Overview
Introduction to Planning Center
Learn about Planning Center and how it integrates with the WeGive donor management platform
Planning Center Overview
Planning Center is a comprehensive church management platform that provides tools for managing people, donations, events, and communications. The WeGive integration focuses on the People and Giving modules, providing seamless bidirectional synchronization between your WeGive donation platform and Planning Center’s donor management system.
Key Features
- People Management: Comprehensive contact and member profiles with detailed information
- Giving Management: Advanced donation tracking and fund management
- Batch Processing: Organized donation batches for accounting and reporting
- Fund Designations: Detailed fund categories and designation tracking
- Recurring Gifts: Automated recurring donation management
- Communication Integration: Contact information synchronization for unified communications
- Reporting & Analytics: Comprehensive giving analytics and donor insights
Integration with WeGive
The WeGive Planning Center integration provides:
- Bidirectional Data Sync: Real-time and batch synchronization between both platforms
- Dual Authentication: Support for both OAuth 2.0 and legacy authentication methods
- Automatic Donor Management: Seamless contact creation and updates
- Transaction Batch Processing: Organized gift import with proper accounting structure
- Fund Synchronization: Consistent fund structures across platforms
- Recurring Gift Management: Automated recurring donation tracking
- Comprehensive Logging: Complete audit trail of all integration activities
Planning Center Services
The WeGive integration connects with specific Planning Center modules:
People (Contact Management)
- Contact Records: Individual and family contact information
- Communication Details: Email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses
- Family Relationships: Household and family member connections
- Contact Notes: Additional information and communication history
Giving (Donation Management)
- Donations: Individual gift records with payment details
- Batches: Organized groups of donations for accounting purposes
- Funds: Giving categories and designation options
- Payment Sources: Payment method tracking and management
- Designations: Fund allocation for split gifts
- Recurring Gifts: Scheduled donation management
Authentication Methods
The integration supports two authentication approaches:
OAuth 2.0 (Recommended)
- Secure Authentication: Industry-standard OAuth 2.0 flow
- Automatic Token Refresh: Seamless token management
- Granular Permissions: Specific scope permissions (‘people giving’)
- Enhanced Security: No need to store sensitive credentials
Legacy Authentication
- App ID/Secret: Basic authentication using application credentials
- Direct API Access: Simple credential-based authentication
- Backward Compatibility: Support for existing implementations
Getting Started
To begin using the WeGive Planning Center Integration:
- Review the Setup Requirements
- Configure your Integration Settings
- Understand the Integration Nuances
- Review the Data Mapping documentation
Core Objects
The following Planning Center objects are central to the WeGive integration:
People Module Objects
- Person: Individual contact records with personal information
- Email: Email address records linked to people
- PhoneNumber: Phone number records with type designations
- Address: Physical address information for contacts
Giving Module Objects
- Donation: Individual gift records with amount and date
- Batch: Organized groups of donations for processing
- Fund: Giving categories and designation options
- PaymentSource: Payment method information
- Designation: Fund allocation details for gifts
- RecurringGift: Scheduled donation arrangements
Integration Architecture
The integration utilizes:
- Planning Center API v2: RESTful API for both People and Giving modules
- Rate Limiting: Respectful API usage (70 requests per 20 seconds)
- Batch Processing: Daily scheduled batch jobs for efficient processing
- Real-time Sync: Immediate synchronization for critical updates
- Error Recovery: Automatic retry logic and comprehensive error handling
- Transaction Batching: Organized gift import with rollback capabilities
Batch Processing Features
WeGive Import Batches
- Automatic Batch Creation: Daily batches organized by date
- Batch Commitment: Automatic processing after successful import
- Rollback Capability: Error recovery with transaction rollback
- Audit Trail: Complete tracking of batch processing
Scheduled Operations
- Daily Sync: Automated daily synchronization at 8:01 AM
- Incremental Updates: Efficient processing of new and changed data
- Missing Batch Recovery: Automatic detection and creation of missing batches
- Performance Optimization: Intelligent batching for large data volumes
Best Practices
When working with the Planning Center integration:
- Authentication Choice: Use OAuth 2.0 for new implementations
- Data Quality: Maintain clean, consistent data across both platforms
- Batch Monitoring: Review daily batch processing for any issues
- Fund Management: Ensure proper fund setup and default fund configuration
- Regular Monitoring: Review integration logs for any sync issues
- Test Thoroughly: Always test configuration changes in a safe environment
Data Flow Considerations
Fund Assignment Logic
- Specific Funds: Use designated funds when specified
- Default Fund: Fallback to configured default fund when needed
- Fund Creation: Automatic fund creation for missing designations
- Hidden Fund Handling: Proper management of inactive or hidden funds
Contact Management
- Duplicate Prevention: Smart matching to prevent duplicate contacts
- Contact Information: Complete synchronization of emails, phones, and addresses
- Family Relationships: Coordination with household structures
- Contact Updates: Bidirectional updates for contact information changes
Performance and Scalability
API Rate Limiting
- Respectful Usage: Automatic rate limiting compliance
- Batch Optimization: Efficient use of API calls through batching
- Retry Logic: Intelligent retry with exponential backoff
- Performance Monitoring: Real-time tracking of API usage
Large Data Handling
- Incremental Sync: Process only changed data when possible
- Batch Processing: Organize large operations into manageable batches
- Background Jobs: Use queue system for time-intensive operations
- Progress Tracking: Monitor sync progress for large datasets