Hello,

We're having a debate as to where the donor's desired donor recognition (such as annual reports) format is stored.  I believe the best location is as a supplementary Addressee, however one of my coworkers is pushing to have an attribute.  Since I am hesitant to add attributes without good reason, and I haven't been able to find anything in the User Guides online, I thought I'd try the forums.  Could anyone give me a good rationale for one or the other (or another, better, way)?

Thanks

Jackie Wyatt

Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario

I completely agree that the info should be stored in the Addressee tab. We call it "Recognition Addressee." This makes it very obvious to anyone who looks at the database.

The problem with Attributes is that there needs to be someone who remembers that the information is stored there...

We also use the addressee tab with a recognition addressee.  This makes it easier to create the list for the annual report on giving; and when pulling in the recognition in the donor acknowledgement letter, I can pull in the recognition addressee first and if that doesn't exist on the record, the primary addressee.

 Hi,

I have struggled with this myself this year.  Trying to create a way that streamlines the process.  I ended up creating both.  My problem is the different giving levels.  I needed a way to pull each level separately and use the correct name format.  I used the Donor Category Report to create my list and a query.  I used the query to globally add the attribute and the salutation format.  Some donors still needed tweaking on their name format and this allowed me to add the attribute and name format to a record that wasn't the actual donor. (I know, you are all freaking out now!)  Lets say Mr. and Mrs. Jones gave but then they say they want to be listed as Matt, Mary and Katie Jones (the children) so I create a relationship and add the attribute there.

I realize I just confused everyone.  So I will finish by saying that I pull my final list thru Mail/Quick Letters.  It really works :)

Clare M. Jacocks

The Children's Inn at NIH

Bethesda, Maryland

Addressee/Saluatation is where we place the donor recognition format, it works well for us.  I would suggest not to use attributes for this.

We also use the Addressee/Salutation slot.  It works very well each year pulling the Recognition list for the Annual Report.  We give everyone a Recognition name either our default or what they requested.  Our gift entry person (me) makes sure that when a gift is entered the recognition name is checked and matched what the person requested (if a request was made). 

I was also planning on using the Addresse/Salutation slot. However, I ran into a problem when the Recognition Name was for an organizational record --no Addresse/Salutation slot, so not an option. How has everyone been handling the Recognition Names for organizational records if you are not using an attribute? Two separate solutions doesn't seem very elegant.

When I run category of giving report in the Format Tab, Name Format,  I have individuals set up to pull on address/sal "Annual Report" or "Primary Add" , for organizations I'll pull on "Organization".

I don't see how that answers the situation where you have a corporation or foundation that wishes to be recognized with a name that differs from the legal name of the organization.

For organizations I have created a note type of recognition.  Here I indicate those organizations that want to be recognized differently than their name.  We don't have a lot of them so this works well for us.

For Orgs,Corps and Fdns, we put the "Legal" name on the record and pull that.  Then if the recognition name is supposed to be different, we put that in Notes.  To be sure we catch them all, we actually use an old fashioned paper file called Honor Roll Problems (individual problems are in this file also).  After the recognition list is pulled we double check the problem file. -- Not perfect, but it works.

We use the Addressee/Salutation field for our recognition names, as well, for all the reasons listed above. The only drawback (for us) doing it that way is the sorting. If the donors are Robert & Mary Smith, but they want their recognition to be The Smith Family, on a list they are still going to come out sorted under Smith, Robert. A small but annoying detail that we always have to double-check. Anyone have a clever way of getting around the sort issue?

We use addressee/salutation but we mark them as editable in an effort to prevent them being mistakenly changed when something else on the record gets changed. This has happened when someone marked the spouse deceased and it removed her name from all of the add/sals. For businesses/orgs, we use the alias tab where we have created a recognition name type. I wish there was just one standard way to do this though.

I'm surprised Blackbaud hasn't come up with a tab for recognition yet. It could handle recognition name, levels, gifts/rewards, plaques/locations, related events and much more I would think. It really is it's own entire subject!

I do not recommend using attribute for individuals because it is way too easy to misspell a name and not notice the difference between Bio 1 and the attribute.  Addressee/salutation uses the Bio 1 fields so if spelled correctly on Bio 1 your add/sal should be correct. 

I disagree that you should check the editable checkbox because that will not take changes when you intend it to take them.  I only use the editable in cases where it is absolutely necessary.  It is procedure whenever changing name or status on constituent or spouse to check add/sals before saving to be sure that everhting is still the way the donor wants it.

I do not have many orgs who want to be recognized in a way different from their legal name.  In that case I would see if I can change the org name to the recognition name and add legal name in as an alias.