Procedure, Protocol and Priority When a Database Manager Leaves

Rachel Kauer

Hi all,

Our current Database Administrator just gave notice. Any recommendations on what to prioritize in the next two weeks in terms of administrator functions or best practice for this situation? Open to any and all advice! Thanks!

***I should clarify as the Gift Processor, I am inheriting responsibilities in the interim. I have built our gift processing and database manual over the last year as I manage most data entry. But have struggled to get the “titled” DBA to record anything over the last year.

This is the table of contents for my manual; if you can identify any gaps or have insights, I would be appreciative.

Introduction 1
1 – Overview Stages of Gift Processing 5
1.1 Physical Gift Processing & Batch Paperwork Creation 5
1.2 Advancement Team Gift Notification 5
1.3 Gift Batch Entry 5
1.4 Gift Batch Approval & Committal 5
1.5 Gift Batch Reporting 5
1.6 Gift Batch Submission to the Business Office 6
1.7 Advancement Gift Revenue & Donor Count Notification 6
1.8 Acknowledgement Letters & Receipts 6
1.9 Gift Adjustment 7
1.10 Monthly Reporting to the Business Office 7
1.11 Monthly Reporting to Advancement 8
2 – Trinity Pawling School Advancement Policy Documents 9
Gift Acceptance Policy 9
Statement of Ethics – CASE 19
Donor Bill of Rights – CASE 21
3 – Gift Types & Sources 23
3.1 Credit Card Gifts 23
3.1.1 Boost My School 23
3.1.2 VENMO 24
3.2 Checks 25
3.2.1 Split Checks 25
3.3 Wire Transfers 26
3.4 Stock Gifts/Gifts of Securities 26
3.5 Gifts In-Kind 27
3.6 Commitments (Pledges, Statement of Intent & Matching Gifts) 28
3.7 Overview of Steps by Gift Type 30
4 – Physical Gift Processing & Batch Paperwork Creation 33
4.1 Create Batch Paperwork 33
4.2 Preparing Paperwork for Batch Entry 33
5 – Advancement Team Notifications 36
5.1 Entering Gifts into the GTBP Sheet 36
5.2 Contact Prospect Mangers for Donor Intent Clarification 37
5.3 VIP Donor Gift Team Notifications 37
5.4 Current Trustee List (12/1/23) 38
6 – Gift Batch Entry 40
6.1 Opening a New Gift Batch (Non-Payroll Ded. or Recurring) 40
6.2 Data Entry into the Batch Grid 41
6.3 How to Make a Gift have Soft Credit 43
6.4 How to Make a Gift a Split Gift: 43
6.5 How to Make a Gift Anonymous in Batch 43
6.6 How to Make a Gift Have a Tribute in Batch & Tribute Set Up 43
6.7 How to Make a Gift a Pledge Payment 44
6.8 How to Make a Gift a Matching Gift & How to Create a Matching-Gift-Pledge 45
6.9 How to Enter an In-Kind Gift 47
6.10 How to Enter a Stock Gift 47
6.11 How to Make a Gift a Statement of Intention Gift 48
6.12 How to Make a Gift a Planned Gift 49
7 – Gift Batch Approval & Commital 51
7.1 Self-Review the Batch 51
7.2 Send Batch for Advancement Director Review & Approval 51
7.3 Committing & Validating a Batch 52
8 – Gift Batch Reporting 54
8.1 Gift Detail Reports by Fund 54
8.2 Create Advancement/Gift Processing Office Batch Report Set 54
8.2 What to Do if You Catch a Mistake at This Point 55
9 – Gift Batch Submission to the Business Office / Batch Reconciliation 57
9.1 Create Business Office Batch Reconciliation Report Set 57
9.2 What to Do if You Catch a Mistake at This Point 57
10 – Advancement Gift Revenue & Donor Count Notification 59
10.1 Turning Over the GTBP Sheet 59
10.2 Updating the Main Tab & Moving the Old data to a New One 59
10.3 Updating the Gift Revenue, Donor Counts & Notifying the Team 60
