FundRaiser Blog

The FundRaiser Software Blog is an excellent resource for nonprofit organizations looking to learn more about fundraising, donor management, membership management, and much more.

Tracking Donor Interests or 'What's in a Code?'


Noting the differences

It can be a bit confusing, trying to figure out which type of code really is best for tracking a particular aspect of your fundraising efforts.  But let's try to de-mystify the process a bit.  In the simplest terms, there are only two major types of codes in FundRaiser:  those that attach to Name Records, and those that attach to individual Gift Records.  So, really, the big question you have to ask, when you want to track some aspect of your donor base is this:  "Does this pertain to the person, or to the gift?"

Personal attributes, or interests

For those things that pertain to the person (or organization), you have several choices of Code types, but the most flexible are the Category Codes.  You can have (practically speaking) an unlimited number of category codes from which to choose, and you can apply as many as you need to any name record you like.  If you want to show, for instance, that a person is concerned with environmental issues, or child welfare, or government policies, or anything else, you can use Category codes for that.  Donor Type, Source, and Solicitor codes are more restrictive, with only one of each code allowed per name record, and they are intended for more distinct types of references.  As with any information you hold on donors and prospective donors, these codes can help determine how you might approach people with some form of donation appeal, based on their interests.

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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...

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3 Tips for Good Pledge Tracking


 1.  Divide and Conquer:  Pledge or Promise?

First, it's good to know whether your pledges are better tracked through FundRaiser's Pledge Module (optional in Select, included in Professional) or not.  That will depend on the make-up of the pledge itself.  If a person (or organization) promises to give you a particular gift in the future, and will be giving it to you in one payment, then you don't need to use the Pledge Module, necessarily.  The determining factor, in this case, might be whether you need to track promised payments as "accounts receivable" for accounting purposes.  If so, you'll probably want to use the Pledge Module, as it makes it easier to do.  If not, then you may just need to use the Gift Type Code "Later - Promise to Pay", to record a pledged amount.  

If you set payment deadlines, as in Kim Klein's example (see her blog entry here), then you may want to set the Gift Date as the promised date (rather than the date the pledge was made), so that you'll later be able to Group together anyone with a gift/pledge due during a particular time period.  Another reason to use the Pledge Module would be for pledges that adhere to the usual FundRaiser definition of a pledge:  A promise to pay a certain amount of money in increments over a given period of time.  This complicates things by necessitating a payment schedule, recording of individual payments, keeping track of balance due, etc., which the Pledge Module is designed to do.

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3 Dead-On Grouping Tricks to Treat you right


1.  Standard exclusions for print mailings

Whenever you create a Grouping intended for the sole purpose of sending out printed correspondence (letters, labels, envelopes), it's a good idea to use multiple lines of criteria in the Grouping, with the first line consisting of things you DON'T want, and subsequent lines for things you DO want.  It makes no sense, for instance, to include in a mailing Grouping anyone who doesn't have a complete mailing address, since they'll never receive it.  It makes less sense, perhaps, to include those records marked as "Deceased".  And you *may* want to exclude those who are marked as "Inactive", as well.  In this case, then, you could start the first line of criteria using the Common Patterns | Exclude section and mark "Inactive" and "Deceased", and then use the Finish Criteria button to save that line.  Then you would need to use the AND separator to start a new line of criteria and go to the Donor | Geo 2 section and select "Has An Incomplete Primary Address".  I know, we don't want incomplete addresses, so once you click the "Finish Criteria" button for this line, you'll use the NOT button (to the right of the criteria display), which will change it to say "does not have an incomplete address".  If you are okay with this method, then you'll just click the AND button again to start a third line, and use this line for any other criteria, such as donation information, or something else.  This will make certain that, no matter what other criteria you use to select people for the mailing, you'll have no "dead" mail (pun intended) costing you resources while doing no good.  Consider using this scheme for each mailing Grouping.

