Multiple contact types for one constituent in an Organization record

Dan Gomez 2

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to have multiple contact types for one constituent at an organization, without creating duplicates? I'll give an example (names changed to protect the innocent/unaware!):

The Johnson company donates to our organization multiple times a year. They have a scholarship with us, they attend our annual gala, and they match gifts their employees make to us. Jane Doe is our contact when we have questions regarding the scholarship or the gala. John Smith is our contact when we have questions regarding their matching gifts.

We can add Jane Doe as the "Scholarship Contact," but then we have to save that relationship, and create a new, second relationship with Jane Doe as the "Gala Contact." When we go to the Johnson Company record, Jane Doe is listed twice on the relationships tab. Does anyone else have a better way of doing this, or is creating "duplicates" the best way people have found?

Becky Vodrey

Dan Gomez:

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to have multiple contact types for one constituent at an organization, without creating duplicates? I'll give an example (names changed to protect the innocent/unaware!):

The Johnson company donates to our organization multiple times a year. They have a scholarship with us, they attend our annual gala, and they match gifts their employees make to us. Jane Doe is our contact when we have questions regarding the scholarship or the gala. John Smith is our contact when we have questions regarding their matching gifts.

We can add Jane Doe as the "Scholarship Contact," but then we have to save that relationship, and create a new, second relationship with Jane Doe as the "Gala Contact." When we go to the Johnson Company record, Jane Doe is listed twice on the relationships tab. Does anyone else have a better way of doing this, or is creating "duplicates" the best way people have found?

Solving the "one-to-many" issue can be handled in a couple of ways, including the one you proposed in your post.

Another option is to use the "contact attributes" to further define the type of contact you have. For example, if someone serves as an "event contact" and "scholarship contact" would add the contact attributes to their record, and in the MAIL module you can select the contact attribute description you want to include (or exclude), or simply add it to the criteria in a query.

Be cautious and thoughtful when designing this, and be sure to test your setup for every scenario! For example, what if you have contacts with no designated type? Do you create a "multiple contact" contact type to designate that a particular contact has more than one responsibility at their organization?

Good luck!

Melissa Graves 3

Becky Vodrey:

Solving the "one-to-many" issue can be handled in a couple of ways, including the one you proposed in your post.

Another option is to use the "contact attributes" to further define the type of contact you have. For example, if someone serves as an "event contact" and "scholarship contact" would add the contact attributes to their record, and in the MAIL module you can select the contact attribute description you want to include (or exclude), or simply add it to the criteria in a query.

Be cautious and thoughtful when designing this, and be sure to test your setup for every scenario! For example, what if you have contacts with no designated type? Do you create a "multiple contact" contact type to designate that a particular contact has more than one responsibility at their organization?

Good luck!

Be VERY Careful. It is NOT contact attributes you need - it is Contact ADDRESS attributes you need to be able to pull these people out via the mail module. It is doable but very buried which stinks - but it works.

Christina Swiszcz

You can also pull Contact Attributes in Mail, it is under the Org Address tab, click Contact Information then Contact Attributes. 



We also have an issue with this. Many of the organizations in our database have multiple contacts, and each contact is for a specific purpose. We use Contact Attributes to identify them. However we have a problem pulling out the right ones. We can use Mail to do this, but I usually end up pulling them all through Export and sorting through them in an Excel sheet. We don't always use Mail because some mailing lists go to a mailhouse, and some lists go to other departments who produce their own mailings. Export does not give you the option to only select Contacts with a particular attribute...

 

Michelle Kolak

We also use contact attributes.  If you build a relationship query and export, you can identify and export only the contacts who have that attribute.  We have to de-dupe against the individual list,as some people may fall in both, but as long as you export the Constituent ID, it is easy to merge the files and de-dupe. 

Chris Z

In Mail Quick Letters, from the 6. Org Address tab, are you able to include some people who have a specific Contact Type, or have the Contact Attribute?  It seems to operate such that the Contact Attribute will only show up if that contact has the Contact Type.  (I'm not using the Contact Address Attribute, but the Contact Attribute.)  I'm in need of all Primary Contact (type) and anyone that has the Contact Attribute.  Thanks.