When a family asks for donations in memory of someone who has died, a tribute fund brings those gifts together under one name. It lets your team see how much has been given in their memory and keep the person and their next of kin connected to the right records, so any thank-you or update is handled with care.

Before you start

  • You need relationships:read:fundraisingactivities to see tribute funds and relationships:write:fundraisingactivities to create, edit or delete them. See the permission catalogue.
  • To link the person being remembered or their next of kin, they must already have contact records. See Create and edit contacts.

Create a tribute fund

  1. In the Relationships section of the sidebar, open Tribute funds.
  2. Choose New tribute fund.
  3. Under Fund details, enter the Fund name (required), for example “In memory of Margaret Jones”.
  4. Add the Date of death if you know it. It must be in the past.
  5. Under People, optionally search for and choose the Deceased person and Next of kin from your existing contacts.
  6. Choose Create fund.

A Tribute fund created message confirms it. The fund shows in the list with a Pending badge until it has been saved, usually within a few seconds.

Find and open a fund

The All tribute funds list shows each fund’s Fund name, Date of death and Total raised. Type in Search tribute funds to filter by fund name, and choose Refresh to reload the list.

Select a fund to open it. The fund shows the date of death, links to the deceased person’s and next of kin’s contact records, and the total raised.

If your teams aren’t allowed to see a fund’s details, it opens as a Restricted tribute fund showing only its name, the reason, and who does have access. Ask one of them if you need to see it.

Record a gift in memory

  1. Open the payment form for the gift.
  2. Tick Made in memory of someone.
  3. Choose the fund in Tribute fund.
  4. Save the payment.

The fund’s Total raised updates shortly afterwards. A tribute fund records who the gift remembers; it doesn’t restrict how the money is spent. If the family asked for the money to go to a particular purpose, also allocate the payment to a restricted fund.

How the total is worked out

Total raised adds up the payments linked to the fund, and a refund of one of them reduces it. Keep in mind:

  • It includes pledged and invoiced payments as well as paid ones.
  • It’s always shown in pounds (£). A payment in another currency is added at its face value, not converted, so check the payments themselves if a fund receives gifts in more than one currency.

Edit or delete a fund

  • To change the details, open the fund, choose Edit, make your changes and choose Save changes.
  • To delete it, open the fund and choose Delete. Deleting can’t be undone. Check the fund name in Delete tribute fund, then choose Delete. Think about the family before deleting a fund that has received gifts; editing the name or details is usually the better choice.

If something goes wrong

  • “Fund name is required.” Enter a name and try again.
  • “Date of death must be in the past.” Check the date. Leave it empty if you’re not sure.
  • “Tribute fund not found”: the fund may have been deleted, or you may not have access. Choose Back to tribute funds.