Home → Campaign Manager → Form 3 Compliance FAQs → How to Enter a Refund for a Contribution You Received in the Previous Cycle?

23.3. How to Enter a Refund for a Contribution You Received in the Previous Cycle?

There is only one scenario we are aware of where a contribution refund will NOT affect your current report's "Election Cycle To Date" (ECTD) totals - if the refund is related to a contribution you received in the previous cycle then it should not be counted in the current cycle ECTD for that donor.

Here is how you enter that into Campaign Manager:

1. Go to the individual's record and enter both the original contribution as well as the refund expense
2. Click the pencil icon to open either the refund expense or the original contribution (doesn't matter which)
3. At the top of the transaction, click the "Linking" tab and select "Advanced"

From here, you need to search for and locate the other transaction and then they can be linked up.

    4. If the transaction from step 1 was the refund expense, enter the individual's name in "Link to Receipt". If you initially opened the original contribution, enter the name in "Link to Disbursement".
    5. When the record appears in the window below, click it to select it
    6. A "Records Found" dropdown will open to the right - open the dropdown, find the correct transaction and click it to link them
    7. Click "Save" at the bottom

What you've done by linking them together, is you've told Campaign Manager that this refund actually is related to the contribution you received in the previous cycle. Now Campaign Manager knows to not calculate this refund for any contributions this donor may give you in the current cycle.