Soft credits can be applied from any gift to any record within Slate. Leveraging autosuggest functionality, a gift can apply soft credits to any number of records.
Soft credits can be configured to be suggested or defaulted automatically based on the Relationship Types associated with a particular record.
For example, an institution might configure a "Spouse" relationship type to automatically be defaulted to receive soft credit for gifts made. In this scenario, regardless of which spouse makes a gift, both receive credit for the gift.
Similarly, an institution might configure a "Child" relationship type that automatically suggests a record's children to receive soft credit. In this scenario, when a gift is being processed for a record that has linked children records, the children appear as options to receive soft credit - but the gift processor can make the determination as to whether or not to apply soft credits to them.
Certain relationship types can also be hidden from displaying as a suggested soft credit. For example, there may be spouses who do not want to receive credit for each other's gifts. In this example, the spouses could have a relationship type of "Spouse - In Name Only" (or similar) - and that relationship type would not appear as a suggested or defaulted soft credit when a gift is being entered.