2.  Easily track mass mailings

An easy way to keep track of all the non-thank-you-letter mass mailing correspondence you do will also revolve around Groupings.  Normally you don't mail to everyone in your database at any one time, but, rather, target records for mailings by creating Groupings.  So, since you will normally have a Grouping in place, take an extra step or two and use the Groupings menu choice of "Assign Category Code to All" while you have the Grouping open.  Then, create a Category Code that reflects the mailing you are doing.  You don't need to create the Category Code first, but can do it "on the fly".  So, say I'm doing an Appeal Letter in October of 2013.  I might call the Category Code "October 2013 Appeal Letter", with a code of "AL1310" (no quotes for either, by the way).  When I assign this code to all the records in the Grouping I've created for this mailing, I remove any doubt as to who received the mailing, and I have an easy one-code identifier for them.  This means that, even though the Grouping may be lost, destroyed, or changed over time, I will always have a means of pulling together the records of those who received my October appeal letter.  It only takes a couple of extra steps to accomplish, and can be quite useful in the future.  One other suggestion:  once you've mass-assigned a code, consider marking the code as no longer active (Windows | Codes menu), so that no one will accidentally assign it to anyone else.

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6 Ways to Customize FundRaiser Software


Although custom-written software can be next to impossible to maintain, support, and upgrade over the long term, it's nice to have a few features that you can "mold" to suit your organization's particular needs.  Here are a few that are found (as noted) in FundRaiser Spark, Select, and/or Professional:

1.  Spare Fields

Found in all three versions, Spare Fields are created in the Options section, and are used to hold information that a) needs to be isolated, b) has no other designated field, and c) will commonly be available for all name records.  Spares can hold text, numbers, dates, or consist of a logical yes/no checkbox, or even a dropdown containing codes of your own making.  Isolating data in spare fields allows it to be more easily merged into correspondence, exported to other programs, and (in Select/Pro) used as columns in User-Defined Reports.

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3 Ways to Better Campaign Reporting


Track Campaigns easier, even without FundRaiser Professional

This week I'll give you some tips on how to track your campaign activity.  They will work with any version of FundRaiser.  You don't need FundRaiser Professional's "Campaign Management" component to do it.  Any of these tips will help you gather together donors and/or donations specific to any of your campaigns.

 

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3 Important FundRaiser In-Kind Gift Entry Tips


1.  Mode Code Denotes In-Kind or Monetary

When entering a gift in FundRaiser, the Mode Code is used to differentiate not only between methods of payment (cash, check, charge, etc.) but also between monetary or in-kind donations.  When you create a Mode Code you must specify whether that code will be monetary or in-kind.  A Mode Code is always one or the other, and each gift requires a Mode Code.  You may have multiple codes, as is usual in FundRaiser, which allows for specific types of in-kind donations.  For instance, one of our users is a diaper bank, and, while they accept many infant-related types of in-kind donations, they need to keep diaper donations separated from others.  The easiest way was to have, simply, a "diaper" Mode Code.  When running various reports, you can specify to include monetary, or in-kind, or both types of donations.  Use these codes to your advantage.  And check out the Coding & Spare Fields training video in the Customer Portal section of our website.

2.  Use the Merge Notes for Descriptions

On each gift record is a "Letter Notes for Merging" section.  It is primarily used for notes that will then be merged into thank you letter templates.  And for monetary gifts, these are usually personal greetings, of sorts, like "Gee, it was great to see you", or "Glad to see you've recovered from surgery", or something else to more personalize the thank you letter.  For In-Kind donations, this is a great place to put a description of the items (or services) that were donated.  It makes a permanent record as well as an easy way to pull that description in to a thank you letter.  More information on entering gifts is available in both the FundRaiser Overview and Recurring Gifts training videos available in the Customer Portal section of our website.

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3 ways to Do More - with Less Work using FundRaiser


1.  Plan your work - Work your plan

One of the biggest time savers, no matter the task, is to have a plan of attack, and to stick to that plan.  While you may have to make adjustments when circumstances warrant, having a basic plan for inputting data and outputting results will give you consistently better results than a slapdash approach.  In FundRaiser, the normal flow is to 1) enter gifts, 2) check your entries, usually by running the Automated Correspondence for Gift Thank You's report, and, finally, 3) print (or email) your gift thank you letters.  The job of recording a gift isn't complete until all three steps are complete.

