I have been asked to create a custom report which provides information about the constituent code, fund, appeal, and campaign for last fiscal year. The department would like to be able to filter by constituent code, fund, appeal, and campaign. They would like the amount total by fund. Does anyone have a report similar to this that they would be willing to share?

--- Edited at 12/26/2007 10:57:34 AM by Michelle

We are also looking for some much needed help - if there is a report someone could share - we could use it too. Thanks! [Email Removed]

I guess I don't understand why the Gift Detail & Summary report doesn't work for you - it has all the features you've asked for. Laurel Quaintance Friends of Bassett Manager,Fund Development Services Cooperstown, NY 13326 [Email Removed]

This report does not provide all of the information requested within one report. I have obtained more detail from the requestor on how they would like this report to be designed. The requestor is looking for a report that will provide the following on one report: Constituent detail by Constituency Code Fund detail by Fund Campaign detail by Campaign Appeal detail by Detail The above will be filtered based on selection of the individual generating the report and will have subtotals for each of the above noted categories. This report will be based on Last Fiscal Year. For Example: Constituency Code = Former Board Member Fund = CAMP Appeal = ALL Campaign = ALL Time: Last Fiscal Year The report footer would have: Total $ raised by Constituent Code Total $ raised by Fund Total $ raised by Campaign Total $ raised by Appeal Total # donors Thanks for any help that you can give. [i]--- Edited at 12/28/2007 9:53:05 AM by Michelle [/i] [i]--- Edited at 12/28/2007 9:53:47 AM by Michelle [/i] [i]--- Edited at 12/28/2007 9:53:53 AM by Michelle [/i]

Your requester will need to live with separate reports or provide you hours of programming time to create a custom crystal report. It is up to your department head/supervisor if it is worth your time to do a custom report just because someone wants all the info on one page when the information is already accessible - just on separate reports. Because they can be time consuming (especially if you are a beginner) and I wear many hats, I typically like to save my custom reporting time for things completely not able to be calculated by a canned RE report. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) 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 agree with Melissa - you have some things being requested on the reports that are not specifically one-to-one relationships. (Like Constituent Code - a donor may have multiple constituent codes) The totals on a report as you are trying to design would never be able to be used for Accounting Purposes and I wouldn't want to use them for Fund or Campaign reporting either because gifts could be calculated multiple times (Constituent code, split Gifts, etc.) Laurel Quaintance Friends of Bassett Manager,Fund Development Services Cooperstown, NY 13326 [Email Removed]

Thank you, Melissa! Many years ago (almost 8) I was very advanced in programming of Crystal Reports, but as the saying goes "If you don't use it; you lose it". Thus, I am "refreshing" my memory at the moment. So, needless to say I have come to the realization that this report is going to take quite some time to create. As I have many hours invested in this report already (and it is no where near complete). If the requestor stands firm on capturing this level of detail in one report, I am wondering if a suggested alternative may be to eliminate the filters and hard code specific Constituency Codes, Funds, Appeals and Campaigns? Or would this type of report still take many hours of programming time to create? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I received notification of your post after my reply to Melissa. You answered the question that I raised in my reply and I thank you for the valuable insight as to how this report would not be effective for accounting purposes.

Using constituent code is not a problem if you are data entering the field called gift constituent code because then there is 1 constituent code per gift. Using campaigns appeals and funds if you split gifts simply means you need to use the split amounts and not the gift amount. It makes the report more complicated but not impossible to get accurate numbers from. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

It's not impossible - For me, it just doesn't make sense to waste valuable time doing something that other reports handle elegantly. Laurel Quaintance Friends of Bassett Manager,Fund Development Services Cooperstown, NY 13326 [Email Removed]

Well, that is different than saysing the reports could never be used for accounting purposes. I agree with you that it does not make sense to create a report that simply combines other very good canned reports because one person wants them together. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

Let me put it another way - If you are not extremely well versed in the file structure and you're trying to make a custom crystal report to do the report that was described, I would be loathe to trust the numbers from that complex of a report. It appeared to me that the person asking the question wasn't at the skill level to do this yet. Laurel Quaintance Friends of Bassett Manager,Fund Development Services Cooperstown, NY 13326 [Email Removed]

You are correct... I am not extremely well versied in the file structure of RE or the non-profit industry; I've only begun both 4 months ago. I come from a pharmaceutical background. However, I do have an in-depth IT background. I thank you both for the insightful information and am confident in time I will learn the ins and out of the system and the non-profit industry in no time!