In our office so many of our donors are elderly couples sending in donations. Their payment is one cheque with both their names displayed. We have just set an office policy that each person must have their own record. My question. I set up two records (one for wife & one for husband). The gift will go onto the record of who signs the cheque. Now, I show the Addressee on her record as example: Mrs. Ann Smith and on his record I show the addressee as Mr. John Smith. The problem with this is that when we do a direct mail piece and I choose the primary addressee it will never be address to them as a couple. Any good thoughts on how to overcome this problem. We always the primary addressee for our mass direct mailouts.
note: I do set up additional addressee information for criteria relating to certain events, board, etc

You may email me if you wish to [Email Removed]
Thanks.

Lynn Taniguchi
Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation Lynn Taniguhi
Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation

We use an Addressee2 type for mailing to husband and wife. When we export the data, we set the criteria to choose the Addressee2 first, then Primary Addressee. To avoid duplication, we also code the spouse/partner to not receive those mailings. Kathleen The Bryn Mawr School [Email Removed]

What type of coding do you use on the spouse record? We need to do this here and I'm afriad to just use our no mail attribute because when they divorce or the spouse dies they will still be marked no mail when they shouldn't be. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves @ villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

We code the spouse/partner No Mail and add a special Attribute to "check spouse record" so we can periodically query and review the marital status, addresses, etc. It hasn't been a problem for us so far because we have so few (mostly trustees, faculty and staff), and we only create a separate record for the spouse in those special cases. Kathleen The Bryn Mawr School [Email Removed]

We have a lot of spouse records. We just use an attribute of Mail/No Mail. If one spouse dies or is no longer involved with us, part of the process of updating that record is to check for a spouse record and update the mailing status. Works fine. Mary Ellen Keranen North Shore Senior Center [Email Removed]

We use head of household processing for this type of thing. We make sure the main constituent is coded as the head of household and decide from there which addressee option we want to use. Rachel Newell, Donor Services
Prairie View Mental Health
Newton, KS 67114
[Email Removed]

I haven't fully explored the "head of household" processing. I'd like to try using this feature, but I'm not sure about all the time it might take to set it up and maintain the coding, etc. Please tell me more ... Kathleen The Bryn Mawr School [Email Removed]

We use the head of household a lot because of our alumni records. If the wife is the graduate, or if they both are, each must have his or her own record. We then link link the spouse relationships, but make the husband the head of household. You do have to configure the addressee/salutations, or you get things like Mrs. & Mr. Jane Doe. Setting things up this way does take a little time, but I think it is a lot easier in the long run, especially when people divorce or die.

I can understand having two records if they're both graduates, but why does the husband need his own record if the wife is a graduate and the husband is not? Drew J. Drew Allen Children's Hospital of Philadelphia [Email Removed] Check out the user run RE Forum at http://www.blackbus.org/ . Check out the Crystal Reports blog "Crystal Clear" at http://www.blackbus.org/blogs/viewblog.php?userid=63

I can't speak to the academic environment, but in our hospital/mental health field, we often have spouses with two records i.e. wife is on the board, husband is a psychiatrist. They get separate, targeted mailings, utilizing address attributes. Rachel Newell, Donor Services Prairie View Mental Health Newton, KS 67114 [Email Removed]

Yes, there are always cases where both constituents will need their own records, but that's not what I was asking about. What I was questioning was a policy that seems to state: 1. The husband gets a record. Period. 2. The wife gets a record only if she is a graduate, or on the board, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Why doesn't it say 1. The graduate (regardless of gender) gets a record. Period. 2. The spouse (regardless of gender) gets a record only if he/she is a graduate, or on the board, etc., etc., ad nauseum. In other words, the policy appears to be discriminatory, because the criteria for adding male records to the system seems to be different from the criteria for adding female records to the system. Drew J. Drew Allen Children's Hospital of Philadelphia [Email Removed] Check out the user run RE Forum at http://www.blackbus.org/ . Check out the Crystal Reports blog "Crystal Clear" at http://www.blackbus.org/blogs/viewblog.php?userid=63

Lynn - Even if your couples have separate constituent records, they'll still be linked in relationships. Therefore, you can create an addressee with both names. At a previous org, if a person was part of a "couple" our Primary Add/Sal was ALWAYS the couple. Then we used additional Add/Sals for the individual name; in case we needed mail to just one, but not the other. Generally, though, if a person was part of a couple we always mailed to both - even receipts. Tracie Cassidy Database Coordinator Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation (206) 987-6833 [Email Removed]