Back up, restore and erase

Your donor records live in your own installation. Back them up regularly and keep the file private.

Download a backup

The owner opens More → Data & access and presses Download backup. Or, from the command line with Coffer stopped:

rer dev --stop
rer export --output exports/coffer.rer

A backup holds donors, gifts, consent history, letters, appeals, approvals and the Stripe pages kept from each move-in. Sign-in accounts, sessions, agent keys and mail settings are left out.

Restore on another computer

1. Get Coffer and start it once so it sets up a fresh owner (Getting started).
2. Stop it with rer dev --stop.
3. Restore your backup and start again:

rer import --input exports/coffer.rer --yes
rer dev

A restore only goes into an empty installation; Coffer refuses to restore over records you already have.

Erase a donor

When someone asks you to erase their data, the owner opens their page, types ERASE under Erase this donor and presses Erase donor. Their name, contact details, consent evidence, letter text, gift notes and the Stripe pages that mention them are removed, and a later move-in will not bring them back. Their gift amounts and dates stay as anonymous ledger lines, because they are your organization's financial record.

Afterwards, download a fresh backup. If you ever restore an older backup, pass the newer one as the journal so the erased person does not come back:

rer import --input exports/older.rer --journal exports/after-erasure.rer --yes