Donors sign in to their donor portal using a single email-and-code flow. The same steps work whether it's a donor's first time or their hundredth.
1. Email address. The donor enters the email address associated with their giving on the portal's sign-in page.
2. Sign-in code. CoolFocus checks that email against the organization's giving records. If it matches a donor, the donor is emailed a 6-digit sign-in code.
3. Enter the code. The donor enters the code on the next screen to finish signing in and is taken to their account (or wherever they were headed, such as a payment update link).
Donors can also resend the code if it doesn't arrive, or choose use a different email to start over.
Previously, first-time donors could hit a "Couldn't find your account" error when signing in, because their portal account hadn't been provisioned yet. Now, the sign-in step itself checks for a matching giving record and sets up portal access automatically before sending the code, so first-time and returning donors both use the same email-and-code steps. There is no separate sign-up, invite, or password step.
If the email a donor enters doesn't match any giving record at your organization, they'll see a message explaining that no giving record was found for that email and to check the address on their giving statements or contact your organization for help.
Common causes:
• Different email on file. The donor is using an email address that isn't the one on their donor record. Check the donor's record for the email address tied to their giving history and share that with them, or update the record if it's out of date.
• No giving record yet. Portal access is tied to an existing giving record. A donor who hasn't given yet, or whose gift hasn't been recorded, won't be able to sign in until a giving record exists for them.
• Code expired or already used. Sign-in codes are single-use and expire after a short time. Have the donor request a new code rather than reusing an old one.
• Sign-in temporarily unavailable. If the donor sees a message saying CoolFocus "couldn't start sign-in right now," this is a temporary service issue, not a problem with the donor's email or giving record. Have them try again in a moment. If it continues, contact support.
Staff can look up or correct a donor's email address from their donor record. See Donors and Contributions.
