Multi-Designation Donations with Salesforce NPSP

Last updated: May 18, 2026

This article explains how WeGive handles multi-designation gifts when syncing with Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). It covers what to expect, what to set up in NPSP before turning the feature on, and how to troubleshoot the most common sync issues.

What "multi-designation" means

A multi-designation gift is a single donation (one-time or recurring) that a donor splits across two or more designations. For example, a donor giving $100 monthly might allocate $60 to General Fund, $25 to Missions, and $15 to Youth Programs.

In WeGive, designations live as Funds. When a donor splits a gift, WeGive creates one Fund Allocation record per designation per donation. The allocations roll up to either a single transaction (for one-time gifts) or a single recurring plan (for recurring gifts).

How WeGive concepts map to NPSP

WeGive object to NPSP object mapping for multi-designation donations:

Supporter	Contact	Always synced. Never entity-filtered.
Fund	`npsp__General_Accounting_Unit__c` (GAU)	One GAU per Fund. The WeGive Fund must have its Salesforce ID populated.
Transaction	Opportunity	One Opportunity per one-time gift.
Recurring Plan	`npe03__Recurring_Donation__c`	One Recurring Donation per active plan.
Fund Allocation (on a transaction)	`npsp__Allocation__c` with `npsp__Opportunity__c` populated	One Allocation per designation per transaction.
Fund Allocation (on a recurring plan)	`npsp__Allocation__c` with `npsp__Recurring_Donation__c` populated	One Allocation per designation per recurring plan. Inherits to future Opportunities.

The key point is that NPSP supports allocations on both Opportunities and Recurring Donations natively. WeGive writes to whichever parent applies, so the split is preserved at both the gift level and the plan level.

Prerequisites in NPSP

Before turning on multi-designation sync for an organization, the following must be in place inside NPSP.

NPSP prerequisites checklist:

NPSP installed	The Salesforce org must have the Nonprofit Success Pack managed package installed.
WeGive managed package installed	Required for the WeGive custom objects (Pledges, Communication Preferences, Events, and others if used).
Fund Allocations enabled on the WeGive organization	This is the master switch. Without it, only single-fund sync is used.
GAU records created for every WeGive Fund	The sync looks up GAUs by Salesforce ID. Every WeGive Fund must have a matching GAU.
WeGive Fund mapped to its GAU	The WeGive Fund record must store the GAU's Salesforce ID in the `salesforce_id` field. New Funds created in WeGive will push automatically. Existing Funds need this populated before the first sync.
NPSP Record Types	Standard NPSP Record Types must exist: Household Account, Organization, Donation, and Service Revenue (or whatever names you have mapped in the integration settings).
Field mapping rules confirmed	Confirm WeGive to NPSP mapping rules are in place for Contact, Account, Campaign, Recurring Donation, Donation, Payment, and Fund.

What syncs in each direction

Sync behavior for multi-designation donations:

Donor makes a one-time multi-designation gift in WeGive	WeGive to NPSP	Creates one Opportunity. Creates one Allocation per designation, each linked to the Opportunity via `npsp__Opportunity__c`.
Donor sets up a recurring multi-designation plan in WeGive	WeGive to NPSP	Creates one Recurring Donation. Creates one Allocation per designation, each linked to the Recurring Donation via `npsp__Recurring_Donation__c`. Future Opportunities generated by NPSP inherit the same split.
Admin edits an existing recurring plan in WeGive (adds, removes, or changes a designation)	WeGive to NPSP	The Allocations on the Recurring Donation are reconciled: new Allocations are created, removed designations are deleted, and changed amounts are updated.
Admin edits a Recurring Donation in NPSP directly	NPSP to WeGive	Pulled in on the next sync. WeGive updates the matching Fund Allocations.
Admin creates a new Recurring Donation in NPSP with allocations	NPSP to WeGive	Pulled in and a corresponding recurring plan is created in WeGive with the matching split.
Allocation deleted in NPSP	NPSP to WeGive	The matching WeGive Fund Allocation is deleted (when "Pull Deleted Fund Allocations" is enabled).

Recurring donations and the inheritance behavior

This is the most common source of confusion, so it gets its own section.

When a recurring plan with multiple designations generates a new transaction, NPSP automatically inherits the allocation split from the parent Recurring Donation onto the new child Opportunity. This is native NPSP behavior, not something WeGive does.

What this means in practice:

The Allocation records on the Recurring Donation are the "template" for every charge that plan creates.
WeGive does not need to write Allocations on every new Opportunity individually for recurring gifts. NPSP handles that.
If you change the split on the Recurring Donation (in either system), the change applies to future charges but does not retroactively edit Opportunities that already exist.

Common issues and fixes

Troubleshooting multi-designation sync issues:

Allocations not syncing at all	The Fund Allocations switch is not enabled on the WeGive organization. Turn it on in WeGive integration settings.
One designation syncs but the others do not	A WeGive Fund is missing its `salesforce_id`, so it cannot match a GAU. Open the Fund in WeGive and confirm it is linked to the right GAU. If the GAU does not exist yet, create it in NPSP first, then resync the Fund.
Allocation total does not match the transaction or plan amount	Someone updated the recurring plan amount without rebalancing the splits. Re-edit the plan and confirm the splits add up to the new amount.
Recurring Donation in NPSP shows allocations but new Opportunities have none	NPSP automation that copies parent allocations to child Opportunities is off or paused. Check NPSP "Recurring Donation Settings" and verify the package is up to date.
Allocations appear duplicated after a resync	This can happen if the WeGive Fund was relinked to a different GAU mid-stream. Reach out to WeGive support to clean up the duplicates.
Sync error: "Unable to find fund"	A WeGive Fund used in a transaction does not have a matching GAU on the Salesforce side. Create the GAU in NPSP, link it to the WeGive Fund, then retry the sync.

Recommended setup order

Install NPSP and the WeGive managed package in the same Salesforce org.
Confirm the Record Types listed in the prerequisites exist.
Create GAUs in NPSP for every designation you plan to offer in WeGive.
Sync Funds from WeGive to NPSP and confirm each Fund has its salesforce_id populated.
Turn on Fund Allocations in WeGive integration settings.
Process a small test gift with two designations in your sandbox to confirm Allocations land correctly in NPSP.
Set up a test recurring plan with two designations and confirm the Allocations appear on the Recurring Donation in NPSP and inherit to the first child Opportunity.