To effectively process donations, each church should have at least three "fake" donor records. All three records can be set up as a company on the contacts page.

Default Contact

When a donation is imported into MinistryPlatform and it can't automatically match a donor account, this record is selected temporarily until you can assign or create a Donor record. Alternate names might be default donor or temporary donor.

Unassigned

This record is used when the system can't assign a donation to a donor. An example is a donation by someone who uses starter checks that do not have pre-printed information on them and the signature line may not be legible. By using a specific record for these donors, it is easier to correct them in the future.

Cash

A record used to permanently assign anonymous (loose plate) donations.

These records can be called something slightly different to suit your church's culture. To change them, a SPoC should first email Support to discuss the implications (for example, the need to update various configuration values in stored procedures with the ID number of the default contact).