Gift Entry Person Role in relation to updating data?

Alicia Van Straten

We are a very small office… Director of Foundation, Alumni/Annual Gifts Role, Scholarship/Office Manager, Admin Specialist who are all full time, and one part time “accountant/gift entry” person. All gifts are entered via batch. Currently, our expectation of her is when entering gifts is two things:

• Check the constituent for any updates with address/email/name… so on.
• Check any actions that are open regarding a proposal that was submitted or action tied to a gift coming in. when that gift comes in, to then change the action status to either awarded or closed (declined).

The gift person is newer to our staff and struggling with these pieces. Either forgetting to, or just taking a really long time to do gift entry. After thinking about it more, I realize that these two pieces add a lot of additional time. She has to get out of database view, go into web view, check each constituent and look for any open actions tied to a gift as there is nothing that would trigger when entering a gift in a batch that one if these things needs to be done.

Are we being unrealistic on these expectations, all within a 24 hour week. Should our Admin be doing these? How do you handle these things at your office? Any ideas/tips/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Aldera Chisholm 2

We are a small office as well. As the one-woman band doing these pieces at my office, I woud recommend that your gift entry person make use of business rules if they are not already doing so. I have a business rule that will prompt me to “Check the constituent for an open proposal” (the rules is based on a query of constituents with an open proposal on their record, but you could do the same for open actions) for example. This really speeds up instead of having to check each one as I only have to look at the ones where the prompt comes up. Small things like that, and ensuring you have the “Constituent Window” flagged to be open during entry allows me to skim quickly for address updates rather than going and opening records. Perhaps you are already doing these two things, but I suggest them as they are my two biggest time-savers and I find them under-utilized!

Tom Klimchak

Gift processing (and checking each donor's information) DOES take time. Our gift processors also struggle with this, though they sort of follow this method:

1. Open the day's mail.
2. Make copies/scans of every gift they have.
3. “Prep” each gift. That means going through each mailed check, looking up the donor and writing the ID on the paperwork and then checking and fixing any phone numbers or addresses at the time. They also try to determine if it's a pledge payment on outright gift and note that on the paperwork. They'll sometimes need to check the appeal to use and a few other little details.

• Only AFTER everything has been prepped do they enter the gifts into batch mode, post the batch and take everything to our Controller's Office for depositing.
  

Yes, every office is different and you may have more or less steps. We DO have a different person to print the acknowledgement letters (and double check gift entry) which does sometimes catch things the gift processors missed. That “second set of eyes” really helps and sometimes we get into debates about HOW a gift should really be processed.

So.. “prep” all the gifts first… THEN go back and enter them all into RE (often the quicker part of the process).

One “extra” thing that made a HUGE difference in our productivity: everyone in in Advancement Services was given TWO monitors. This means you have database view in one window and RE NXT in another (or whatever you want)… but it makes switching between views/software a lot easier once you get used to it.

Sharyn Lilly

When you say….ensuring you have the “Constituent Window” flagged to be open during entry allows me to skim quickly for address updates rather than going and opening records……can you tell me how to set that up please?

Alicia Van Straten

ohhh, these are great ideas! I was hoping that there was something like this that would help streamline. I have to look into these and figure out how to set them up. Not sure what you mean or how to set up the “constituent window” flagged to be open during entry but I can figure it out. Thank you!

Alicia Van Straten

Thank you for this, good idea! I like having it all prepped/ready to go before entering in batch!

Aldera Chisholm 2

Hi @Sharyn Lilly Sure thing! I use batch templates, first off, so that's why you'll see some of the line is pre-filled in my example screen shot. To turn on the side window, click on View, then check “Constituent Window.” You have some limited control of what you'll see in the window. I have it set to Address, Spouse name and two phone numbers. I don't make changes in this window, I use it to quickly look and see if the address matches, or if I'm missing info. And this is where Tom's note re: double monitors is a must-have. I keep database view on one screen, and webview on the other, and that lets me blaze through gift entry much quicker. (In this example, you'll also see the results of one of my rules popping up, as this constituent has a recurring gift so I got an alert.)

Edit: to change the columns in the Constituent Window, go to Constituent in the menu bar, then click Define Constituent Fields.