11 – Entering a Payroll Batch 62
11.1 Setting Up a Pledge for a Payroll Deduction 62
11.2 Reporting/Submitting a Payroll Batch to the Business Office. 63
12 – Entering a Recurring Gift Batch 65
12.1 Overview of a Recurring Gift Batch 65
12.2 Gift Batch Data Entry 65
12.3 Gift Batch Approval & Committal 66
12.4 What to Do if You Catch a Mistake at This Point 66
13 – Entering a Pledge Agreement 68
13.1 Notes on Pledge Agreements 68
13.2 How to Setup up a Pledge Agreement in Raiser’s Edge 69
13.3 Miscellaneous Tab 70
13.4 Installments/Payments Tab 70
14 – Entering a Statement of Intention 72
14.1 Notes on Statement of Intention 72
14.2 How to Setup up a Statement of Intention 73
14.3 Miscellaneous Tab 74
14.4 Installments/Payments Tab 74
15 – Entering Planned Giving 77
15.2 The Three Umbrellas of Planned Gifts 77
15.3 Aspects of a Planned Gift 77
15.4 Vehicles/ Gift Subtype 77
15.5 Planned Gift (Reasons) 82
15.6 How to Enter a Planned Gift 84
15.6.1 How to Enter a Planned Gift for a Lead Annuity Trust 85
15.6.2 How to Enter Planned Gift for a Retained Life Estate 86
15.7 How to Edit a Planned Gift 88
15.7.1 Create and Link a New Payment to a Planned Gift 88
15.7.2 Link an Existing Gift Record to a Planned Gift Record 89
15.7 Edit a Planned Gift Record for a Mature Planned Gift 89
15.6 How to Delete a Planned Gift 90
16 - Adjustments 92
16.1 Notes on Adjustments 92
16.2 Adjustment – Changing the Amount 94
16.3 Adjustment – Changing the Date 95
16.4 Adjustment – Changing the Fund 96
16.5 Adjustment – Removing a Gift 97
16.6 Adjustment – Adding a Gift 98
16.7 Adjustment – Changing the Campaign, Appeal or Package 99
16.8 Changing the Gift Reference, Letter Code, or Special Attributes 100
16.9 Pledge Write-Offs 100
17 - Fund Codes 102
17.1 New Fund Codes Protocol 102
17.2 Breakdown of Fund Buckets 102
17.3 Raiser’s Edge Fund Report 103
17.4 Manually Updating the Fund List 103
17.5 Adding New Funds to Reports 103
18 - Monthly Reconciliation Reports for the Business Office 106
18.1 Report Location 106
18.2 Reconciliation Monthly Report 1 - 2024-2025 (All Giving) 107
18.3 Reconciliation Monthly Report 2a - 00100 (AF Unrestricted) 108
18.4 Reconciliation Monthly Report 2b – 00100-P (AF Unrestricted Outstanding Pledges) 109
18.5 Reconciliation Monthly Report 3a – 00150-700 (AF Restricted) 110
18.6 Reconciliation Monthly Report 3b – 00150-700-P (AF Restricted Outstanding Pledges) 111
18.7 Reconciliation Monthly Report 4a – 00549 (AF Plant) 112
18.8 Reconciliation Monthly Report 4b – 00549-P (AF Plant Outstanding Pledges) 113
18.9 Reconciliation Monthly Report 5a - 00900 (Endowment) 114
18.10 Reconciliation Monthly Report 5b - 00900-P (Endowment Outstanding Pledges) 115
18.12 Reconciliation Monthly Report 6a - 09010 (Capital) 116
18.12 Reconciliation Monthly Report 6a - 09010 (Capital Outstanding Pledges) 117
18.15 Submitting All Reconciliation Reports for the Business Office 118
19 – Monthly Reports for Advancement 120
19.1 Group 1 Reports – Trustee Giving 121
19.2 Group 2 Reports – Giving by Constituency Code 122
19.5 Setting up the Monthly Report Excel Master Sheet for a New Fiscal Year 124
20 – Acknowledgement/Thank You letters (TYL) 126
20.1 Donor Acknowledgement Policy – TPS Gift Policy 126
20.2 IRS Requirements 126
20.3 How to Generate TYL’s List in Raiser’s Edge – Exporting 130
20.4 How to Generate a Mail Merge with a Template using the Export 132
