OK...this is kind of convoluted, but I am just trying to relay a question from my supervisor and mail house.

Earlier this year a lower level donor gave a one time very large gift, and told us that is a was a one time thing.

Recently, however, a letter went out through our mail house and scooped that large gift up and asked for an increase in giving.

Now the donor is (understandablly) upset. 

How, in the future, can we avoid having gifts like that be included in mailings like that?

 If you need more information, or I have been unclear, please ask away.... 

Thanks,

A.

Well, you could go with either of these options.

1. Create major gifts donor solicit codes (E.g. MG - Do not solicit). This way you can assign it to a specific group to exclude them from direct mail.

2. Add "Do Not Solicit" code.

This is an excellent brain teaser, Amy.

I have an idea but fear it may not solve your issue entirely.  If you add a code to the gift itself, either using "Gift Code" or "Attribute", you may be able to exclude that particular gift in your queries.  The only thing...if you use "Last Gift" or "Largest Gift" as your criteria, you may end up excluding the constituent from the mailing entirely (I assume you do not want that).  If you use "Gift Summary", though, you could calculate the donor's giving history excluding the large gift with the specific code.

I hope to hear other suggestions.

Jeannine

Oppss! That donor may not be impressed.  

I would just add a soclit code as 'One off Donors' and include it in the list that you always exclude(Do not mail, No Appeals) when you do the mail out.

 Just out of curiousity, where did you record donor's message that it is one off donation? 

 Cheers!

My first reaction was to code that person as do not solicit. 

I've encountered this problem before and it's not uncommon.  In my case, we wanted to keep the donor in the same solicitation bracket but exclude this individual gift from bumping them into another level.  So if I typically give $100 a year and I gave a one-time donation of $10,000, I should still be solicited each year at my $100 level.  If this is the situation, do not alter the constituent record (especially with a Do Not Solicit code) but alter the gift because it is the GIFT that is the issue and not the constituent.  You can use Campaigns, Funds, or Appeals for this.  For our operating gifts, we had yearly operating funds, and then a Campaign called "Annual Operating Campaign."  For gifts that are not to be solicited in the future (including honor/memorial gifts) we set up a "Non-Recurring Operating Campaign" and applied the gift there.  So when we pulled our periodical solitations, we asked for only "Annual Operating Campaign" gifts.

Thank you all for your suggestions....

Amy