Beth Martz 2

Alicia, how many gifts a week are coming in to be processed, and is this their only responsibility? Is the batch entry through NXT or DB View? Each setup is a little different.

Aldera Chisholm 2

Follow up: this is what the Define Constituent Fields looks like, with my chosen fields.

Alicia Van Straten

The number of gifts a week really does vary based on time of year and if an active fundraising appeal/campaign is happening. No this is not the only thing she does but it is largely her main function. She does gift entry through batch in database view.

Beth Martz 2

Defining the constituent fields in batch, as others have mentioned, is a huge time saver and business rules help as does having the acknowledgment letter as a field in batch. Letters and Envelopes are run through the mail function. Our staff person also links the proposals to the gift however we get the auto popup for the proposal here. Article Number: 48209. For us, actions are the responsibility of the staff who create them. The processor only updates the status of the proposal and links it to the gift. We have 1 full-time staff and we are averaging 400-500 gifts a month, in addition to entry, our staff does most of our lists and some reporting and participates in prospecting. There was a lot of trial and error and the pandemic forced us to automate more than we thought we could. I hope this helps.

Dariel Dixon 2

Alicia Van Straten:

We are a very small office… Director of Foundation, Alumni/Annual Gifts Role, Scholarship/Office Manager, Admin Specialist who are all full time, and one part time “accountant/gift entry” person. All gifts are entered via batch. Currently, our expectation of her is when entering gifts is two things:

• Check the constituent for any updates with address/email/name… so on.
• Check any actions that are open regarding a proposal that was submitted or action tied to a gift coming in. when that gift comes in, to then change the action status to either awarded or closed (declined).

The gift person is newer to our staff and struggling with these pieces. Either forgetting to, or just taking a really long time to do gift entry. After thinking about it more, I realize that these two pieces add a lot of additional time. She has to get out of database view, go into web view, check each constituent and look for any open actions tied to a gift as there is nothing that would trigger when entering a gift in a batch that one if these things needs to be done.

Are we being unrealistic on these expectations, all within a 24 hour week. Should our Admin be doing these? How do you handle these things at your office? Any ideas/tips/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I think this is quite unrealistic for a part time person to be doing. In particular, I think that the part about linking actions and proposals to gifts is not really something that is too germane to her duties. I understand why it's there, but the person in charge of the proposal should have all of the information for it, and it may take a gift entry person too long to research this.

Granted, there should be no reason to go from database view to web view for this at all…

Either way, if this person doesn't do these functions, someone else will need to. And honestly, I think the fundraisers themselves may be able to close out proposals themselves after the funds have been received.

And honestly, I would imagine that since this person is the primary data entry person, that is where her focus should be. Quality gift and data entry takes time. If they are taking their time with doing updates, they may have to move some of the other duties elsewhere.

Alicia Van Straten

I think I have found some great nuggets here for using business processes to help expedite and also, the constituent fields as well in the batch, thank you all! I agree with you on the actions piece, however it is the Director who really would like her to move a proposal to awarded/declined/closed stage when the gift comes in so not sure how much “wiggle/negotiation” room I have there.

Aldera Chisholm 2

@Alicia Van Straten At my org, I do move the proposal status and link the gift to the proposal. However, anything with actions - I don't touch. I notify fundraisers when a gift comes (based on the assignment to the constituent) BUT, I do work full-time, and my job includes Prospect Management and Research so it's a natural fit for me to work with proposals. Most fundraisers want full control over their proposals in my experience, so you could tweak their description to add notifying the fundraiser that an update to the proposal is needed? Perhaps that would address your Director's concern.

Dana Burton

Here is the path to ‘Define Constituent Fields’ that will show (stays at the right side of batch) names, salutations, address, phone number, email, deceased, etc.

This is the window with options of what you want to see for each constituent you enter a gift for and the options I utilize. As she gets acclimated to batch and it's functions, she will get faster! I pray this helps. Blessings!

Dana Burton

This is how we do it as well for the most part. Most efficient way I've found after all these years and each within Finance double checks, at times triple checks, another's work. ?

Cameron Alzubi 3

Even in larger shops where there are more staff for gift entry (like a university) the person entering gifts should ALWAYS look for biographical, contact, and relationship-related updates and make those updates in the system in real time. This is not negotiable.

The constituent window in RE: Batch is helpful, but so is the fact that you have webview. It's very easy to have webview open on one screen and the db view on the other.

