We currently do not use gift attributes and I was wondering how others use them. What type of entries do you use and what for? At our local user group meeting I noticed some used it for soft credited gifts. If you use it for soft credited gifts, I would be interested in knowing how it helps you and what do you put in as the attribute? Thanks for any help you can give me on this! Kathy Lindahl FamilyMeans [i]--- Edited at 5/2/2007 12:00:41 PM by Kathy Lindahl[/i] [i]--- Edited at 5/2/2007 12:01:02 PM by Kathy Lindahl[/i]

We use them to record whether or not the gift is non-budget relieving, which charitable organisation it's going to (we have 3), and also if there are any other pay types that aren't on the drop down menu in Bio 1. We also use it to record any US admin fees we have to pay as a UK organisation. Lee

Thank you Lee, If I understand correctly, it is just another way to pull data for reporting? If you use this for the three charitable organizations, then what do you put into the gift fund field? Is the attribute field more for grouping of items?

Attributes are additional custom fields you can design to suit your own needs if not met by those provided by Blackbaud. Before I had the triubute module - it was where we entered tribute information. NetSolutiosn puts certain attributes on downloaded gifts. Some people use them to track gifts eligible to count toward a challenge grant/appeal. They can be used for many things but I also know many organizations who have no need for them at all. There is no need to "find" something to use them for. If you need them - you'll know. 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!

I use the gift attribute for two special cases. If someone gives a single gift that is to be split between funds, we enter it as two separate gifts because of reporting problems with split gifts. In order to keep the donor eligible for events, mailings, and recognition where the criteria includes a single gift of $XXX or more, I use a gift attribute, with category Total Gift Amount, and record the total amount there.

The second use is for recognition and shows how they are to be listed for publication purposes for this gift. We mainly use it for tribute gifts and pull from here for the letter sent to the honoree or family of the deceased. This allows them to say the gift is from the whole family rather than the more restricted manner in which gneral gifts are recognized in our newsletter, annual report, etc.

We have a few others, but these are the ones that have been really helpful and were implemented to solve a particular problem.

Jo Jo Ward
Neuhaus Education Center
(713) 664-7676 ext. 233
[Email Removed]

I use them for a few things 1) I use attributes to track some stock gift details (High & Low & Date of Transfer) These 3 pull into our receipts. 2) GIK auction item donations - tack a myriad of details (Starting bid, Item in, Needs a Gift Certificate made, etc. etc.) These pull into tracking sheets for our silent auction 3)Other Gifts - for us are Planned Gifts - so I use attributes to show if we have tax preparation responsibility (annuities our company manages as opposed to other companies), If we've received final payment on a bequest, etc. There are many things they can be used for - I know some folks use it for publish fields per gift. We recognize per donor as opposed to gift so we don't use it that way. Laurel Quaintance Friends of Bassett Manager,Fund Development Services Cooperstown, NY 13326 [Email Removed] 'please forgive my typing mistakes!'

We use attributes for a wide range of things but by and large we use them to track various groups of people: Hospital Auxialiary members, Board Sub commitees, Councils, committees, physician specialties, senior staff, other volunteers, etc. (we must have 25 different groups, if not more). Strangely enough, everyone uses attributes a lot, but I have never known an organization to use them the way RE does in the sample database. Odd. I think Melissa was correct, if you need attributes you will use them, otherwise don't worry about it. Cheryl Hardt Donor Relations Saint Joseph's Mercy Foundation Atlanta, GA [Email Removed]

I can't thank all of you enough for your responses. I hope I can be of help to you in the future! Kathy

Jo, I too can use default sets but since you always have to go back and check for those special cases I just leave it as not required and enter them after I enter the spouse so I am sure to check it. A blank primary add or sal will show up in my monthy audit (which I also run prior to any mailing.) For some reason I prefer to risk a blank addressee than a wrong addressee. If only there were a button on the toolbar to enter default sets - I would use them much more often. I find scrolling through a menu to be too time consuming so I don't use them often - personal preference I guess. I use them mostly for entering event participations because we do not globally add them - we add upon registration only and there are so many fields I use a default set. Cheryl, are you talking about constituent attributes or gift attributes? Those sound like constituent attributes - do you use any gift attributes? Melissa 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!

Oh yes, you are correct, those were examples of con. attributes. That is what I get for trying to do 3 things at once. We have started using gift attributes a lot in the past year. I have started using them to track how a gift comes in---especially once we got a lockbox at the bank. I figured we better know which gifts came in from which source in order to find our errors. So now we track for lockbox, regular deposits to bank acct 1 or 2, credit card machine, and credit on-line. Also our financial folks have started wanting it broken out by these categories in recent months anyway so being able to run reports that way is a BIG help. I will admit until about 18 months ago I could not even imagine a need for a gift attribute---and if you don't need them, then good for you!

We are actually using the Gift code to record the payment methopd - eg phone, post, fx etc Rosalind Perry Database Administrator Office of Community & Partnerships University of Wollongong Australia +612 42214258