Calendar Year or Fiscal Year for Appeals?

Deborah Johnson

I am a new Database Administrator for Raiser's Edge and want to ensure we follow best practices for maintaining our data.  I am hoping Development Staff will be able to pull easy lists and would like to know the best practice for setting up Appeals and Campaigns based upon fiscal or calendar year.  We have created Appeals in the past based upon fiscal year.  We are a community college and our fiscal year begins July 1, so we are now in fiscal year 2019.  As an example an appeal would be 2019 Fishing Tournament Team Entry, even though the fishing tournament occurs in July 2018. Development staff would like to pull giving lists based upon calendar year, rather than fiscal year and would prefer that our Appeals are set based upon calendar year.  Is there a best practice for this, or is it individual preference? 

Jen Claudy

As far as Appeals, I think you could do either.  I would recommend updating everything to say FY19 and CY18 so that everyone is clear on what year is being used.  You should talk with others at your organization that this change might affect to be sure everyone is in the know and has a chance to voice any concerns or cautions.