Tracking Giving Levels without the Membership Module

Haley Moates

We have several giving societies that are currently being tracked in Attributes. It is not very effective because majority of them are based on annual giving so they change yearly, plus they require a minimum amount to be included in the table setup so we have previous years with minimums of $0.01, $0.02, etc. What is a better way to track these? If attributes is a viable way to track them, could you elaborate on a better way to do it?  We do not have the Membership Module and after looking at the cost, we probably will not be getting it.


Thank you for your help!


Haley

Kylea Johnson

Haley Moates:
We have several giving societies that are currently being tracked in Attributes. It is not very effective because majority of them are based on annual giving so they change yearly, plus they require a minimum amount to be included in the table setup so we have previous years with minimums of $0.01, $0.02, etc. What is a better way to track these? If attributes is a viable way to track them, could you elaborate on a better way to do it?  We do not have the Membership Module and after looking at the cost, we probably will not be getting it.


Thank you for your help!


Haley

Have you considered running queries then doing a Global Change on the attribute yearly?

Haley Moates

Kylea Johnson:

 

Haley Moates:
We have several giving societies that are currently being tracked in Attributes. It is not very effective because majority of them are based on annual giving so they change yearly, plus they require a minimum amount to be included in the table setup so we have previous years with minimums of $0.01, $0.02, etc. What is a better way to track these? If attributes is a viable way to track them, could you elaborate on a better way to do it?  We do not have the Membership Module and after looking at the cost, we probably will not be getting it.


Thank you for your help!


Haley

Have you considered running queries then doing a Global Change on the attribute yearly?

 

If I'm not mistaken, they want to keep a record of it. For example, if someone was part of the Annual Fund Society -- they want to keep a record of each year they're in it, so FY1516, AFS FY1617, AFS FY1718 and so on. I don't think they want to overwrite them.

Elaine Tucker

If you use attributes the list can get WAY TOO LONG....especially if they want to keep history.  I'd suggest creating organization records for each level, and then link the donor to that org record through relationship.  The "good" thing about this is you can have to and from dates in the relationship, so it's easy to see how long a particular donor has been in that.  If they increase their giving then put an end date on the "lower level group" add a new relationship between the donor and the new group with date from = "today" and then the date to would be left blank until they move again.


Relationship codes could be something along the line of "donor" for the individual and "giving group" for the organization record.

Cathleen Mai

There is a Donor Category report under Analytical reports. I use this report and assign attributes twice a year. 

For constituents above a certain level I create recurring gifts and use them for budgeting purposes and to create reminders.

I like Elaine's approach too. Elaine, do you change all the relationships to a new date via global change?



 

Kim Maynard

Elaine Tucker:

If you use attributes the list can get WAY TOO LONG....especially if they want to keep history.  I'd suggest creating organization records for each level, and then link the donor to that org record through relationship.  The "good" thing about this is you can have to and from dates in the relationship, so it's easy to see how long a particular donor has been in that.  If they increase their giving then put an end date on the "lower level group" add a new relationship between the donor and the new group with date from = "today" and then the date to would be left blank until they move again.


Relationship codes could be something along the line of "donor" for the individual and "giving group" for the organization record.

This is a great idea!  I might recommend this for our giving levels.

Marguerite Gravois

Cathleen Mai:

There is a Donor Category report under Analytical reports. I use this report and assign attributes twice a year. 

For constituents above a certain level I create recurring gifts and use them for budgeting purposes and to create reminders.

I like Elaine's approach too. Elaine, do you change all the relationships to a new date via global change?



 

 

Cathleen, what settings do you use to get all gifts from a donor summarized for the time period vs. listed individually in the Donor Category Report?

Cathleen Mai

First you have to set up your "Level"-table in Configuration/ Donor Categories.

Define the levels.

Then in the Donor Category report go to the last tab - Format

On the left go to Details.

Then choose your table. The report will summarize by the Levels in this table.

See attachment.