2.  Avoid "double work" traps

I've mentioned in other blogs that it's easy to do more than necessary when entering data, by coding people with giving-related attributes, for instance, or storing the same information in multiple ways.  If you have a plan (see #1 above), it should include what codes you want to use for people, and what codes you want to use for gifts.  Understanding the various codes in FundRaiser, and how they relate to creating Groupings and Reports, is fundamental in having a smooth working relationship with the software.  Don't try to record every little detail, unless that detail is critical to understanding your donors or their giving, or unless that detail gives you another avenue for requesting future contributions or participation.

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3 Tips for Donor Database Code Usage

1. People codes vs. Gift codes

The most important code usage tip (in my opinion) is to make certain that the assignment or attribute fits.  In FundRaiser there are codes that attach to name records (what I call "people" codes), and codes that attach to gift records (hence "gift" codes).  For the most effective assignment of codes, think of codes as "unique identifiers" that attach to either a person or a gift.  In other words, does the code have to do with the person, defining that person in some way?  Or does it have to do more with a gift, defining the gift in some way?  An example of people codes are the Category codes in FundRaiser.  Category codes, unlimited in the number that can be created and/or assigned, give us information about people such as life situations (parents, grandparents, students, seniors, occupation, hobbies, interests, relationship to our organization or another, etc.).  Gift codes, on the other hand, tell us about the gift, such as why the gift was given (Motivation code), or how that money is to be spent (Purpose code, for describing restricted/designated use gifts).  Make a list of all the things you need to know about a gift.  Make a separate list of all the things you need/want to know about your people.  Keep the lists handy, and, when in doubt, refer to them when wanting to assign a code.

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4 Tips for New Volunteers or New Users to Quickly Learn How to use FundRaiser Software


As the training manager here at FundRaiser Software, I can think of at least four ways you can learn how to use your donor management database.  Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and each will appeal to a different group of users.  This blog will, hopefully, lead you to the learning path that best suits you, by explaining each briefly, along with major advantages and disadvantages.

1.  Live Webinars

When FundRaiser is purchased, training "credits" are issued, and these credits can be used for live training webinars.  Each class is designed to be approximately one hour in length, and each covers a different area of the software.  There are specialty classes for those who have modules in addition to the basic package, too.  Each class costs one credit, no matter how many attend that session, so you can train multiple people at one time for a single fee.  The advantage is having a live trainer readily available to field questions.  The disadvantage is in fitting the pre-scheduled classes into your busy schedule.

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3 Independence Day Reflections


1. Independence, good or bad?

Nearly every citizen of the U.S., I believe, would agree that national independence from foreign powers is a good thing, and we celebrate our country's independence from Great Britain every year on July 4th.  But not all forms of independence are necessarily good, I think.  Let me elaborate.  When I was young, I was instilled with the idea that self-independence is a good thing, so far as providing for one's own needs, food, shelter, clothing, etc.  Hard work, I was told, was the key for obtaining that independence.  Looking back, I think that was a bit naive on my parents' part, but it certainly got me out of the house earlier than I might otherwise have left.  Few of us truly want to be independent in all respects, and most of us need some forms of interdependence to thrive and live full lives.  Successful marriage, rearing children, meaningful employment, team sports, all require interdependence to one degree or another.  And learning how to use donor management software as powerful and versatile as FundRaiser products requires a bit of interdependence as well.  So consider that trying to be too independent when learning the ins and outs of FundRaiser is not a good thing, and is probably a bit self-defeating, in that you will take longer to perform the tasks that you need to perform without a proper grounding in the use of the software.  Allow yourself the luxury of interdependence with our staff and other users in order to more quickly and efficiently reach your fundraising goals.  You'll see that, while not a bad thing in itself, striving for independence in all things may be a bit misguided.

2.  Independent interdependence

It's not really an oxymoron.  There are several avenues for learning FUndRaiser software that allow you to be independent to a great degree:  training videos online; online FAQ's (Frequrently Asked Questions); the Help Contents HOW-TO section; FundClass Archives on our website for learning about fundraising itself.  These avenues of learning allow you to view the information at your leisure, on your timetable, without being dependent on someone elses's scheduling or priorities.  Someone else, of course, expended the effort to create or make available the information on the website, so there is a level of dependence on those folks (mostly our staff here at FundRaiser), but it's kept at arm's length, so to speak, through the media in which it's presented.