Here is a related excerpt from the job description related to gift processing:

Record Maintenance

• Screen incoming gift materials for biographical and contact-related updates, including employment and spouse relationships
• Create and/or update alumni and donor records based on information received by various sources (gift documentation, phone calls, returned mail, etc.) and populate all appropriate data fields where information is available.
• Ensure fields such as Name Formats (Addressee/Salutation) are updated according to most recent donor communication; clean and streamline where possible; maintains accurate names for recognition and publication purposes.
• Updates employer relationships as it relates to matching gifts
  
  

Jeannie Goings

Concur with @Dariel Dixon and with @Aldera Chisholm. Updating open actions is for the fundraiser or the person who created the action to monitor and manage. The work that gift processors do is often oversimplified and undervalued. If your records are not being maintained, how do you solicit in the future? Dariel is spot on: Quality data entry takes time.

Dariel Dixon 2

Cameron Alzubi:

Even in larger shops where there are more staff for gift entry (like a university) the person entering gifts should ALWAYS look for biographical, contact, and relationship-related updates and make those updates in the system in real time. This is not negotiable.

The constituent window in RE: Batch is helpful, but so is the fact that you have webview. It's very easy to have webview open on one screen and the db view on the other.

Here is a related excerpt from the job description related to gift processing:

Record Maintenance

• Screen incoming gift materials for biographical and contact-related updates, including employment and spouse relationships
• Create and/or update alumni and donor records based on information received by various sources (gift documentation, phone calls, returned mail, etc.) and populate all appropriate data fields where information is available.
• Ensure fields such as Name Formats (Addressee/Salutation) are updated according to most recent donor communication; clean and streamline where possible; maintains accurate names for recognition and publication purposes.
• Updates employer relationships as it relates to matching gifts
  
  

I think this is true for the most part, however not everyone has multiple monitors. I have had them in the past, but I'm currently operating with just one right now. Regardless, your point is well taken, and these updates should be made for sure.

I honestly believe that these updates should be made by anyone who has this information, as long as the data is being entered accurately and consistently. Proper training on data entry is key for all staff.

Jennifer Kluh

Dana Burton thank you for the path layout, this is greatly appreciated and helpful

Elizabeth Johnson

Great comments here - was just reading everyone's comments as we are on-boarding a new person in this role on Monday.

• If two monitors is not a possibility you can use a split screen if the monitor is large enough and still have both views open.
• If you do have multiple monitors web view works really well with a portrait orientation if you can turn your monitor.
• Goodness, I wish the most recent fundraising appeal showed up it the constituent window when a gift comes in without a form I really like using the web view to look that up quickly as they are at least in reverse chronological order on that tile.
• Opening and closing the appropriate tiles in web view for the gift entry is super handy. Love the ability to close them all and then open the ones needed before entering gifts.
• If a gift comes in on a form and you have all the info you need between the form and the constituent window it is still helpful to look at the giving history to see if we historically do anything special with the gift.
  • You can do this from batch see the screen shot below where you go to define your constituent fields - it is the option above. You can also click on the gifts from there if you need more detail. This is super fast if you have everything else you need.
• Having a form to fill out with new gifts that is very populated (easy to simply circle the right choice) and includes tips for things to remember helps not only with consistent gift entry but as a reminder specifically during crunch times when there is so many things to remember. It also helps the person doing the acknowledgements to have confidence that all that needed to happen at the entry level was taken care of.
  • Some examples of what is on our form:
    • Helps to make sure the check has all the components it needs and another reminder that if it is international it will need to go in a batch with other international checks
    • Did an alumni note come in with the gift and was it shared with the alumni relations person
    • Was it an IRA rollover - was the receipt amount set to zero
    • Does the gift need any soft credits.
    • Who will be doing the acknowledgments
    • If there was an address change was it handled
    • What was the appeal and the package
    • A place for the first 5 letters for alphabetizing purposes
• Having solicitor queries in a dashboard for the gift entry person to check their work (you set the frequency - daily, weekly, before acknowledgements, before reporting - all is over kill but it might be nice to have a few set up) and a checklist to proof a batch before committing are also helpful tools.
• People that enjoy gift entry and do it well are amazing members of the team and should be celebrated.