20.5 How to Print on TP Letterhead & Envelopes 133
20.6 How to Scan & Mail Thank You Letters 133
20.7 End of Calendar Year Recurring Gift Thank You Letters 133
20.8 End of Calendar Year Employee Payroll Thank You Letters 134
20.9 How to Create a Conditional Mail Merge in Word 135
21 – Honoree/Memorial Acknowledgement Letters 140
21.1 How to Generate the Honoree/Memorial Acknowledge List in Raiser’s Edge – Exporting 140
21.2 How to Generate a Mail Merge with a Template using the Export for Memorial/Honoree Notification Letters 141
22 – Copy Room Mailing & Postage Machine 143
22.1 Domestic Letters 143
22.2 International Letters 143
23 – Gift Processor Records Maintenance 145
23.1 Pledges & Statement of Intent Binder 145
23.2 Planned Giving Binder 145
23.3 GL – Posting Reports Binder 145
23.4 Gift Processing Manual 146
23.5 Gift Processing – Gift Binder 146
23.6 Gift Processing File Cabinets 146
24 – New Constituent Records 149
24.1 New Constituent in Raiser’s Edge 149
24.2 New Constituents - Adding a New Individual 149
24.3 New Constituents – Adding a New Organization 152
25 - Constituency Codes 155
25.1 Control Panel Constituency Code Table Hierarchy 155
25.2 Constituent Record Constituency Code Table Protocol 1
25.3 Constituency Code Definitions – Individual Records 1
25.4 Constituency Code Definitions – Organizational Records 2
26 – Constituent Status Updates 8
26.1 Record Updates - Deceased 8
26.1.2 Deceased Scenario 1 – Deceased is the Spouse 9
26.1.3 Deceased Scenario 2 – Primary is Deceased Has No Spouse, or TP Has No Relationship with Surviving Spouse 10
26.1.4 Deceased Scenario 3 – Deceased Parents 12
26.1.5 Deceased Scenario 4 - Primary is a Deceased Friend of TP and Surviving Spouse Has a TP Relationship 13
26.1.6 Deceased Scenario 5 - Primary is an Deceased Alum, Trustee or Headmaster and Surviving Spouse Has a TP Relationship 15
26.2 Record Updates – Anonymous 18
26.3 Record Updates – Divorced/separated 19
26.3.1 Divorced/Separated Scenario 1 – Parents 19
26.3.2 Divorced/Separated Scenario 2 – Non-Parents where the spouse does not have a relationship with TP 21
26.3.3 Divorced/Separated Scenario 3 – Non-Parents where the spouse has a relationship with TP 22
26.4 Record Updates – Married 24
26.4 Record Updates - Inactive 25
27 – Contact Information & Updates 27
27.1 Contact Information Changes 27
27.2 Contact Info Deactivated by Donor Request 28
27.3 Addresses in Raiser’s Edge 29
27.3.1 Address Processing & Address Indicators 29
27.3.2 Address – Linked Address 29
27.3.3 Address – “Date To” and “Date From” 30
27.3.4 Address – Standard Types & Definitions 30
27.3.5 Address – Examples using Standard Types & Indicators 31
27.3.6 Address – Standard Format 32
27.3.7 Address – Updates 32
27.3.8 Address – Returned/LOST Addresses 35
27.3.9 Address – AddressFinder Maintenance Updates 37
27.4 Phone/Email in Raiser’s Edge 41
27.3.1 Phone/Email – Changes/Updates 41
27.3.2 Phone/Email – Invalid 42
28 – Constituent Merges 44
29 – Constituent Solicit Codes 49
29.1 Standard Solicit Code Types & Definitions 49
30 – Constituent Attributes 52
31 – Addressee & Salutations 54
31.0 Old Address/Salutations Key 54
31.1 Current Addressee/Salutations Key 56
31.2 Future Addressee/Salutations Key? 58
32 – Annual Database Updates 63
32.1.1 Annual Additions - Future Students 63
32.1.2 Annual Additions – New Post Graduate Students 64
