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Overview

A tribute is a gift given in honor of, or in memory of, someone. Each tribute records a tribute type: either In honor of or In memory of. This article covers how to turn tributes on for a checkout, where the type shows up afterward, what reaches Salesforce, and what you can and cannot filter on.

Choosing which tribute types a checkout offers

Tribute settings live on each checkout.
  1. In the dashboard, open Checkouts and select the checkout you want to change.
  2. Open the Other Rules tab.
  3. Turn on Let donors choose to give in memory or honor of someone.
  4. Under Tribute types, check the types you want to offer:
    • Check both to let the donor pick from a dropdown (In honor of or In memory of).
    • Check only one to offer just that type.
    • Leave both unchecked to not ask for a type. The tribute form then works the way it did before types existed, and no type is recorded.
  5. Choose how the other tribute fields behave:
    • Honoree name: one name field, or separate first and last name fields.
    • E-card email: Optional, Required, or Don’t ask.
    • Message: Optional, Required, or Don’t ask.
Save the checkout. The settings apply per checkout, so you can offer both types on one checkout and only “In memory of” on a memorial campaign checkout. Donors who add a tribute to their recurring plan from the donor portal see the same type choice, based on the checkout that plan uses.

Where the tribute type appears

The type is stored on one-time payments and on recurring plans.
  • Payment and recurring plan records show the type in the Tribute section (“In honor of” or “In memory of”). It is blank when no type was recorded, which is the case for tributes entered before tribute types were introduced.
  • Recurring plans pass the type on to every installment, so each charge keeps the plan’s choice.
  • Receipts print “In memory of” for a memory tribute and “In honor of” otherwise.
  • The recurring tribute e-card uses a memory-specific subject and wording for a memory tribute. Tribute notifications for one-time gifts use whatever you wrote in your Tribute Made triggered message.
  • Object Explorer shows the tribute type as a field on both payment and recurring plan records, so you can check what was recorded for a specific gift.
Tributes entered before tribute types existed have no type recorded and are treated as “In honor of” wherever a type is needed.

Pledges do not have a tribute type

A tribute on a pledge records the name, message and email, but not an honor or memory type. Installment payments created from a pledge therefore have no tribute type either. If you need the type, collect the gift through a checkout or a recurring plan instead. See Creating a Pledge for the pledge tribute fields.

Salesforce

  • Installment and one-time gifts (Opportunity): the default push sets the NPSP Tribute Type field to Memorial for a memory tribute and Honor for everything else, including older tributes with no type. It is sent when the Opportunity is created and only when the gift has a tribute. Your Salesforce Tribute Type picklist needs to accept those two values.
  • Recurring Donations: the default push sends no tribute fields. To send the tribute type from a plan, add an export mapping rule using the plan’s tribute type value as the source.
  • Custom mapping: the tribute type is available as a mapping source on transactions and plans, so you can send it to any Salesforce field you choose with an export mapping rule.
For field-level detail, see the Salesforce data mapping pages for Opportunities and Recurring Donations.

Virtuous

The default Virtuous push does not include tribute details. The honoree name, message, e-card email and tribute type stay on the WeGive payment or recurring plan, and the gift in Virtuous shows no tribute. This is expected, not a sync error, and WeGive still sends the honoree e-card and tribute notifications itself. If you need tribute details in Virtuous, contact WeGive Support to discuss a Donation Mapping to a custom Gift field. See Gift Mapping for details.

Triggers and audience filters

Triggered messages and audience filters can only check whether a gift is in honor or in memory of someone at all. That filter is a yes/no value named In Honor or Memory. There is no filter for the specific type, so you cannot build a trigger or audience that targets only memory tributes or only honor tributes. If you need to treat memory tributes differently, options include:
  • Use a separate checkout that offers only “In memory of,” and filter on that checkout.
  • Map the tribute type to a Salesforce field and segment there.
  • Use the tribute type shown on payment and plan records to review gifts by hand.
Last modified on November 13, 2026