Uploading Records to Raiser's Edge

Noni Hoham

Can anyone speak to the procedure of uploading records to Raiser's Edge from a CSV Excel sheet?  Assuming it is possible, how difficult is it?  Is there another piece of software required to make it happen? 


Thanks,

Noni Hoham

Marketing & Events Coordinator

Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana

Jody Johnson

Are these new constituents? What information are you uploading ie. name, multiple phone numbers, gifts?


If I know what you are uploading, I can give you a better answer. 

Noni Hoham

It would be names, addresses, emails, event particpation/donations from a stand-alone peer to peer fundraising platform.

Noni

John Heizer

Other software isn't required, but can be very helpful if you're not familiar with the data structure of RE.  Without an additionial product like ImportOMatic what you're trying to import will require multiple rounds of imports and ways to keep those multiple rounds linked.

David GUEPIN

Hi Noni, 

You could certainly use RE's own built in import to make use of the export from import function. In import, select the import type you want and then select the radio button "Create import file". This will give you a template that you can use when you want to bring in your own data. However you will need to do it via several steps given the different kinds of import you're trying to achieve. 

There are alternatives on the market where the import file format is much more forgiving. For example, our product Importacular allows you to bring in data on to the constituent and gift records for free and is much more intuitive to bring in complex data sets in a single pass. The best thing is that it is free for imports in the Bio 1, 2, Address and Gifts tabs (and very cheap for other RE data destinations). Please PM me for more details which I'll be more than happy to share with you. 


Hope it helps, 

David

Faith Murray

Yes, this is definitely possible, and I've done it myself on a few occasions. It's not really that hard once you get used to the Import function. You just have to make sure you check the list for dupes before importing it, make sure all your column headings are labelled correctly according to the "Create Import File" template. 


You will need to run at least four steps:

1) Always back up the database first

2) Import the new constituents with address, phone number, and email (not gifts)

3) Import spouses as a separate import if your org enters spouses as their own Constituent record

4) Do a Gift Import to enter the appropriate gifts


Check out the KB article "How to Import - the Basics of Importing", "Required Fields for Importing New Constituents with Addresses and Phone Numbers", and "How to Import Gifts".

Christine Robertson

Noni Hoham:

It would be names, addresses, emails, event particpation/donations from a stand-alone peer to peer fundraising platform.

Noni

I've done an import from Everyday Hero into RE (we were unable to use their integration due to internal policies in place with one of my clients) and that sounds very similar to what you're looking to do.  It worked fairly well, but it did take some time to set all the fields in place and to verify the people.

First, I'd check with the P2Pplatform to see if they offer anything that will help with the integration.  Some of them of have features that help with the import process.  


Next, I recommend training on Import - either through Blackbaud or a qualified 3rd party consultant.  While it's not too difficult once you get the hang of it, I think that training would be beneficial due to the room for error with importing.


Also, do you have user IDs in the Peer to Peer platform?  Linking a user ID between RE and the P2P will make this a much easier task.


Finally, I would plan to run a de-dup after every time you do an import.  No matter how careful I am, I find that imports very often create duplicates and it is best to check for them immediately.


Hope this helps!

  

Jody Johnson

Noni Hoham:

It would be names, addresses, emails, event particpation/donations from a stand-alone peer to peer fundraising platform.

Noni

Like the others have said, it will take multiple imports, but you can do it, just take your time. A good tip is to do a practice import into your sample database, that way if something goes wrong, it's only your sample and not your live data.

Jill Freidmutter

I had great results from contacting Blackbaud support and having them walk me through my import. I was importing a list of ~2000 constituents, some were individuals with spouses, some were orgs with contacts. One thing that I don't think was mentioned yet is importing salutations. I sorted my import into individuals, couples with the same last name, couples with different last names.  Then I chose which Addressee and Salutation (code) would go with each type of constituent and added it to the Excel spreadsheet/csv file before importing. Support was great at explaining what needed to be done, helping me get my files set up, walking me through the process, explaining what exceptions are and how to deal with them. It took several sessions over two days. We would have a session with a screen share. I did the next steps off-line. Then we had another session to go through the next steps together. Then I did more off-line. ... Until it was all done. If this is your first import, I would recommend using support. 

Karen Stuhlfeier

If you have the opportunity, taking the Blackbaud import classes is very helpful. Then when you need to do an import it all makes sense. You'll also think of a lot of ways to use import that will save you time. 

Noni Hoham

Thank you for all of the helpful answers!  I appreciate everyone's input!

Noni Hoham
Marketing & Events Coordinator
_______________________
Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana
6316 Mutual Drive
Fort Wayne, IN 46825
260-484-9560
nhoham@cancer-services.org
www.cancer-services.org