications to ensure donors receive a consistent experience and are not overwhelmed with duplicate messages.

Programs should only conduct donor outreach in special circumstances and in coordination with DASA Development.

Programs MAY thank donors when:

• The outreach has been coordinated with DASA Development in advance
• The gift supports a specific initiative or project that requires program-level stewardship
• You are managing a specific crowdfunding campaign and have worked with Development on a stewardship plan

Programs should NOT thank donors for:

• Standard gifts to DASA funds unless coordinated with Development
• Day of Giving gifts
  • Donors receive extensive university-wide and DASA-level stewardship for Day of Giving.
  • Additional program outreach may overwhelm donors or create confusion.

If program stewardship is appropriate, follow these general rules:

Thank:

• Individual donors listed with hard credit (unless the hard credit is an organization)
• Individuals with soft credit connected to the gift
• The donor household when spouses are involved

Do NOT thank:

• Donor-advised fund organizations (e.g., Fidelity Charitable)
• Corporate matching entities
• Financial institutions serving as the giving vehicle
  

If you are unsure whether or how to acknowledge a donor, contact DASA Development before reaching out.

• Donor ID: Identifies a specific individual or entity.
• Account Donor ID: Represents a shared household account (similar to a household ID).
  

Best practice:
Group stewardship communications by Account Donor ID to avoid sending multiple thank-you messages to one household.

• Credit date: The official gift date (typically the date on the check or transaction).
• Process date: The date the university processes the gift.
  

Example:
A donor writes a check dated December 31, 2025, but it is processed on January 5, 2026.

• Credit date → December 31, 2025
• Process date → January 5, 2026

How this affects gift reports:
Monthly gift reports are pulled based on the process date, not the credit date. This means you may see gifts with a December credit date included in a January gift report if the gift was not processed until January.

Processing delays can occur due to:

• Mail delivery timing (especially for checks)
• Processing timelines across university systems
• Internal review and posting procedures

Because of this, a gift may appear in reports days or weeks after it was originally made.

• Outright Gift — A one-time donation.
• Recurring Gift Payment — An automated recurring donation (e.g., payroll deduction or monthly gift).
  • Stewardship practice: Per stewardship best practices, DASA Development does not send a thank-you for every recurring payment. Stewardship is typically provided when the recurring gift is established rather than for each individual transaction.
• Pledge Payment — A payment toward a previously committed pledge made over time.
  • Stewardship practice: Per stewardship best practices, DASA Development typically sends acknowledgment for the initial commitment and may send recognition when the pledge is fully paid. We do not send a thank-you for every individual pledge payment.
• Matching Gift Payment — A company match for an employee’s charitable donation.
  • Do not send stewardship communications to the matching company.

• Straight Gift — A one-time donation.
• Straight Pledge — A donor’s commitment to give a specific amount over time (not yet fully paid).
• Recurring Gift — A donation set up to be automatically charged on a regular schedule (e.g., monthly, annually, payroll deduction, etc).
• Matching Gift — A gift made by a company or organization in response to an employee’s donation. Matching amounts vary by company and may be a percentage of the original gift rather than a 1:1 match.
  • Only steward the individual donor associated with the original gift.
• Donor Advised Fund (DAF) — A gift made through a donor-advised fund giving vehicle.
  • Steward the individual donor associated with the gift, not the DAF entity.
• IRA Rollover — A gift made directly from a donor’s Individual Retirement Account (IRA), typically by donors age 70½ or older.
• Non-Governmental Grant Outright — Funding received from a private foundation, corporation, or organization that is not a government entity.
  Bequest Expectancy — A documented future gift commitment through a donor’s estate plans. This is not an immediate gift.
• Realized Bequest — A gift received from a donor’s estate after their passing.

The Primary Relationship Manager is the assigned development professional responsible for managing and cultivating a relationship with a donor. This donor is part of the PRM’s portfolio and the PRM serves as the donor’s primary point of contact at NC State.

If a donor has a PRM

If you would like to contact a donor who has an assigned PRM, it is best practice to contact the PRM first before reaching out directly.

This helps:

• Ensure coordinated communication with the donor
• Avoid confusion or duplicate outreach
• Maintain a consistent donor experience
• Respect the donor’s established relationship with NC State

If you are unsure whether a donor has a PRM, contact DASA Development for guidance.

An appeal is a specific fundraising campaign used to track giving activity, such as:

• Day of Giving campaigns
• Crowdfunding projects
• Pantry Bowl campaign
• Payroll deduction campaigns
• Annual Giving website
• Direct mail solicitations

Appeals help estimate campaign performance but are not a perfect measure of donor motivation. A donor may hear about a campaign but give through another channel without the appeal being tracked.

Yes, but only under certain conditions.

• All donors already receive an automated university thank-you.
• DASA Development provides additional stewardship for:
  • Gifts of $500 or more
  • First-time DASA donors

In most cases, program staff are not responsible for donor stewardship unless outreach has been coordinated with DASA Development.

If you would like to contact donors directly, you must follow university data policies and coordinate with DASA Development in advance.

Day of Giving Stewardship

Following Day of Giving, DASA Development generally does not send additional thank-you communications for approximately one month after the event.

This allows time for:

• University-wide and division-level stewardship to conclude
• Giving activity to be fully processed
• Donors to avoid feeling overwhelmed by multiple thank-you messages
  

Programs should not conduct additional Day of Giving donor outreach unless coordinated with DASA Development.

If you have worked with DASA Development to conduct donor outreach or stewardship touchpoints, please share details of the interaction with our team so we can record it in the university’s donor database (LOBO).

Across NC State, all development professionals document donor interactions by creating a contact report for each engagement. These records help ensure the university maintains a complete history of donor communications and provides a coordinated, consistent donor experience.

To ensure these records are accurate, we need to track what communications donors receive from programs and units across campus so we can all stay informed and aligned.

When sharing outreach details, please include:

• Who was contacted
• Date of the interaction
• Method of outreach (email, call, meeting, letter, event interaction, etc.)
• A brief summary of what was shared or discussed

Sharing this information helps:

• Ensure coordinated communication across university partners
• Keep track of what donors are receiving from NC State
• Prevent duplicate or overwhelming outreach
• Maintain a complete record of donor engagement and relationships
• Support strategic stewardship and relationship management

Example: Contact Report

Below is an example of how donor outreach may be recorded:

Title: Sent signed thank-you note
Narrative: Sent a signed thank-you note from Josh for their $500 gift to the Student Success Fund.

To receive donor contact information:

1. Send DASA Development a list of donors and specify:
   • What information you need
   • How you plan to use it
2. Our team submits a data request to Advancement Services.
3. Advancement Services:
   • Provides available contact information
   • Removes individuals who should not be contacted (e.g., deceased donors, contact restrictions)
4. Complete the university data sharing agreement.
5. The approved list will be shared with you for stewardship purposes.

Request Timeline

• Standard requests may take up to 20 business days, depending on volume and time of year.
• February–April timelines are typically longer due to Day of Giving preparation, processing, and follow-up activities.

We appreciate your patience during this high-volume period.