How Donor Accounts Work on Trellis

How accounts are created

Donor accounts are created automatically when a name and email address are collected, so donors don't need to sign up themselves. This happens in two ways:

• During a purchase — an account is created at checkout.
• When tickets are assigned — an account is created or linked when a ticket is assigned to an attendee.

Donors can also create their own account directly, which is required to participate in a silent auction.

Accounts are platform-wide

Donor accounts work across all organizations on Trellis. If a donor has attended a fundraiser before, they may already have an account. When a matching email is found, their existing account is linked rather than creating a new one.

How accounts are identified

Each donor account is tied to a unique email address. Email addresses cannot be changed once an account is created, so it's important that the correct email is entered from the start, or left blank until the email address is known.

If the email address is changed for an attendee, this will create a new donor account with that name and email, which would require a new credit card to be saved.

The Check-In Tool will indicate once an attendee is linked to a donor account. If the attendee does not have an email, the attendee will be unlinked.

Why donor accounts are used

Donor accounts allow donors to save a payment method securely, which is required to bid in silent auctions. If no email address is on file for an attendee, a payment method cannot be saved. 

Note that the name on a donor's account is used for email communication and may differ from the attendee name, which is used for check-in and ticketing only. 

How accounts are updated

If an attendee's contact details exactly match their donor account, any updates made to the attendee will also update the account. This keeps information in sync automatically.

If there is any mismatch between the attendee and the donor account (for example, a different variation of a name), updates to the attendee will not carry over to the account. This prevents changes made for one fundraiser from unintentionally affecting the donor's account across other organizations.

Why accurate details matter

Since accounts are created automatically, incorrect information could get saved to the donor's profile if the wrong contact information is added. Always make sure the name, email address and phone number entered match the actual donor, and leave unknown fields blank rather than entering placeholder information.