FundRaiser Blog
3 Ways to Track Miscellaneous Data in FundRaiser
1. Spare Fields
Whether you have Spark, Select, or Professional, there are at least 3 spare fields available to you for entering extra or unusual information. Spare fields can contain either text or numbers, or they can be code dropdowns, date dropdowns, or even logical yes/no checkboxes. You can label them in any way you choose, too. Best of all, whatever you put in a spare field will be available for use in correspondence, User-Defined reports, and exporting. Create them in the Options | Spare Fields menu, and get a bit of training in them by viewing the Coding & Spare Fields video class found in the Customer Portal section of the website.
2. Tickles
In both Select and Professional, the Tickles tab of each name record allows you to enter date-sensitive reminders about your donors. Normally they are used to record (and remind you of) birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions. In the Overview class, I also instruct users that they can be used as a means of tracking personal contacts with your major donors. Well, here's another place you can use, then, to record specific information about your corporate donors...
In the blog article by Tony Poderis, he suggest that there is a whole slew of information you need to have on hand, and of which you need to be aware, in order to better align your appeals to the interests of the organizations you are prospecting. Unless you have Professional, with unlimited spare fields, the Tickles section may be the most flexible place to store this type of data.
3. Donor Notes
And don't forget about the Donor Notes section of each name record. Not only can you put nearly limitless amounts of information in the Notes section, but you can also create Groupings based on "keywords" or phrases you use in that section. So even if all your spare fields are in use, and even if you don't have Tickles (Spark), you can store information in the Notes, and be able to Group together any records that have (for instance) the common phrase "corporate info" in the notes. That allows you to easily and quickly pull those records aside for closer examination.
Bonus Points
Remember, too, that, whether Spark, Select, or Professional, you have a nearly limitless number of Category Codes that can be used for all sorts of non-giving aspects of donors or prospects.
In order to better utilize FundRaiser to store and retrive the different types of information you need to have available, be sure you and your staff take advantage of the training available in the form of videos and live webinars. Videos are available 24/7, and a rotating schedule of live webinar classes is listed in the Training Calendar on our website. As always, if you have questions on how to use the program, contact the training office or tech support. We're here to help.