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3 Steps to Tracking the Migratory Donor (or Prospect)


Use the Alternate Addresses feature

Here in southern Arizona (location of the FundRaiser training office), they are affectionately called "snowbirds".  They leave their main homes and "fly" south when the weather becomes cold and bitter, and tend to return in the spring, at least until retirement.  When I lived in Florida, vacationing Canadians were given the same nickname.  The populace of the United States is a very mobile one, and keeping up with any one person can be difficult.  FundRaiser Select and Professional have a feature that will help you keep up with your "migratory" donors and prospects, and it's called Alternate Addresses.  If you have FundRaiser Spark, or Basic, you may want to check into moving up to Select or Professional here.

1.  Store all known addresses for a donor/prospect

Many folks have permanenet vacation addresses.  Many don't.  For those who don't, try to get email addresses and you'll still be able to reach them no matter where they are.  For those who DO have permanent alternate residences, simply enter them in the Alt Add tab in the Name Details section of their name record.  One thing to note is that there are two (2) different ways to tell FundRaiser which address should be used at any given time.  When you enter an alternate address, you have the option of assigning a code to the address, which can be handy for different "types" of addresses, like work vs. home, or current vs. previous, but you also have the option of assigning a date range to show when the alternate address will be occupied.  This is a much better solution , in my opinion, for vacationers, when you have a good idea what that date range will be.  You might want to store previous addresses, and, when someone moves, you'll be able to "save" the old address as an "inactive" alternate address, too.  You can pull an alternate address into the primary address page just as easily, from the Alt Add tab.

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3 Mother's Day Suggestions for FundRaiser Users


Non-traditional ways to honor mothers

Mother's Day was begun, back in the early 1900's, as a celebration of the person to whom we owe our very existence, but quickly became so commercialized that even the originator of the day became disenfranchised with it.  If we want to truly celebrate our mothers, we can do better than giving flowers or a dinner out, I think, and FundRaiser can be a part of that effort.

Tributes Module

FundRaiser recently got an upgrade to the Tributes module, in that there is now an "In Celebration of" tribute type, in addition to the usual "In Honor of", and "In Memory of" tributes.  You might consider an effort to solicit donations "In Celebration of Mother's Day", as an alternative to the gifts, cards, dinners, flowers, etc.  A donation to (your worthy cause here) can be a loving tribute that lasts longer that it takes to read a card, eat a dinner, or for those flowers to wilt.  Using the Tributes Module (optional in Select, standard in Professional) will let you easily track these types of donations, create lists of tribute donors for newsletters, as well as send appropriate correspondence to donors AND to the mothers they are honoring in this way.  If you don't yet have the module, you can learn more about it here.

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3 General FundRaiser Features to help track Events / Projects


General features you can use for event management

No matter which version of FundRaiser (Spark, Select, or Professional) you use, there are features that can help you track events.  While Professional has a Campaign Management component, it's not necessary for simple tracking, as I'll explain.  Using gift- and name record-based codes, along with TIckles, you can keep a better handle on planning of events, as well as their results.

1.  Category Codes:  an unlimited (practically) identification system

For years I've been letting users know that Category codes are a perfect way to show non-giving aspects of peoples' lives.  I've said "non-giving" because gift records have their own coding aspects, as we'll see next.  You can create 6-character codes, with longer descriptions.  The codes are alpha-numeric, so 10 numbers and 26 letters can be used, as well as the underscore ( _ ), giving us (I did the math) over 2.5 BILLION possible codes.  According to various sources, that's about the number of heartbeats one can expect during one's lifetime, so no one will ever run out of code possibilities.  So, how can we use these for tracking events?  Codes are unique identifiers.  Need to know who is on a particular event planning committee?  Code them.  Need to print that list with phone numbers?  Create a Grouping and use the Master Report.  Need to know what codes are already in use?  Print the Code Listing report, selecting just category codes, including the inactive ones.  Are you getting the gist?  