32.1.3 Annual Additions - Withdrawn Students All Grades 65
32.1.4 Annual Additions – Parents of Withdrawn Students All Grades 67
32.1.5 Annual Additions - Future Parents 68
32.1.6 Annual Additions – New Faculty/Staff 69
32.2.1 Annual Rollover – Graduating Class Students & Parents, Graduates and Non-Graduates 70
33 – Gift Attributes 81
33.1 Special Gift Attributes
34 – Fundraising Structure - Campaigns, Funds, Appeals & Packages 87
34.1 Campaigns 88
34.2 Funds 88
34.3 Appeals & Packages 89
35 – Hard & Soft Credit Protocol 92
36 – Security and Backup Procedures 95
37 – End of Fiscal Year Turn Over Tasks 98
37.1 Last Batch/Normal Batch Tasks 98
37.2 Acknowledgement Letters 100
37.3 Last Adjustments 100
37.4 End of Year/ Normal Monthly Business Office Reports (24 total, 1 Summary and 1 Detail per type) 100
37.5 End of Year/ Normal Monthly Advancement Reports 101
37.6 Turn over GTBP Sheet 102
37.7 Move Recurring Gifts in Boost My School to The New FY Campaign 102
37.8 Start New Standard Batch to hold all gifts until Greenlighted 102
37.9 Create New FY Appeals & packages 102
37.10 Turn Over Batch Templates 103
37.11 Turn Over the Monthly Board Financials sheet 103
37.12 Turn over Reports Folders on the drive for new FY 103
37.13 Turn Over Filing Cabinets & Hard Files 103
37.14 Donor Honor Roll 104
37.14.1 Donor Honor Roll Reports 105
37.14.2 Send the Donor Honor Roll for Review 113
37.15 Annual Reporting 113
37.16 End of Fiscal Year Financial Audit 114
37.17 Annual Additions - Future Students 115
37.18 Annual Additions – New Post Graduate Students 116
37.19 Annual Additions - Withdrawn Students All Grades 117
37.20 Annual Additions – Parents of Withdrawn Students All Grades 119
37.21 Annual Additions - Future Parents 120
37.22 Annual Additions – New Faculty/Staff 121
37.23 Annual Rollover – Graduating Class Students & Parents, Graduates and Non-Graduates 121
38 – Glossary of Terms 130
38.1 Frequently Used Raiser’s Edge Terms 130
38.2 Gift Type Terms 135
38.3 Planned Giving Terms 136
39 - IRS Refrences On Tax-Exempt Organization Types 138
39.1 Exempt Organization Types 140
39.2 Private Foundations 140
39.3 Types of Foundations 142
39.3.1 Private Operating Foundation (POF) 142
39.3.2 Exempt Operating Foundation 143
39.3.3 Grant-making Foundation 143
39.4 EO Operational Requirements: Private Foundations and Public Charities 144
39.5 Donor-Advised Funds 144
39.6 Section 509 (a)(3) Charitable Trusts 146
39.7 Section 509 (a)(3) Supporting Organizations 146
39.7 Exempt Purposes - Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) 147
39.8 501(c)(3) Foundation Classifications – Public Charity Vs. Private Foundation 147
39.9 The Wonderful World of Foundation Classification 509 (a)(1) and 509 (a)(2) 148
39.9 Other Tax-Exempt Organizations 157
39.10 IRS Activity Codes / National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) Codes 159
Database Updates & Projects to Gift Data & Processing 270
FY24 2023-2024 271
Hard & Soft Credit Policy Project 2023 271
Gift Tribute Policy and Update of Records Project 2024 272
Classification of Organizational Consistency Codes & Organizational Gifts Protocols 2024 274
FY25 2024-2025 277
Address Processing, Address Type Standardization and Cleanup 2024 277
Constituent Demographic Updates Protocol Phase I 2024 279
Constituency Codes Definition and Reach Back Record Update Phase I 2024 281

