Tracking naming opportunities in RE?

Sara Hogan

Does anyone have to track naming opportunities (like theater seats) in Raiser's Edge? And in what ways are you doing it? Memberships?

Karen Stuhlfeier

We set up specific gift attributes for this. That works really well for us. We like having the information attached to the gift that paid for the seats and it's easy to query on.  

Nicole S

I have used attributes in the past, but I'm currently using benefits because of the notes and other tracking fields like sent/fulfilled.

shani traum

We set up constituent (organization) records for each potential naming opportunity with the record name = Naming Opportunity - (general area).  The Constit Code is Naming Opp so we can report on or exclude based on the code.


The address is the location of the naming opportunity (campus, floor, location)


The constit attributes are:

Naming Opp Status (Available, On Hold, Reserved)

Naming Opp Category (indoor space, outdoor space, religious, program)

Naming Opp Amount (goal amount for the opportunity)

Naming Opp Funded Amount (amount at which it was actually funded)

Naming Opp Dedication date


It allows the gift officers to see at a glance (assuming things are kept up to date) what is happening with a specific naming opp (someone else working on it?  Still available? etc...)


We can run reports seeing what opps there are, what their status is, and what the goal amount is for each.  So if we're meeting with a donor and we want a list of opportunities in the $1 million range, we can pull that.  Or it we want a list of indoor spaces - we can see that as well.


Once the Opp has been funded, we link the Naming Opp record to the donor so when you look at the donor, you can see what they have named (and vice versa). We're also adding plaque information in the note box of the record.


Hope this makes sense!


Shani

Elaine Tucker

We also use Funds.  In addition when I was at a university that was involved in a Capital Campaign for a new building, each building was it's own "campaign" and all the naming funds went under that campaign.  THat way if a group of alumni wanted to "name in honor of XYZ Professor, it was REALLY easy to see how much was raised, what was left and who donated.

Gracie Schild

We're using the constituent attribute method, with an attribute that can be applied multiple times (for the really generous!). The Description is the actual naming, verbatim; the date is when it was actually put up; and the comments are the location and any other details.  I hadn't thought of the situation of a group having a single naming - who would you put that under?  I can't say I like the idea of "constituents" that are actually naming opportunities - I love the adaptibility of RE to be what you need it to be, but I think that would be rather cluttered in the end.  After all, the Joe Smith Center isn't giving you any gifts.  I could, however, see a single dummy record for Alumni Groups or Donor Groups or whatever to hold those kinds of notes, actions, and attributes that don't belong to any single constituent.


We also have a separate attribute for the plaques in our "Honor Circle" with the same setup as the Naming Details attribute.  There are a few that we can't record because we don't know who put them up in honor of some tribe or person who is not in RE - all before my time, of course!