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5 Main Steps of Data Entry Work Flow in FundRaiser Software


Establishing a Work Flow for your FundRaiser Database

Most folks want guidelines that will help them get their work accomplished with a minimum of drudgery, mistakes, backtracking, etc., and an established work flow will help with that.  Entering gifts and name data after a fundraising event is mostly what is done within donor management software, and should be a regularly scheduled task.  The frequency of the task, whether daily or weekly, will depend on the volume of gifts, of course, but it should be a part of the office routine.  If written down as a task outline, it will help when the person who normally does the data entry is out sick, or is promoted to another position, or is otherwise taken out of the data entry picture.  The person who takes over will appreciate having those steps in logical order, with hints, tips, and tricks in their appropriate places along the way.

 Prepare your Thank You Letters first (1)

Having the steps laid out in a logical order is important, and the first thing that will need to be in place, even before any gift entry occurs, is a thank you letter template.  You may need several templates available, if you have different sources of giving, or different events happening during the same time period, but the main point is that you must have your letter templates in place BEFORE you begin the gift entry process.  Remember that you will be associating a letter template with each gift as you enter them, so, rather than having to go back and change a lot of gifts later, just have the letter template(s) ready to go.

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Safeguarding your FundRaiser Software data with regular backups


Keeping your Data Safe (from Computer Crashes)

Keeping your data safe from others is easy in FundRaiser.  Files are automatically encrypted so that only those who run the program can see the contents, and you can strengthen that encryption further in the Options section.  Usernames and passwords can be established to prevent unauthorized people from running the program.  Authorized users can be limited in their access to the program to prevent accidental misuse (i.e.,  loss or change of data).  Keeping your data safe from a computer crash is almost as easy, since you can make backups directly from the File menu in FundRaiser.  Keeping up to date with backups can be another issue altogether, however.

Schedule a regular backup by "Tickle"-ing yourself

The biggest problem with making backups, for me, is remembering to make them.  In FundRaiser Select and Professional, the Staff Tickle feature will help with this.  If you have FundRaiser Spark (no tickles), you'll need to use your appointment calendar system (like within MS-Outlook) or some other program to remind you to do your backup.  To set a "tickle" (named that way because it's designed to "tickle your memory" that something needs attention), simply go to the Windows menu within FundRaiser, then to the Staff Tickler choice.  Inside that window, click on ADD, and give the tickle a name, like "BACKUP DATA".  Then put a "DO" date on it.  If you want to backup weekly, then make it Friday's date.  You'll be incrementing this each time you make a backup, by the way.  If you plan to backup every day, then you might want a separate tickle for each day of the week (titled "Monday Backup", "Tues...", etc.).  You can have as many as you need, but the point is to be reminded when you need to go make a backup.  When the backup is complete, set the "DO" date on the Tickle for the next time you'll need to back up data, and that's it.

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5 steps to creating tax summary letters for your donors in FundRaiser


It's almost time to produce Tax Summary letters (End of Year Letters).  Usually sent in January, after the last donation for the year is in, end of year letters are a perfect way to re-establish your relationship with all your donors.  Here's a coherent plan of attack for FundRaiser users to breeze through this important time.

Step One -- HOW do you want to display their donations?

You'll obviously want to thank them for the year's donations, but do you want to list donations individually, or as a total dollar amount?  Do you want to mention the number of gifts they gave?  Would you like to encourage them to give again?  FundRaiser has merge fields and functions to help with all of this, with the most often used being the GiftList and GiftTotal functions.  GiftList can show a listing of the gifts you specify in a mini-report format, while GiftTotal simply adds up all the gifts you specify to print out the total dollar amount.

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Tips for helping several people share the work in your donor database

 

What happens when you begin to have more than one person working simultaneously in your donor database? For one thing, new situations arise that weren't there when only a single user was accessing the database. There may be questions about data integrity, work flow, or coordinatiing usage of the program.

This article will shed some light on these common questions and concerns about coordinating more than one user working in FundRaiser. I'll suggest ways to make FundRaiser even more helpful in keeping your information secure and accessible.

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