In preparation for NetCommunity, we have integrated Raiser's Edge with Education Edge.  In RE, our current parents have one record primarily with the father on the Bio 1 tab and his wife as his spouse on the Bio 1 tab.  In EE, however, each parent has their own individual record.  This has posed some "bumps" with our integration process, to say the least.  In preparation for NetCommunity, should the spouse have his/her own constituent record so that they are afforded accessibility to NetCommunity?  If so, how do we ensure that if a wife makes an online donation through NetCommuntiy, the donation is tracked to the proper record in Raiser's Edge, i.e. on the father's record as the "Head of Household"?  II look forward to hearing from some other organizations who have gone through this process.

Natalie Merriman

Director of Systems Management and Research for Development, The Gunnery, Mr. Gunn's School Established 1850, Washington, CT

Hi Natalie- 

In my experience with Raiser's Edge and NetCommunity - both spouses can keep individual constituent records. I just  make sure to link the individual records together via the relationship tab in RE. I am not familiar with Education Edge, but hopefully there is a similar way to link two records together. Gifts can then be soft credited from one spousal record to the other. I have found that having two individual records is in fact very helpful for affording accessibility to NetCommunity - especially if each person registers using their own Login ID, password and email account. As long as both addresses in each constiuent record are the same, the records will show up in the NetCommunity plug-in feature. The only time this may not happen is if a user uses an alternate address, such as a business address, to make an online donation, but the default address in their exisiting record is for their home.

Hey Natalie:

When the NetCommunity donation is brought into the Raiser's Edge, a gift batch is created that is connected to a constituent's record in RE.  When reconciling the batch and moving the gift to the constituent's record, we always ensure the Head of Household is given credit for the gift by pulling up the "Spouse is Head of household" check box in the Constituent fields to the right of the gift batch.  If Susan Smith gave the gift and James Smith is indicated as the head of household, we change the constituent to James Smith in the batch before committing it.  We in turn soft credit Susan Smith for the gift.

 I also have a tendency (especially when females make a gift) to search for a last name/ address match in RE before creating a new constituent record.  Sometimes the spouse has a spousal record but not a full constituent record or we don't have her name -- just the fact that James Smith is married.

It can be tricky, but in general, is not as complicated as I'm making it sound.