Hard Credit
Hard credit is defined as the actual amount of money received by an institution or organization from a donor. This amount must reflect the amount used for accounting purposes and may be no more or less than that figure put in the accounting books. It is the hard credit amount that is used for the production of the CFAE report
Soft Credit
Soft credit is defined as a type of gift credit for "virtual" gifts. Soft credits satisfy the needs of donors whose gifts are delivered to institutions via foundations or donors other than themselves, or whose "hard credit" may not be large enough for them to be listed in a specific giving club. Soft credit allows the institution to track giving participation of donors who need to be acknowledged for reporting purposes but for legal reasons cannot be given "hard" credit. Each institution may choose to use the soft credit amount in any way it finds appropriate, but to enforce consistency, the use of the soft credit amount is validated against the tms_associated_amount_control table.