June 2008 - Posts
This past weekend my wife and I visited her grandma in the hospital. While walking through the main foyer I noticed the Hospital Foundation's annual recognition wall. Seeing the plaque got me to thinking how useful the Donor Category Report can be. The plaque broke donors into levels depending on their giving level. This is exactly what the Donor Category Report does; it categorizes donors into different buckets (Donor, Friend, Benefactor, Founder, etc.) based on giving level.
Using the Donor Category Report is simple. First we set up giving levels:
1. In Configuration, highlight Tables, and highlight Donor Categories - Table 1.
2. Click New Table Entry.
3. In the Name field, enter the giving level name (e.g., Donor, Friend, Benefactor, Founder, etc.).
4. In the Minimum amount field, enter the lowest level of giving for that particular donor category. For example, if 'Friends' need to contribute at least $250, enter $250 as the minimum for that category. Click OK.
5. Repeat these steps for each category in the table.
You can also find these steps in Knowledgebase solution BB184604.
Next, run the Donor Category Report:
1. Go to Reports, select Analytical Reports, and Create a Donor Category Report.
2. Select to run the report for all or selected constituent records, and decide on your filters (gift type, campaigns, funds, appeals, constituency, and date range).
3. On the General tab, select the format to run the report in (detail, summary, or both). The detail format shows the constituent name and the amount given. The summary format includes columns for the category name, the giving level, the number of constituents per category, the amount given per category, and the total amount given.
4. On the Format tab, highlight Detail on the left, and select your donor category table (1, 2, or 3).
5. In the Detail Order frame, select the sort order (Constituent last name or Amount given).
6. Mark the Print each category on a separate page checkbox if you want each donor category printed on a new page.
7. To include up to two optional columns on the report, go to the Format tab and highlight Optional columns.
8. Preview the report.
If a constituent's giving does not qualify him for any of the donor categories specified in the table used for the report, he is not excluded from the report. Instead, he appears in a category called Unknown. To remove 'Unknown' from the report, go back to step 4, and, at the bottom of the screen, select to 'Use Selected Categories Only' and move all of your categories to the right side. Doing this will remove donors who don't qualify for any of the categories.
So when your development director comes up to you requesting a list of donors for the upcoming banquet, save yourself some time and headache and let the report do the work for you! How are you taking advantage of the Donor Category feature for stewardship? Leave your ideas in the comments.
For more information about the Donor Category Report check out Knowledgebase solution BB13743.
The New Donors Report is exactly what it sounds like - a report that lists first-time donors. Unfortunately, this description makes the report sound less sophisticated than it actually is and may cause the report to be overlooked in favor of its flashier siblings.
Despite a name that makes the report sound like a blunt instrument, the New Donors Report can be used for finer, more delicate reporting.
The traditional way to approach this report is straightforward. If you are looking for everyone who made their first gift, regardless of type, campaign, fund, appeal or anything else in a particular date range, all you have to do is select the date range on the General tab of the report and click Preview. This will give you unvarnished results.
On the other hand, if you wanted to find everyone who made their first pledge to the Annual Fund in a date range, you would select the Annual Fund on the Filters tab and include only Pledge on the Gift Types tab. This way, even if a donor had given a cash gift to the Annual Fund before, or made a pledge to the Building Fund on another occasion, he would still appear in your report if this was the first time he had ever made a pledge to the Annual Fund.
When filters are added to the mix, it becomes more likely that you will receive results that are different from what you can expect. The Campaigns, Funds, Appeals and Gift Types filters can trip you up if you're not careful. Using the example above, if you were looking simply for constituents who had given to the Annual Fund for the first time and didn't care about the gift type, you would be understandably distressed if someone who had previously given a cash gift to the Annual Fund appeared in the report. In that case, you would need to make sure that all gift types (and not just pledges) were included on the Gift Types tab.
A slip on the keyboard can cause the report to come out incorrectly as well. I once spoke with someone who had a donor who did not belong in the New Donors Report (due to an earlier gift) but stubbornly continued to appear in the results. The report was being filtered on GL Post Date, and when we checked the gift, we found that while the Gift Date said 1997, the GL Post Date said 1697! After some further testing, we found that if a constituent had not given a gift in 240 years, they were considered a new donor again. Keep this in mind when you run the report - constituents who last gave in 1767 might start popping up ;)
For more information on manipulating the report, see BB76760, and for more troubleshooting tips, see BB88622.
The answer to the Brain Buster in this month's issue of The User's Edge is four. Since it takes one user four hours to enter a batch, four users working at the same rate would be able to enter four batches in four hours.
