Priority makes sure that constituents enter only one donation automation for each payment.
Priority applies to donation automations, which appear in the Donations category. These automations have two levels of priority:
Built-in priority — The precedence of automations in relation to each other. This type of priority determines which donation entry source a payment qualifies for. For example, the first-ever donation on a constituent's timeline only qualifies for the First Ever Donation automation.
Priority that you set — How you manually order donation automations by priority (from highest to lowest priority). This type of priority determines which donation automation a constituent enters if they qualify for multiple donation automations that use the same entry source. For example, if you have three Next Donation automations, you must order them by priority.
Built-in Priority
Entry sources for donation payments have the following built-in priority (in this order):
Entry Sources | Priority | How Built-In Priority Works |
First Ever Donation | Highest priority | The first-ever payment on a constituent’s timeline only ever qualifies the constituent to enter a First Ever automation. |
Initial Recurring Donation, Initial Membership Payment | Next priority after First Ever Donation | The initial payment on a new recurring donation schedule that isn’t a first-ever donation only ever qualifies the constituent to enter an Initial Recurring Donation automation. The initial payment on a membership schedule that isn’t a first-ever donation only ever qualifies the constituent to enter an Initial Membership Payment automation. |
Next Donation | Next priority after Initial Recurring Donation and Initial Membership Payment | Any payment that isn’t a first-ever payment or first payment on a new schedule only ever qualifies the constituent to enter a Next Donation automation. |
For example, Avery’s first-ever donation is a recurring donation payment:
Avery qualifies to enter a First Ever Donation automation for that payment, but doesn’t qualify to enter an Initial Recurring Donation automation.
Avery makes a second payment for the same recurring donation and qualifies to enter a Next Donation automation.
Avery later makes a new recurring donation schedule and makes a first payment on that new schedule. Avery qualifies to enter an Initial Recurring Donation automation.
Keep in mind that built-in rules apply even if you don’t create automations for all entry sources. For example, a first-ever donation only ever qualifies a constituent to enter a First Ever Donation automation. If you don’t have that automation, the constituent doesn’t enter another type of donation automation for that payment.
For a detailed description of each entry source, read About Entry Sources in Automations.
Priority That You Set
If you have multiple automations for the same donation payment entry source:
You must set a priority when you publish an automation using that entry source. Constituents who qualify to enter multiple donation automations for that entry source enter only the automation with the higher priority.
You can edit the priority of running and paused automations. These edits apply only to future participants. If you edit the priority, current participants remain within their current automation.
For example, you have two First Ever Donation automations. One automation is filtered for donations over $100, and the other is filtered for donations to a Restricted fund. A donation of $500 to that fund qualifies this constituent for both automations. The constituent enters the automation with the higher priority.
After completing the higher-priority automation, constituents don’t enter a lower-priority automation that they qualified for while in the higher-priority automation.
If a constituent is within a donation automation and you change the priority so another donation automation has higher priority, the constituent remains within their current donation automation. This constituent doesn’t enter the automation that now has higher priority.