Pulling the best "last gift" for a mailing

Jon Wysong

I've run into a snag for my mailing.


I have created mailing lists using queries and the mail module. Some of our mail pieces reference "last gift". For a number of constituents in these select segments, the last gift referenced applies to an appeal that we wish to exclude, as it doesn't represent their largest, most recent gift.


Process:

1) I created my constituent queries based on the segment criteria - I used "Appeal ID not one of" for the queries that need to reference a last gift.

2) I then built a query list and removed do not mail/do not solicit, organizations, and our employees

3) I used Quick Letters mail module to make a master mailing list with the appropriate segments - so it could apply the appeal to the right constituent 

4) After exporting the list, I organized the segments into separate tabs

5) Then I went to pull last gift information from the output queries for some of my segments. I found that it pulled the last gift, but some referenced gifts that were from an appeal I wanted to exclude. 


Example of the problem - one constituent qualified for a specific segment. He had multiple gifts on the same day (from an event) - $53 bourbon purchase, $1000 donation - the bourbon purchase is the actual "last gift" on his record and has its own appeal ID. If I add in the exclusion (appeal ID not one of) to the output query, his information is no longer listed. Instead, I want to pull the $1000 donation as his last gift.


How can I modify my output segments created from the mail module to capture the "last gift" that doesn't apply to appeal IDs listed in my exclusion? I only know how to do this manually, which will take hours, if not days to organize and capture.

Debra Holcomb

Sounds like this might be a job for Export -- maybe even a Conditional Mail Merge Export based of the segmentation you created in Mail.  By using Export you should be able to select the specific cash gift you are seeking our of all of the gifts a donor has made, assuming your gift coding for the event purchase is different from your coding for a cash donation.

Jon Wysong

Export helped me get what I needed. Thanks. I've only been using RE for 3 months and didn't fully understand the difference between exporting a query in the Query module versus doing the same in the Export module. 

Christine Cooke 2

"not one of.." never behaves like you want it to.


I would include the funds that you want the last gift to count from to get the "real" last gift.  So Gift Fund one of... and include all the ones that you would consider acceptable for this mailing.

Christine Cooke 2

Jon -- Just keep in mind that Query is a grouping tool