Does your database have attributes that you no longer use? Maybe you converted to Raiser's Edge from another system and now have all sorts of miscellaneous data in attributes; or you simply have historical data stored in attributes that are no longer used. Maybe there are so many values in the attributes table that when you add a new attribute to a constituent, it takes forever to find the attribute category you’re looking for. Have I got great news for you!
The Raiser's Edge 7.85, which is scheduled for release in July, gives you the ability to mark attributes as inactive. When you mark an attribute inactive, it no longer appears in the attributes drop down list as a selection when you add a new attribute to a record. To mark an attribute as inactive, go to Configuration and select Attributes. On the Attributes page, mark the checkbox in the new Active column for each attribute to appear as available in Records. If you do not mark this checkbox, the attribute is inactive. For more information, see the Configuration and Security Guide.
All attributes will still appear in other areas of The Raiser's Edge such as Query, Export, and Reports. Having inactive attributes display in these areas allows you to continue to use this information in queries, or other areas.
If you have an attribute in your database that you no longer use and want to completely remove it from your database, check out Knowledgebase solution BB133434. This solution will assist you in removing the attribute completely from your database.
In last month's "What's up with my Query?" post, we explored the mysteries of seeing double and triple in our query results. This month, we will take another look at our query results, but this time we'll take a look at the impact that a simple little parenthesis can have on your query.
Let's say that you want to find anyone who is a Major Donor, who has also given a gift to Laurel's Vacation Fund, or to any fund last calendar year. Your query filters are:
-
Constituency Code equals Major Donor
-
AND Fund Description equals Laurel's Vacation Fund
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OR Gift Date equals Last calendar yr
Essentially, these query filters include the proper criteria and operators that we need in order to find the records I mentioned above. However, if you run this query as is, you will receive anyone who is either coded as a Major Donor, has given a gift in the previous calendar year, or has at one time donated to Laurel's Vacation Fund. The results could meet any one piece of the criteria. This could multiply the amount of constituents you were looking for; thus resulting in several people in your query who couldn't dream of meeting your criteria. So how in the query world can we make this right?
PARENTHESES. 
Yes, parentheses.
Located at the bottom right-hand corner of the Criteria tab of your query, these little buttons can be a big deal! Their purpose is to group together statements within a query - a great organization tool (I wish I had them for my closet!). To use them, simply highlight the row of criteria that you want to begin your group of statements, and then click on the open (or left) parenthesis. Then to close or end your group, highlight the last criteria statement for that group, and click on the close (or right) parenthesis. In this scenario (finding anyone who is a Major Donor, who has also given to Laurel's Vacation Fund, or to any fund at all last calendar year), we need to use parentheses for accurate results. Your query should look like this:
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Constituency Code equals Major Donor
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AND (Fund Description equals Laurel's Vacation Fund
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OR Gift Date equals Last calendar yr)
As you can see, I've used the exact same filters that I previously mentioned, but I've grouped together my Fund Description and Gift Date criteria together with a set of parentheses. This way I find my Major Donors first, and out of that group, I find the ones that have given either to Laurel's Vacation Fund, or sometime last calendar year. Instead of my query pulling results that could meet each piece of criterion, it now finds only the specific results that I need.
For more tips, tricks, and info on the little buttons that are really a big deal (those parentheses), check out How to use parentheses in query from our Knowledgebase. Happy querying, and keep your eyes peeled next month for Part 3 of "What's up with my Query?".
Is it hard to find your queries on the main Query page? Does it take forever to find the query you are looking for because you have so many? Have I got great news for you!
The Raiser's Edge version 7.85, which is scheduled for release in July, has new tools that will help organize your queries. In version 7.85 you will be able to create directories, or categories, to group your queries. You can create categories by user or by the query’s intended use (i.e., monthly gift queries). Rather than scrolling through your entire list of queries, you'll be able to go to the specific folder your query is in, and open it from there.
To create and organize query categories, select Organize Categories from the menu bar of the Query page. On the Organize Categories screen, you can create, rename, and delete query categories. You can also adjust the order in which the categories appear on the Query page.
When two become one, it might be sufficient to credit their gifts to one record. However, you may also find it's beneficial to keep track of donations from constituent couples (had to squeeze alliteration in somewhere 
) on both of their records so you can easily identify their gift history, regardless of whose record you're viewing.
If the latter approach floats your boat, be sure to make the most of RE's ability to automate the process of generating soft credits. As long as both spouses have constituent records, you can take the following steps to set soft credits in motion:
- Open the constituent record of the spouse who is hard credited for gifts.
- Click the Spouse button on the Bio 1 tab to open the spouse's relationship record.
- On the General 2 tab, mark the Automatically soft credit this individual for gifts checkbox.