Alex Wong

@Rachel Kauer
database admin from one org to another can differ greatly in roles and responsibilities. I suggest you get the DBA to write down what s/he does on daily/weekly/monthly/annually basis.

here are some of what RE dba may be responsible for

• user admin
• campaign, fund, appeal, package configuration and update
• mailing list, email list, general querying, exporting, reporting
• gift entry processing: import, batching, etc
• recurring gift processing (manual through dbview)
• constituent entry
• import new/update records
• table entry management
• donation form management: creation, modification
• event registration form management: creation, modification
• receipting and invoicing

Rachel Kauer

@Alex Wong

Thanks Alex! Good news is, I do 8/11 of these, so maybe this transition will be smoother than I hoped. I will start with trying to get a list of those tasks as suggested, thanks!

Would you happen to know if we need to contact Blackbaud to get any permissions etc. changed over for security/user admin functions when they leave?

JoAnn Strommen

@Rachel Kauer You/your org controls access to RE. Someone will need to mark DBA's account as inactive. Do Not Delete it. So that others can access any queries/exports/created by DBA that may be marked as DBA manage only, it would be to your advantage to get DBA password too so you can change it to one that you / new DBA can access/edit those pieces.

When we have a staff leave, especially those who were fairly short-term, I also ask what BB trainings/webinars they found the most helpful for their position.

(We also have a plan for a re-direct of their incoming emails.)

Austen Brown

@Rachel Kauer - If your DBA enters data according to a standard, make sure you have a copy of that. Also, if they've made any major decisions for tracking - get their notes around why that decision was made and the plan for other areas moving forward.

Dariel Dixon 2

@Rachel Kauer Make sure you do an exit interview to find what might be helpful for the next person, and what hinderances they encountered. It might be a hard conversation, but one that is necessary.

Joe Moretti 3

@Rachel Kauer Now this is something that should happen long before a DBA, but make sure you have a DBA Manual of all the various procedures, etc that this person does with instructions. Now every organization is different and the duties of the DBA will differ from one organization to another. This is a table of contents from a manual I created:

Contents

Section 1: OVERVIEW... 3

Accessing Raiser’s Edge. 3

Campaign, Funds & Appeals Overview.. 4

RE NXT Work Center. 8

Section 2: BEST PRACTICES. 21

Section 3: HOW TO.. 33

Looking up an individual or Organization. 33

Procedures for adding a new address and making the other former for Individuals. 34

Adding an individual with a business address only (no home address). 43

Procedures for adding contacts in an organization record. 48

Procedures for adding a new phone/email & making the other former. 51

Changing or updating phones/emails. 57

Adding a constituent with two last names and proper organization names by alpha. 58

Uploading documents to the media tab. 60

Creating proposals, actions & action reminders. 63

Solicit codes and other various coding. 78

Procedures for annual report listings – programmatic donors and others. 83

Procedures for annual report mailing. 84

Procedures for Legacy Society. 89

Procedures for estates & planned giving gifts. 92

Using the map feature in RE NXT to get a list of prospects in certain areas. 100

SECTION 4: REPORTS. 103

Weekly Reports Schedule. 103

Action Reports. 104

POP Reports (Opportunity/Proposal). 107

Weekly / Monthly Raised to Date Report. 108

SECTION 5: GIFT PROCEDURES. 116

How to Pull the Web Transaction Report. 116

How to Create a New Batch in Raiser’s Edge and Enter Gifts. 120

SECTION 6: FORMS. 150

Karen Stuhlfeier

@Rachel Kauer I agree with everything that everyone is saying, but I would add that as part of the exit interview find out why they wanted to move on. Many organizations treat the DBA role as a glorified admin postition. Find out what you did wrong as an organization and how you can make the role better for the next DBA.

Rachel Kauer

@Joe Moretti

Thank you! Fortunately the manual I made over the last year does cover all these topics. I'm starting to get the impression that I have been functionally doing the DBA role. I have really struggled to get current written processes for anything the “titled” DBA does. Nonetheless, thank you providing the example, as it affirms, other than security/user role management I might not have that much I need to ask for training on in the next two weeks.

Alan French

@Rachel Kauer as well as deactivating their RE user account, you may also need to go into the admin section of your Blackbaud account and make sure they no longer have access there as well

Christine Cooke 2

@Rachel Kauer
Seems pretty thorough from scanning through your list and the things mentioned by others.

Did not spot anything about logins and passwords in regards to subscriptions, memberships, other orgs (matching gift company sites). Be sure to get all of those collected, because the point of contact will need to be changed. And if you have not already, I suggest a department email that multiple people receive so that when someone leaves or something happens, more than one person gets the notification(s).

Rachel Kauer

@Christine Cooke

Oh good call! Thank you for that suggestion, that is absolutely something I didn't think of, they still are the main log in for many of those sites.

Melissa Anderson 6

@Rachel Kauer
Have you thought about going to the DBA's supervisor to ask what they report out on? Your list looks pretty comprehensive. Since it seems you do not have a lot of data entry people and you do most of it, there isn't a lot of maintenance that is required to correct any data entry issues. User management, data entry, and reporting are all the basic components of any DBA and you do all but the first.