How to Use Designated Purpose for Restricted Donations

The Specifically Designated Purpose field on a donation records what the donor asked their gift to be used for.

Recording one

1. Open the donation and go to Donation Details.
2. Find Specifically Designated Purpose.

   

3. Type what the donor asked for. It holds up to 500 characters.
4. Save.

Use the donor's own wording where you have it, including anything written on a check memo. That is what the field is for: a record of what was actually asked.

It is a note, and the Fund is what does the work

This is the part worth being clear about. The field is free text, and nothing in Argenta filters, groups or reports on it. Typing "Building Fund" here does not restrict the money or move it anywhere.

What keeps restricted money separate is the Fund on the gift's accounting entry. If a designation has to hold up in your books, set the Fund as well as writing the note. The two do different jobs: the Fund is the accounting, and the Designated Purpose is the evidence of what the donor asked for.

Where the text turns up

• As a Designated Purpose column on the Donations and Recurring Donations lists.
• In the donations CSV export.
• It travels with a copied gift.
• It goes out with a donation on your donation webhooks.

Online gifts fill it in for you

A gift given through your public donation form arrives with this field already written, so it will not be in the donor's words:

• A gift against a campaign reads Campaign # and the campaign's number.
• A student scholarship gift reads Student Scholarship: and the name given.
• A tribute gift reads In honor of or In memory of, as the donor chose, and that name.

A form gift that is none of those arrives with the field empty.

Restricted and unrestricted

A restricted gift is one the donor said must be used for something particular. An unrestricted gift carries no such condition. What follows from accepting a restricted gift is your organization's own call. Argenta's part is holding the record of what was asked and the fund the money sits in, so you can show both later.