Transaction Origin shows where a donation or volunteer sign-up began, such as the Benevity app for Microsoft Teams. Use it in the Donations Explore or Volunteering Explore when you compare activity by origin in custom reports.
Understanding Transaction Origin
Transaction Origin represents where the transaction began. That may differ from where it was completed. For example, if an employee starts a donation in Teams and finishes it on the web, the origin is Teams. The field is available in Reporting Studio only. It is not available in Benevity Reporting. Other field definitions appear in the Donation Explore glossary and the Volunteering Explore glossary.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| teams | The donation or volunteer sign-up began in the Benevity app for Microsoft Teams. |
| Not Yet Tracked | Reporting Studio does not have a record of where the transaction began. This is common for transactions made before origin tracking started. It does not mean there was no activity. |
Other origin codes may appear as Benevity adds channels. Include them in your report rather than excluding them as errors.
Note: For volunteering, Transaction Origin applies to volunteer sign-ups. Origin is not recorded for later steps such as logging volunteer hours.
Using Transaction Origin in a report
Follow these steps to group or filter custom reports by where activity began.
- Log in to Reporting Studio.
- Open the Donations Explore or the Volunteering Explore, depending on the activity you are reporting on.
- In the field picker, search for Transaction Origin.
- In the Donations Explore, the field sits with other transaction dimensions.
- In the Volunteering Explore, the field sits under Volunteer Sign-ups.
- Add Transaction Origin as a Dimension to break results down by origin, or add it to Filters to limit the report to one or more origins (for example, teams only).
- Add a measure that matches what you are counting (for example, Transaction Count in the Donations Explore).
- Apply your usual date and program filters (for example, Transaction Date and Transaction Type for donations).
- Run the report, then export or save the Look if needed.
When you report donation totals, keep your standard Transaction Type and Currency Display Filter so origin breakdowns use the same counting rules as your other donation reports.
Interpreting Not Yet Tracked values
Do not treat Not Yet Tracked as missing activity. It means Reporting Studio cannot attribute the transaction to a known origin.
When you share reports that include Transaction Origin:
- Keep Not Yet Tracked as its own category rather than hiding it.
- Explain that many older transactions show Not Yet Tracked because origin was not recorded before this release.
- Avoid comparing early Teams rollout periods to mature web periods without noting attribution gaps.
There are no plans to backfill origin on older transactions at this time.