The User's Edge : Moves Management

Constituent Corner: Getting on the Right (Action) Track

Douglas Clinton — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:12:00 GMT

Shakespeare once wrote, "To speak is human, to blog, divine." Well, I don't know if he actually wrote that or not, but I think we can all agree that he certainly should have. Like an actor on the stage, a blogger depends on the reaction of an audience. It is not enough to sit in isolation, churning out relentlessly witty prose - a blogger craves feedback the way a Fraggle craves radishes.

After the last issue of The User's Edge newsletter, a reader asked for something on Action Tracks. In the same spirit with which Shakespeare produced What You Will as "something cheerful for twelfth night", I offer you this post.

In The Raiser's Edge, an action track is a series of actions that are assigned to a constituent, event, or appeal record. When you create the track, you define the conditions that must be met for each new action to be created. The completion of the first action causes the second action to be created automatically, and so on, like one domino tumbling into another. You can assign action tracks to one specific record or to a group of records in a query. Action tracks are used to cultivate prospects and donors as part of a moves management strategy, which was covered in a post last summer by Katy McGinnis.

To create an Action Track, start by selecting Tools, Action Tracks, Define Action Tracks from the menu bar on The Raiser's Edge shell. You can create Action Tracks for three types of records: Constituents, Events, and Appeals. Select the type of action track you want to create, click New, and name your Action Track.

Click New in the lower left of the Action Track screen to add each action. Beginning with the second action, set conditions on the Conditions tab for each record. The conditions are based on Action queries, the criteria of which must be met for the second action to be created. For instance, if the first action of the track is a phone call, this must be completed before the second action of the track is created and added to a constituent's record. If the second action were a meeting, on the Conditions tab of the meeting action, you would enter an action query with the criteria Action Information, Completed equals Yes. It is not necessary to specify what action is completed, because the program knows the query is based upon the previous action in the track.

Continue to add as many dependant actions as you need. Once the Action Track is completed, click OK to close it.

To assign an action track to one constituent or a query of constituents, select Tools, Action Tracks, Assign Constituent Action Tracks from the menu bar. In the Assign Track Wizard, you will be able to select with what action and on which date the Action Track will begin. When you have added all of the necessary information, click the Assign Track button.

To read about Action Tracks in Knowledgebase, check out BB18724. To join a discussion about Action Tracks, or to view past discussions, check out the forum threads marked with the action tracks tag.

Constituent Corner: Making the Most of Moves Management

Katy McGinnis — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:26:00 GMT

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!

Tips and Tricks: Outlook Integeration

Katy McGinnis — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:44:00 GMT

In the spirit of technology and blogging, I just want to introduce my ‘cyberself.’ My name is Katy and I’m an RE support analyst. As most of you who have ever contacted support know, email is a very common form of communication. I typically receive around 100 emails a day and embrace it! While my daily email income consists of coworkers’ and RE users’ emails, I welcome the idea that two major tools in my daily routine, The Raiser’s Edge and Microsoft Outlook, can collaborate on their own to keep my mind at ease.

In this blog, I hope to make you familiar and comfortable with RE/Outlook integration so you can use it in your daily practice – to your benefit!

From a fundraising standpoint, this is a nearly priceless tool that is key in maintaining a donor base. RE/Outlook integration allows you to keep a record of your constituents, actions, and organization contacts in both programs. Also, it is an integral part in Moves Management.

Let’s consider a few examples:

You’re scheduled to make an upcoming phone contact with one of your top donors as part of an Action track, but you don’t typically work directly within The Raiser’s Edge. The integration piece allows you to synchronize the RE action ‘reminder’ for the phone call with Outlook appointments without having to access the action record in RE.
You are going to send an email to one of your solicitors. You can create an email in Outlook, link the email to an action in RE, and even store the email so that you can view it later.
A Board member or CEO contacts your top constituent. In this conversation, the constituent indicates he moved and provides updated address information. This information is entered into Outlook and can then be transferred into RE even though your colleague doesn’t work in The Raiser’s Edge.

All of the above examples are perfect reasons to use integration! One of the first steps to setting it up is to configure RE to work with Outlook. Once this is complete, you should see a Raiser’s Edge toolbar in Outlook.

Keep in mind:
- This is a workstation specific setting.
- Certain Raiser’s Edge security rights are required to work with Outlook integration (BB80024)

Once integration is established, you can synchronize your Outlook contacts with RE constituent and contact records (all records or a query). Further, you can synchronize your Outlook Calendar events or tasks with RE actions, appeals, and events. Note: The Event module is required to synchronize with Events. For more information, check the The Raiser's Edge and Microsoft Office Integration Guide in User Guides.

After the records are linked, you can view the information in Outlook’s Contacts. You can even go to the corresponding constituent record directly from Outlook if you’re working between both programs on a standard basis. You can also store emails for your integrated RE constituents in your action records (BB106844).

Hopefully these tips will ready you for the Integration! I welcome any comments or questions you might have on this piece as it will really help you build your donor base!