Planning Center Field Mapping
How data is mapped from iDonate to Planning Center.
This article documents how data from iDonate is mapped into Planning Center Giving. For how to connect and configure the integration, see the Setting Up Planning Center guide.
Object Level Mapping
| In iDonate | Becomes in Planning Center Giving |
|---|---|
| Donor (contact) | Person (in People) |
| Donation | Donation, placed inside a Batch |
| Designation | Fund |
| Organization name (when it matches a Campus name) | Campus on the donation |
| Recurring donation installment | An individual Donation (the schedule itself is not created) |
| Event / ticket purchase | A Donation (attendee records are not created) |
Donation Fields
| iDonate Source | Planning Center Giving Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Donation amount | Donation amount | Reconciled to the authoritative iDonate total, including any donor-covered fees. |
| Donation completion date/time | Received-at date | The date the donation was completed in iDonate. |
| Payment method | Payment method / type | See Payment type mapping below. |
| Card last four | Payment last four | When available for card donations. |
| Donor-covered fee | Separate fee line or rolled into amount | Depends on the Donor Fee Processor setting. |
| Batch assignment | Batch | Per-donation batch, or a daily iDonate <date> batch, per Batch Strategy. |
Note: Person fields are only written when creating a new Person record or when no conflicting value already exists in Planning Center. Existing People data is not overwritten.
Person (donor) Fields| iDonate Source | Planning Center Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Donor ID | Match key (primary) | Keeps the same donor tied to the same Person over time, even if email changes. |
| Email address | Used to match when no stored identity exists; without it the donation cannot be recorded. | |
| First name | First name | Synced from iDonate; used when creating or updating the Person record. |
| Last name | Last name | Donor last name. |
| Phone | Person Phone | Included when provided. |
| Address | Person Address |
Fund (designation) Mapping
| iDonate Source | Planning Center Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Designation code | Ledger Code | Primary match key. |
| Designation Title | Fund name | Display name of Fund. |
Payment Type Mapping
| iDonate Payment Method | Planning Center Payment Type |
|---|---|
| Card (credit, debit, digital wallets, PayPal) | card |
| ACH / eCheck | ach |
| Check | check |
| Cash | cash |
Labels
| Context | Label Format | Applied When |
|---|---|---|
| Donation source | idonate |
Every donation from the integration |
| Recurring | idonate-recurring |
Installment of a recurring donation |
| Campaign | campaign-<campaign-name> |
Donation came through a campaign |
| Form | form-<form-name> |
Donation came through a specific form |
| Tribute | tribute-<in-memory-of | in-honor-of> |
Memorial or honor donation |
| P2P program | p2p-program-<program-name> |
Donation came through a peer-to-peer program |
Notes
| Context | Note format |
|---|---|
| Organization | Organization: <Organization Name> |
| Event / tickets | Event: <Event Name> — N ticket(s) (<Ticket Name>) |
| Tribute | Tribute: <In Honor Of | In Memory Of> <Honoree Name> — "<Message>" — notify <Recipient Name> (<Recipient Email>) |
| Peer-to-peer | P2P: <Program Name> — Team: <Team Name> — Fundraiser: <Fundraiser Name> |
| Recurring | Recurring: <Frequency> (schedule <Schedule ID>) |
Each recurring installment from iDonate is imported as a separate, standalone donation in Planning Center Giving. No recurring donation schedule object is created, because the Planning Center API does not support it. The recurring context is preserved through a label and a donation note.
Recurring Schedule Metadata| iDonate Source | Planning Center | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring installment | Individual Donation | One donation per charge. |
| Recurring flag | idonate-recurring label |
On every installment. |
| Schedule ID + frequency | Donation note | Recurring: <Frequency> (schedule <Schedule ID>). |
| Recurring schedule object | Not created | The Planning Center API does not support creating or updating recurring-donation schedules. |
Event / Ticket Fields
| iDonate Source | Planning Center | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket revenue | Donation amount | Recorded in Giving as a donation. |
| Ticket fund | Designation line | |
| Multiple tickets, same fund | Combined onto one line | |
| Event name + ticket count | Donation note | Event: <Event Name> — N ticket(s) (<Ticket Name>). |
| Attendee / registration record | Not created | The Planning Center API does not support creating or updating Registrations records. |
Lifecycle: Refunds and Cancellations
Partial refunds are supported. When a refund is issued in iDonate, a matching refund is applied to the corresponding donation in Planning Center Giving. Cancellations mark the donation as failed and attach a note for traceability.
| Event in iDonate | Effect in Planning Center |
|---|---|
| Refund | Matching refund issued on the donation. |
| Cancellation | Donation marked as failed, with a note that it was cancelled in iDonate. |