Adding mapped fields to the template letter

Curtis Cecil

Hoping someone can help me sort through this. We are trying to set up a flow in Power Automate to run our acknowledgement letters using the template that Blackbaud provided. We like to include the Campaign and Fund descriptions in certain letters, but I can't figure our how to add new mapped fields that will pull this information from the NXT list that it's connected to in the flow. Has anyone encountered this same thing and created a solution?

Thanks in advance!

Ashley Moose

@Curtis Cecil
First the letter template needs to be updated to include these fields.

https://docs.blackbaud.com/microsoft-connectors-docs/microsoft-power-platform/power-automate/acknowledgement-tutorial/build-templates

Then in the flow, you will need to include the Get fund and Get campaign actions from the RENXT Fundraising connector to get the descriptions. The Fund ID and Campaign ID are available from the Gifts split array supplied in the Get a gift action.

Alex Wong

@Curtis Cecil
What you may need to be concern about is if your org allows split gifts. If not, then pretty easy to call the Get Fund and get Campaign on the first set of splits and call Get Campaign and Get Fund (use the first() expression).

If you do, then you will need to loop through each of the splits' campaign id and fund id and call the Get Fund and Get Campaign actions to get the description, compose the multiple splits campaign/fund/amount before setting into the document.

Good luck

Curtis Cecil

Thanks @Alex Wong. We don't currently use split gifts, but that's good knowledge to have. Appreciate the response and link!

Curtis Cecil

@Ashley Moose I think this will help me build the letters I'm trying to utilize. I couldn't find a link that showed those steps the way this one does. Thanks!

Curtis Cecil

@Ashley Moose…follow-up question please. We are trying to add items like the Campaign description, Fund description, etc. But when I search for Campaign to connect it in the flow, it only shows an option for Gift Splits Campaign ID. What should I be searching to add these various fields? I feel like I may be searching incorrectly/not asking for the right thing to connect it.

Ashley Moose

@Curtis Cecil This is where you need to use the Get fund and Get campaign actions from the Fundraising connector. You can use the Campaign ID from the gift splits node as the parameter in the Get campaign action, and similarly for the Fund action.

Since you said you don't use split gifts, then as Alex mentioned, you can use the first() expression in a Compose action to retrieve the “first” set of Campaign/Fund results. The results of the compose action should include the corresponding description fields that you are looking for.

Curtis Cecil

@Ashley Moose I feel like I'm getting really close and I appreciate your help with this, being my first time trying to set up a flow in Power Automate. Do you happen to have a link to a sample flow with the Fundraising connector? I don't understand the data relationships enough to set this up.

Ashley Moose

@Curtis Cecil I don't know of a good flow sample off the top of my head so I mocked up a quick example.

First, the Fundraising connector is referring to this:

You've likely just been working with the Constituents and/or Revenue connectors. For reference, you can see the full list of connectors and the details included in each on Microsoft's website: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/

And all of the Blackbaud connectors include:

Now specific to your question, I imagine your flow first has a List gifts action to bring in all of the gifts you need to acknowledge, and then a Get a gift action to get the specific details for each gift. After the Get a gift action, you can then add a Compose action with an expression of first(outputs('Get_a_gift')?['body/gift_splits']). Then add the Get a campaign action from the Fundraising connector and pull from the Compose action with an expression of outputs('Compose')?['campaign_id'].

The output of the Get a campaign action would then include the details like Campaign description.

And that should be it!

I do want to note what it would look like if you called the Get a campaign action without using the middle Compose action. If I pulled the Gift Splits Campaign ID directly from the Get a gift output, Power Automate would automatically add the Get a campaign action inside another Apply to each action, like this:

You can still get to the end result having this Apply to each included, but it becomes a bit more complicated as you need to untangle the results from that Apply to each step. There are a couple different ways you can do that, but as long as your organization does not have split gifts, you can keep with the simpler option of using the first() expression.

Good luck, and let me know if you have additional questions! There is a strong learning curve here but it starts to pick up pretty quickly as you get more flows under your belt ?