A report is a saved question, and the answer changes every time you open it. Here, the question that matters most is almost always which record types and which statuses were let through — because Engagements mix dues, gifts and promises in a single object.
Hover or tap any part of the diagram to find its description, and vice versa.
The name is what somebody meant it to answer; the object tells you what it counts. A report on Engagements counts money records — not people, and not memberships. Names are written by hand and drift out of date, so treat the filters as the real description.
Read these first, always. On Engagements the two that decide everything are record type and status. Miss the record type and dues land in your fundraising total; miss the status and money nobody has actually received counts as income.
The same numbers drawn. It contains nothing extra and follows the grouping. Good for spotting shape; no substitute for reading rows when something looks off.
The fields somebody chose to show. If what you need is missing it almost certainly exists on the record and simply was not added — worth asking for rather than assuming we do not capture it.
The shaded bands — here, by fund. Most of the meaning sits in these subtotals rather than the grand total. The same amount concentrated in one fund or spread across six describes two completely different years.
The individual Engagements behind the totals. Click one to open the real record. A report is a live window, so if a figure looks wrong this is where you find out why.
Everything the filters allowed, added up. Read the count next to it — five gifts making $25,000 and five hundred making $25,000 are entirely different stories about the year.
| Check | What you are looking for |
|---|---|
| Record type | Are dues or in-kind gifts sneaking into a giving total? |
| Status | Committed counted as received? Refunds still in? |
| Pledges and payments | Both counted means the money is in there twice |
| Date field | Engagement date or fiscal year — they are not the same cut |
| Soft credits | Recognition records added to hard income |
| Your access | You only ever see records you are allowed to see |
"We raised this much" is not a complete sentence here. Completed donations only, or dues included? Pledges at face value, or only payments received? Both answers can be right; only one matches what the person asking has in their head. State it and the argument never starts.
Reports respect what each person can see. Identical filters can produce different totals for two colleagues. Before escalating a discrepancy, confirm you were both looking at the same filters and have the same access.
If a shared report is nearly what you want, save your own version rather than changing one other people depend on. Editing a shared report changes it for everybody, usually without them noticing until a number moves.
If gifts are missing designations, or memberships were never marked current, no filter will rescue the total. Reporting is where the quality of everyday data entry becomes visible — which is the real reason the habits in the other modules matter.