Contacts that are converted to full constituents - what constituency code to use?

Mark Palfrey 3

We have a number constituency codes which describe key types of organisations E.g. Charitable Trust or Educational Establishment. Each of these have individual relationships and contacts. In some cases its better to have these relationships as full constituent records in their own right as you can record more info about the individuals interaction on behalf of the org e.g. Event Invites on Event records etc… When it comes to making these full constituents we require to pick a Constituency Code and so far we have fallen into a process where we have create a “Contact” version of the main constituency code. E.g. Charitable Trust Contact or Educational Establishment Contact. Before we have too many of these records I wanted to check in to see if anyone had alternative ways of handling these types of situations?

Dariel Dixon 2

I'm not a big fan of having a constituency based on a relationship. The person is getting these interactions as based on their position within that organization. When the person is no longer in that position, what will happen with all those actions that were placed on their record?

I just don't think it's necessary. I think that those interactions are best documented on the organization record, because the organization is the key component in this case, not the person in the position at the time.

Mark Palfrey 3

Thanks Dariel that is a really good point you raise. I agree that comms like this should be recorded on the Org record rather than the individual. How about if we are inviting contacts to a prestigious event we are managing on RE? We have the event record and wish to list who we invited. As far as I can see this is only achievable if we to set up each contact as a full constituent and link them to the event. I cannot see the option to link and event and choose the specific contact.

Dariel Dixon 2

I think that part is difficult. Obviously it is more advantageous to have them as a full constituent, and sending the invitation to the organization isn't ideal but may give more of a complete picture. It's been a while since I've used the events module, so I'm not sure how to best set up the event piece. I know that if the organization were set up as a sponsor, they could have individual guests listed, but I don't know/can't remember if it works the same way for invitees.

Faith Murray

Can I ask what function is helped by having so many Constituent Codes?

At our org, we have a single "Grantmaker" constituent code that applies blanket-style to all orgs and individuals that have the ability to issue grants. If we want to split the list for mailings, we can filter by Key Indicator (Individual or Organization). This code is NOT the primary constituent code, as we prefer to categorize them differently as Business, Religious Org, Alumnus, etc. in their primary code.

For better specifics, we keep a “Grants” attribute with a drop-down table for

• Family Foundations
• Employer Matching Gift
• DAFs
• Corporate DAFs
• Contacts

, etc. The beauty of the Attribute is that it keeps our constituency codes uncluttered and we can also include the name of the foundation under the attribute Comments, for merging into solicitation letters. “Would you make a gift of $ from the Smiths Family Fund?"

This method allows us to enter certain org contacts as full constituents. While the Org keeps the “Grantmaker” constituency code, both the Org and the Contact receive the Attribute. While we don't enter Contacts as full constituents across the board, it is true that some contacts develop their own personal relationship with your org which persists even after leaving their company. We have a number of contacts who went on to become major donors after leaving the companies where they met us. And we have a number of alumni who work in local orgs in our database.

Christine Cooke 2

For those individual records that have their own constituent record solely because they are the contact for an Org and have not other affiliation with your Org – My standard has always been a Constituent Code of Friend-Contact for Organization. Easy to spot, easy to include/exclude from mail list and reports, very clear why they are in the database.