Two separate issues can happen from a contact or organization record when Fundraising is involved. Rhythm may block you from deleting the record, or the Process Gift button on one tab may not open gift processing. These issues have different causes and different workarounds.
A Contact or Organization Will Not Delete
Warning
Rhythm will not delete a contact or organization while a Fundraising donor record still points to it. Rhythm creates a donor record for anyone who has ever given, so you cannot delete a past giver from your contacts or organizations while that donor record still exists.
When the delete fails, you see a general error that does not mention Fundraising or a donor record. Rhythm blocks the delete because another record still depends on that contact or organization, but it does not show a Fundraising-specific message at that point.
What to Check
Before you look for another cause, check whether the contact or organization has ever given. Open the record and look for a donor panel with giving totals, or search for the person or organization in Fundraising's donor list. If a donor record exists, that is almost certainly why Rhythm refused the delete.
Workaround
There is no confirmed way to remove a donor record from within the Console. If you need the underlying contact or organization gone and it has a donor record, mark it inactive instead of deleting it. This keeps the giving history intact and avoids the need to clean up the donor record first. See Change a Contact's Status or Delete a Contact or Change an Organization's Status or Type, or Delete It for steps from the record itself.
Process Gift on the Recurring Gifts Tab Fails to Start
On a donor's contact or organization page, the Recurring Gifts tab has its own Process Gift button. It is separate from the Process Gift button on the Gifts tab. When you select it, Rhythm does not open the gift processing page. Instead, you see an initialization error that mentions a missing parameter for the donor type.
Warning
The Process Gift button on the Recurring Gifts tab sends the donor's information under different parameter names than the gift processing page reads. Because the page does not receive the donor type it expects, it cannot open. This button does not work today, regardless of the donor or the giving process involved.
How to Start the Gift Another Way
Use the Process Gift button on the donor's Gifts tab instead. That button sends the donor's information in the format the processing page expects, so it opens the gift form with that donor already selected. There is no other confirmed workaround for the Recurring Gifts tab's own button.
Tip
When you process a gift on behalf of an organization, select the associated contact for that organization during processing. Rhythm sends gift-related emails, such as receipts, to that contact, so leaving it blank can mean nobody receives them.
Merging Duplicate Contacts May Hide Some Gifts
Warning
If you merge two contacts that were each created from donation activity, the merge can finish successfully even though Rhythm shows an unknown error message. In some cases, gifts that belonged to the duplicate contact then appear under Orders and Finance but do not all show up on the surviving contact's Donor tab.
After this kind of merge, compare the surviving contact's Donor tab with its Orders and Finance history. If a gift is missing from the Donor tab but still appears in Orders or Finance, contact Support with both records' names so the missing gift can be reattached.
A Pay-Later Gift May Not Behave as Expected
When you process a gift in Console with a pay-later option and collect payment separately, it can behave differently from a gift paid at the time you process it.
Warning
In some cases, a pay-later gift sends its fundraising gift receipt as soon as you process it, before the order is actually paid. Rhythm is meant to send that receipt only once payment is collected, so treat an early receipt as a sign to double-check whether the gift has been paid.
Warning
In some cases, after payment is received on a pay-later gift's order, the donor's Amount Given total and Gifts area do not update to show it. If a donor's totals look lower than they should after you collect payment on a pay-later gift, check the gift itself in Fundraising & Gifts › Gifts before assuming the payment was not received.
If either issue happens, contact Support with the gift and order numbers so the donor record can be corrected.
When to Contact Support
If the delete still fails after you confirm the contact or organization has no donor record, contact Support. You should also contact Support if the Process Gift button on the Gifts tab fails to open, if a contact merge leaves gifts out of the Donor tab, or if a pay-later gift's receipt or donor totals do not match what you expect. Include the record's name, the exact error message, and the tab and button you selected.