Email Conflict Sync Errors

Last updated: March 27, 2026

Symptoms

You see integration locks with "duplicate email" errors. A donor record fails to sync to Virtuous, or an email update made in WeGive is rejected by Virtuous. The error message references an email address that already belongs to another contact in Virtuous.

Root Cause

Virtuous previously allowed multiple contacts to share the same email address, but that ability was removed. However, existing data created during that earlier period may still contain duplicate emails across different contact records. Virtuous's current API will reject any sync that tries to assign an email to a contact when that email is already in use by another contact.

This most commonly happens in two scenarios:

Pre-existing duplicate emails. An individual donor and a company donor in Virtuous already share the same email address from before the restriction was put in place. When WeGive tries to sync either record, Virtuous rejects it.

Email update triggers a conflict. A donor's email is updated in WeGive to an address that happens to already belong to a different contact in Virtuous. WeGive pushes the update, Virtuous rejects it because the email is taken, and the sync fails.

In both cases, the record will retry three times and then become an integration lock.

How to Resolve

Step 1: Identify the Conflict

Go to Data > Integration Locks and find the locked record. The error message will show which email address caused the conflict. Note the email and the donor it was trying to sync.

Step 2: Remove the Duplicate Email in Virtuous

In Virtuous, search for the email address to find the two contacts that share it. In most cases, one is an individual and the other is a company/organization.

Remove the shared email from the company donor record. It is fine to leave the company record's email field blank. The individual donor should keep the email on their own record.

Step 3: Maintain Access via Donor Portal Login

If the individual needs to continue managing the company's giving through WeGive's donor portal, add them as a portal login on the company supporter:

  1. In WeGive, go to the company donor record

  2. Open the Actions tab

  3. Select Add Login

  4. Enter the individual's name, email, and phone number

This gives the individual secure access to the company's donor portal without needing the email to be on the company record itself.

Step 4: Clear the Integration Lock

  1. Go to Data > Integration Locks

  2. Select the affected record(s)

  3. Click Archive

WeGive will retry the sync within 15 minutes. With the email conflict resolved, the record should sync successfully.

Prevention

Before enabling the integration: Audit your Virtuous data for contacts that share the same email address, especially between individual and company records. Clean these up before turning on the sync.

After the integration is running: Train staff to search for existing donors before creating new records in WeGive. If a donor's email needs to change, verify that the new email isn't already assigned to another contact in Virtuous.

For more detail on the pre-integration email cleanup process, see Prerequisites & Before You Begin.