A donor club is a named recognition tier, such as Bronze or Leadership Circle, that groups donors by how much they have given. This article explains how Rhythm can place donors in clubs automatically, what happens when you choose a club yourself, and how Rhythm keeps a donor’s club history.
Automatic Placement: By Lifetime Giving or by Recent Giving
Your Fundraising settings can turn automatic club placement on in one of two ways, or leave it off entirely:
- By lifetime giving. Rhythm places each donor in the club tied to the highest giving tier their all-time total reaches. You need at least one tier defined; if no tiers exist, automatic placement does nothing even when the setting is turned on.
- By recent giving. Rhythm places each donor based on their giving over the number of months you choose. Rhythm counts only gifts inside that rolling window, not the donor’s full giving history. This option also requires at least one tier.
- Off. Rhythm does not place anyone automatically. A donor’s club is whatever staff choose by hand, and newly created accounts use that same default.
The same gifts that count toward a donor’s lifetime or recent total also drive club placement. Every gift of any type counts, regardless of the amount’s sign, just as described in How Donor Giving Totals Are Calculated.
Warning
A tier’s club does not need to be active for Rhythm to place donors in it. If automatic placement uses a tier whose club has been switched off, donors are still placed in that club. If a donor’s club looks wrong, check whether the tier behind it points to an inactive club.
When Placement Happens
Automatic placement is not continuous. It runs during a donor recalculation, the same process that updates giving totals whenever a gift or pledge tied to the donor is created, changed, or deleted. Between recalculations, the donor’s club stays exactly as it was last set, even if their giving has moved them into a different tier or out of every tier. If you need every donor reviewed at once instead of waiting for each donor’s next gift or pledge change, you can run an account-wide recalculation.
If a donor’s giving no longer reaches any tier, such as after a large gift is deleted, automatic placement removes them from their club. Rhythm does not notify anyone when this happens, so you would only notice the change by checking the donor directly.
A Club You Choose by Hand Does Not Survive the Next Recalculation
You can always set a donor’s club yourself, overriding the club automatic placement would otherwise choose. If automatic placement is turned on, that hand-chosen club is only temporary. The next time Rhythm recalculates the donor, it replaces your choice with the club tied to the donor’s current tier.
There is no way to “pin” a manually chosen club so it survives automatic placement. If you want a donor to keep a club you assigned by hand, automatic placement needs to be off, because the setting applies to every donor.
A Donor's Club History
Every time a donor’s club changes, either automatically or by hand, Rhythm records the club they left and when they left it. Rhythm also records the first period of a donor’s giving, before they were ever in any club, as its own entry with no club name.
A few rules keep this history readable instead of cluttered:
- If the donor’s newest history entry already names the club they are now leaving, Rhythm extends that entry instead of adding a duplicate.
- If the donor changes clubs more than once on the same calendar day, Rhythm discards the earlier same-day entry instead of keeping it alongside the new one.
- A donor’s club history keeps only the 100 most recent entries. Once a donor passes that limit, Rhythm drops the oldest entries to make room for new ones.
For most donors, 100 entries is more history than they will ever need. If you are reviewing a donor with a very long or very active giving history, remember that only the most recent 100 club changes are available.
Related
See the related articles for how giving totals are calculated, where to configure donor clubs and their tiers, the gift rules that affect club and soft-credit calculations, how to review a donor’s giving and club on their page, and how to recalculate every donor at once.