Move to Sanctuary
Bring your people, families, funds and giving history across from your old system, check everything, then bring it in — with undo until you say it is final.
6 min read · 6 steps
What it brings across
Move to Sanctuary is in Core, for Core administrators. It brings your people and families across first, then your funds and giving history, from Planning Center, Pushpay ChMS (formerly CCB), Pushpay Giving, Tithe.ly, Breeze, or any spreadsheet. Moving in comes with Sanctuary’s paid plans; Core on its own is free, and you can always add people by hand. Do it on a computer.
Where from, then your files
Pick the system you use today and Sanctuary shows you how to export from it. Choose I have my file, then drop in your files — CSV or Excel, big files are fine. Each file is marked as People and families, Funds, Giving history or Set aside. Your files stay on your computer: Sanctuary reads them there and only sends the people, funds and gifts you choose to bring across.
Check the columns and values
Sanctuary matches your columns to its own and shows examples from your file; change any that look wrong, keep a column as a new custom field or milestone, or choose Don’t import. Then it asks what your values mean: each membership value becomes one of your membership types, a new type, or Not set. Family positions and campuses are matched the same way.
Review, then bring everyone in
Here’s what will happen shows the move before anything changes. People already in Sanctuary are found for you: accept the strong matches all at once, decide the possible ones, and fix any rows it flags. Each household is rebuilt with its adults and children, and spouses and parents are linked. Choose Bring everyone in. No emails or notifications are sent, and you can close the page while it works.
Giving history
Add giving files in the same move or a later one — a year per file is fine. In Funds, every old fund already has a home chosen: put together with a fund that is the same, a new fund of its own, or left out as event payments. A fund that was only for a season can be given an end date. Review shows the totals year by year and fund by fund, added up on both sides to the cent, and how each giver was matched. Nothing is receipted.
Undo until it is final
Afterwards, open People (and Give reports) and look around. Undo the whole move removes only what it added and puts back anything it filled in; changes you made since stay. Spouses who gave separately can be joined with Review couples, and Add another year brings more giving in. When it all looks right, choose Mark as final — undo goes away and Sanctuary clears the notes it kept about your file.