Donations

Go to Giving in the left nav (labeled "Donations" in some nav configurations). The hub has seven tabs: Donors, Donations, Analytics, Receipts, Fund Cases, Reimbursements, and Campaigns.

Donors tab

The Donors tab lists every person who has donated. Each row shows their name, total donated, last donation date, and email delivery status.

Adding a donor manually:

1. 1
   Click Add donor.
2. 2
   Enter their name and email. This creates a new donor entry -- it doesn't check for or link to an existing contact record.
3. 3
   Click Save.

Importing donors from CSV:

Click Import CSV and paste in CSV or tab-separated data with a header row (name, email, phone, notes) -- no template download needed. Fosterling shows a row count preview, skips donors already on file by email, and there's also a separate Import gifts option for Venmo/PayPal Giving Fund statement exports.

Donations tab

The Donations tab is a chronological log of all donations. Filter by date range, donor, or donation type.

Recording a donation:

1. 1
   Click Record donation.
2. 2
   Select the donor (or type to search). Enter amount, date, and type (cash, check, online, in-kind).
3. 3
   Add a note or campaign tag if needed.
4. 4
   Click Save. A receipt is queued to send to the donor automatically (configurable in Settings).

Analytics tab

The Analytics tab shows giving trends: total by month, top donors, first-time vs. recurring donors, and average gift size. It also breaks out LYBUNT and SYBUNT segments -- donors who gave Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year, or the year before -- so you know who's worth a lapsed-donor outreach. Click into any donor for their full gift history. Use the date range picker to focus on a fiscal year or campaign period.

Click Export CSV to download the underlying data for grant reports or board presentations.

Receipts tab

Generate and send year-end tax receipts to all donors in a given year.

1. 1
   Select the tax year from the dropdown.
2. 2
   Review the donor list -- only donors with a valid email and at least one recorded donation appear.
3. 3
   Click Send all receipts (or select specific donors and click Send selected).
4. 4
   Donors receive a PDF receipt via email. You can resend individual receipts from the Donors tab if needed.

Fund Cases tab

Fund cases are Fosterling's grant and medical-case workflow -- built for raising and tracking money against a specific animal's medical emergency, transport fund, or special-needs care, with a review process behind it rather than just a public counter.

Opening a fund case:

1. 1
   Click New fund case and link the animal.
2. 2
   Enter the caregiver's contact info, the animal's condition, the partner clinic involved, and the amount requested.
3. 3
   The case moves through a review pipeline as staff work it: submitted, under review, approved, funded, and closed or denied.
4. 4
   As funds go out, log each disbursement manually against the case.

Each case has its own stewardship-updates thread, so you can keep donors who gave toward it posted on the animal's progress. Once a case is underway, its progress bar can be embedded on your public page so donors can see how close it is to fully funded and give directly toward it -- that public embed is only the front-facing half of the fund case.

Reimbursements tab

Track out-of-pocket expenses submitted by volunteers and foster families for reimbursement. Each request shows the amount, category, receipt attachment, and approval status.

Accounting sync

QuickBooks and Xero sync aren't tied to your plan -- they're available on any plan, gated only by having a finance role.

Go to Settings > Connected services (Integrations tab) to connect QuickBooks Online or Xero. Once connected, use the Sync to QuickBooks or Sync to Xero button in the Donations tab to push donation records.

Can donors give through Fosterling directly (online payment)?

Fosterling supports online donations through Stripe or PayPal -- connect one in Settings > Donations & fees and your public portal will show a Donate button. Card is the only payment method right now; bank/ACH isn't supported yet.

What information goes on a year-end receipt?

Your rescue's name and EIN, the donor's name and address, a list of donations (date, amount, type), and a standard IRS charitable contribution statement. Receipts are generated automatically -- add your EIN in Settings > Donations & fees to make sure it's included.

Can I attach a photo of a check or bank statement to a donation record?

Yes -- when recording or editing a donation, click 'Attach document' to upload a photo or PDF.

Can I track donations to a specific campaign or event?

Yes -- use the campaign tag field when recording a donation. Filter the Donations tab by campaign tag to see totals for that campaign.