Note: This will create soft credits for new gifts that are added going forward, rather than gifts that may already be on the first spouse's record. If you need to, you can manually add soft credits for the existing gifts.
Similarly, if you receive gifts from an organization that originated from an employee (e.g., matching gifts), consider setting your business rules to soft credit the employee:
- In Configuration, click Business Rules.
- Under Gift options, highlight Activity options and mark the Automatically apply soft credit to matching gift pledge checkbox.
Once soft credits are configured on the records, you can adjust your soft credit options in Query, Reports, and Mail to include or exclude soft credits as needed. For more info, check out How to use soft credits (BB152), which also includes an article from Peg Strodtbeck of Wheeler Mission Ministries on "Adventures in Soft Crediting."
Are there functions that you use on a daily basis in RE that are a little more than a point and click away? RE has the solution: Favorites. With Favorites, you indicate that a specific mailing/record/report/query is a favorite (click on the Folder image with Star on it from within the Record). Marking this option adds the function to your Home page so that you can simply point, click, and run (kind of like a Windows shortcut 
).
Other reasons to use favorites:
- You can view dashboard panels on this screen. For example, the action reminders Dashboard will allow users to view pending actions - those that have yet to be completed. This will provide a more dynamic approach to fundraising.
- Use Quick Find to open a constituent or make a whole constituent record a favorite!
- Do you really love your Gift Detail & Summary report? Make it a favorite! You will then see it listed on your Home page where you can run your report directly.
- RE will work with other programs to open web pages, specific Documents, or Spreadsheet files.
With this option, you can get to the point where you can work almost directly within the Home page! You can even organize your favorites in a method that works for you. So go get comfortable in your Home page!
Sometimes you might be asked to group specific constituents - or further filter out specific constituents - based on certain criteria. This is when our old friend Query comes into play! While I understand that query can be a love/hate relationship 
, I want to share with you a way to turn query into your friend!
Some examples to consider:
1. Your Board Member asks for a group of the records that have given over $1000 in 2008. Simple, right? 
Just filter on Gift Amount greater than or equal to $1000 AND Gift Date between 01/01/2008 - 12/31/2008. The only problem is, this query is actually looking at individual gifts, so it's not an actual SUMMARY of the values and isn't considering cumulative giving. For this purpose, you can use Summary Filters to query on constituents' total giving within a date range.
2. Another example of this might be that you wish to locate all of your donors who gave a gift to the 2008 Annual Fund or to locate the constituents who have not yet given to the 2008 Annual Fund. The Summary filters will provide these options (BB461900).
3. You want to locate constituents who gave 4 out of 5 years.
* NOTE: The key here is to effectively use the Summary filter subfilters as a 'query within your query' to group the gifts to be considered in your Summary calculations For instance, you may need to add a subfilter for gift date, fund, etc. *
Some considerations:
- To avoid double-counting, there are default gift types included in the Summary calculations.
- Outputting individual gift fields on the Output tab will likely result in duplicate rows. For this purpose, you can Export Summary Information.
- Because the criteria are based on the constituent record, you can only query on summary information in constituent, individual, and organization queries.
You can use Summary Filters for total number of gifts, consecutive years giving, and totals for Honor/Memorial records, amongst others! Once you've grouped these records in query, you're good to go with other areas of the program like Reports or Export. The summary option will give you many more options that may not otherwise be available using some of our Analytical reports (e.g., Non-Contributors, LYBUNT, SYBUNT, etc). As always, let me know if you have questions!
In the nonprofit world it is imperative to maintain your donor base. Even from the Support side, we understand the importance of donors - especially recurring donors! RE has a very valuable tool that will provide you automated options with regards to Moves Management.
RE Action Tracks allow you to establish an ongoing process of donor contacts - whether these are phone calls, emails, meetings, or others. Essentially, you use Actions but let RE work for you in terms of establishing the next contact with the Constituent based on specific criteria established in a query.
The following situations are perfect examples of when Action Tracks will work for you:
- You send a mailing to all of your donors for your Garden Fund. If they respond with a donation to this Fund, you wish to call them to thank them for their donation.
- Your organization sent a mass email to your Constituents informing them of your upcoming Silent Auction. Some of your donors respond and request to be Volunteers for the event. Because they are volunteering, you will need to send them a mailing to inform them of their task.
- You would like your Solicitors to personally call all of the donors from the 2007 Annual Fund who gave over $1000. Once they call the donors, you wish to send a mailing to your constituents.
With a combination of queries and assigning action tracks, you will be able to perform all of these actions without thinking twice! This can also be tied into RE/Outlook Integration! See my other blog for more information on this piece!