What is the best way to record/track Grant Applications or "Personal Solicitation" in Appeals?

Alicia Van Straten

We have refined our campaigns/appeals process in RE over the years, and as with anything data related, we have learned what has worked and what has not mostly by doing something and learning the hard way at the end.  We have four campaigns that are pretty much the same every year, and multiple appeals that roll up to the campaign goals that then roll up to our overarching fundraising goal.  Where I have gotten a little stuck is in our "asks" that are more grey or asks that we do by writing or submitting a grant application.  We have the appeal of Personal Solicitation - which covers those asks that are many phone calls, meetings, lunches and so on before we get the gift.  So when those gifts come in, they get booked to the respective campaign they are for (Scholarships, Student Emergency Program, NWTC Fund, Donor Designated Projects) and then Appeal of Personal Solicitation.  Gifts that come in from a grant application gets booked under the same campaign but then each get their own appeal  such as "FY16 P&G Grant" or "FY16 Gene Haas Grant Application" and those funds get their own fund with the same name, which is seemingly very duplicative and not needed.  As you can imagine, the appeals list is getting long, and I'm questioning our grants appeal process.  I'm leaning towards moving to a more general "FY16 Grant Application" appeal and putting all those gifts there.  Regardless, these two buckets require a breakdown by donor when we do our projection planning at the start of the year as they are so very different and can never be counted on year over year.  



It's all in the projection planning and looking at what is our fundraising goal overall and how are we going to get there that has been our hardest part so far.  Overall thoughts - am I moving in the right direction or any different ideas would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance!

Zane Magnuson 2

Do you have the Actions module? (I can't remember if that's a basic feature of RE or not)



Actions would be the best way to track this all. It's a completely different set of data than Appeals, so it doesn't get mixed up in all those reports and what-have-you. That way, you can still track the progress and success of grant applications, and if a grant award comes in you can assign it to an appropriate Campaign/Appeal.

Alicia Van Straten

Zane Magnuson:

Do you have the Actions module? (I can't remember if that's a basic feature of RE or not)



Actions would be the best way to track this all. It's a completely different set of data than Appeals, so it doesn't get mixed up in all those reports and what-have-you. That way, you can still track the progress and success of grant applications, and if a grant award comes in you can assign it to an appropriate Campaign/Appeal.

We use actions for our funding proposals to track what we have applied for and what is still pending.  However, when the gift comes in, we would book it under the respective campaign and then I'm thinking the appeal would literally be called "FY16 Grant Application" as that is the "how" the gift came in.  Then when goal setting for the future I can pull all gifts by that appeal the year before, we can go over them and do a rough projection of what we think will come in.  I like using the appeals as this as it all rolls up to the campaign which then they role up to an overarching goal.  Actions unfortunately do not roll up in any reports this way, that I'm aware of at least.

John Heizer

We have a single "Proposal" Appeal that we use for all Proposals.

shani traum

If you have the prospect module, you could track under proposals and then link actions, media, and gifts to the proposal. We created a year specific attribute on the proposal where we entered our best guess ahead of time as to the amount of the ask/gift.  This never gets changed, and the actual ask is tracked on the general tab of the proposal.



If not, how about this within Appeals...



Create Appeals that are overarching - Grants, Personal Solicitation, etc.  



  Create packages within the Appeal for the specific "ask"

    

     Within the package, you assign a "goal" amount which you can feed back to the Appeal Goal amount.



So, if would look something like this:



Appeal: 2016 Grants (Cummulative Goal Amount of $160,000 based on info below)



   Package:  2016 Fall XYZ Foundation  Goal amount entered: $10,000



   Package:  2016 Spring Smith Family Trust Goal amount entered: $150,000



Each time you enter a new Package under the Appeal and enter a goal amount, you can have that amount added to the appeal's running total.



There are 2 amount fields available (goal and default), so perhaps you could repurpose both - one for the ask amount, one for the funded amount.



Packages have attributes available, so more tracking could be done there.



Hope this helps!



Shani

Alicia Van Straten

We have never used the packages piece yet but I can see how that would be helpful for a more detailed drill down into a broader appeal like FY16 Grants (which we just created, thank you!).  I'm not sure I follow you though on this part: Each time you enter a new Package under the Appeal and enter a goal amount, you can have that amount added to the appeal's running total.  There are 2 amount fields available (goal and default), so perhaps you could repurpose both - one for the ask amount, one for the funded amount.



Would I have to manually update the running total or would it do that automatically when the gift is entered under that appeal/package?  I love the repurposing of the fields though, that is a great idea but not sure realistic if it is manual.  May just use the Goal field and then use gift reporting when the gifts come in to report on actuals....  not sure.

shani traum

When you enter a goal amount onto the package and save the package, you'll get a pop up asking if you want to "add this package to overall appeal goal" (option 2 of the 3 given). If you select that option, it will at that amount to the existing appeal goal.



So, if the appeal goal was starting at $0 and you add a new package, or update an existing package that previously had no goal, with a package goal of $50,000 and then, when asked, say add this package to the overall appeal goal, the appeal goal will be updated to $50,000.  Then next time, you add a package of $25,000 and say to add the package.  The appeal goal should now read $75,000.



The one thing I'm not sure about is what happens if you had a package goal that you already added to the appeal goal, but then change the amount on the package.  In that case, you may need to adjust the appeal manually.



Did that make any sense?



 

Alicia Van Straten

I tried this and for some reason, did not get a pop up.  Is this a business settings rule or something in config?  I love the idea though and could see if being useful!