Hello, I'm starting something new, which always generates questions...makes me wonder why I ever start anything new! :) We are beginning a new donor appreciation program that has a twofold goal: 1. make donors feel appreciated 2. make one-time or prospective donors into regular donors I'd like to be able to track the status of the donors. For example: -needs to be called -reached by phone -attempted to call once -attempted to call twice -gave up calling and sent them a personal note -active donor who made 1 year giving commitment...yeah! -wanted to only give one time gift -reached on phone...did not make commitment -reached on phone...doesn't want to be solicited anymore I appreciate any suggestions you make. FYI, I don't have the prospect module, so my current plan is to simply create an attribute with these multiple choices. How have others accomplished this goal? Thank you!

Actions not attributes is how I would proceed on most of what you list. You can create action tracks, which essentially tell you what to do next, after each action. Also, you can set reminders for actions, which is helpful. Denise Stengl School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed] Don't forget to check out the RE Users Forum at: http://www.reusers.server-planet.com/forum.php  --- Edited at 8/31/2006 10:48:15 AM by Denise Stengl

I agree. Track your attempts as Actions. Cindy March Long Island University Assistant Director of Planned Giving 700 Northern Boulevard Brookville, NY 11548

Sorry, I should have clarified: the person calling the donor will track their activity in actions, but I'm thinking (maybe incorrectly) that the constituent needs a status that the caller can refer to. So they can know where in constituent is in the process. That will help them be able to open the record, glance at status, and proceed appropriately. I'm thinking if I do it exclusively in actions, I may not have an easy way to query all the "attempted second call" constituents, for example. If it do it as an attribute, finding all the "attempted second call" people would be easy. If this were only tracked in actions, people would have an action that said "attemped second call" but that may have been a month ago and now they are "active donors". Hmmm. P.S. Thanks for getting back to me so fast! I though no one would reply til tomorrow. This is my first time to use the forum: I like you guys!

They should only be looking at actions that have not been completed. Another option: We've contracted a third party to run our telemarketing, so we don't have to keep track of the actions. We're storing the final results in the Responses under Constituent Appeals. Drew J. Drew Allen Children's Hospital of Philadelphia [Email Removed] Check out the user run RE Forum at http://reusers.server-planet.com/

Drew,

I agree with you on appeals if this were for telemarketing. I believe this is a donor appreciation call - just to say think you, etc. In this case I would recommend actions and go for the next action not completed.

Action tracks really suck for this because they are so rigid and don't really allow you to take different actions if you get no answer, make 2 calls and still get no answer, etc. Once you mark the first call as completed it generates the second action and that second action must be the same for all people on that track and it rarely is.

I would recommend that you set up your own procedures in a flow chart form and just ask that those recording the actions set up the next step according to those instructions. You would then just always look for the next action not marked completed to see what stage they were at.

You can use action types to describe the stage or create an attribute that you put on the action. I wouldn't recommend general attributes separate from actions because if not together they more easily are forgotten and do not get updated properly. *** my spelling is fine, it's my typing that stinks. Where is spell check?

Melissa S. Graves
Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail
Planned Parenthood of Connecticut
[Email Removed]
203-752-2804