Spouse Records in Raiser's Edge

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Laura Rogers
Laura Rogers ✭
Ancient Membership Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Hello, I know this is a topic of debate but I was hoping to get some further insight from other organizations. For the most part we keep spouse records together, and never give a spouse a separate record unless they make a gift that they do not want associated with their spouse. However, we have some constituents who are board members and their spouse serves on a committee and is very active in the organization, in this case many of them have their own records. However the danger in that is that it's easy to place a note, action, etc on the wrong record. Additionally it has caused some confusion in list pulling, etc. Board member spouses appearing on lists that we wouldn't want them on. We are leaning toward getting rid of the separate record for a spouse even if they are very involved in the organization. Are there any other organizations that have moved toward this? Or never make a separate record under any circumstances, have their been drawbacks? Thank you for your feedback!!
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  • Melissa Graves 2
    Melissa Graves 2 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2
    Meredith Lynch:
    Hello, I know this is a topic of debate but I was hoping to get some further insight from other organizations. For the most part we keep spouse records together, and never give a spouse a separate record unless they make a gift that they do not want associated with their spouse. However, we have some constituents who are board members and their spouse serves on a committee and is very active in the organization, in this case many of them have their own records. However the danger in that is that it's easy to place a note, action, etc on the wrong record. Additionally it has caused some confusion in list pulling, etc. Board member spouses appearing on lists that we wouldn't want them on. We are leaning toward getting rid of the separate record for a spouse even if they are very involved in the organization. Are there any other organizations that have moved toward this? Or never make a separate record under any circumstances, have their been drawbacks? Thank you for your feedback!!

    There are drawbacks to both scenarios - you need to weigh them. If you go to pull your active volunteers and your board member (and not the spouse) shows on the wrong list, what then?

    Have you instituted a business rule pop-up yet? One that warns you that you are on a non Head of Household record and should NOT enter notes, proposals, etc. on such records?

    Do you remember to query properly to exclude not only board members but their spouses? If you have board member as a constituent code you can query on the spouse constituent code as well as the primary one.

    You need to limit querying and reporting to those who can handle the intricacies of it. Either scenario can cause someone to report incorrectly if they do so without training and understanding of your policies.

  • Nancy Ross
    Nancy Ross ✭
    Ancient Membership First Reply
    Meredith Lynch:
    Hello, I know this is a topic of debate but I was hoping to get some further insight from other organizations. For the most part we keep spouse records together, and never give a spouse a separate record unless they make a gift that they do not want associated with their spouse. However, we have some constituents who are board members and their spouse serves on a committee and is very active in the organization, in this case many of them have their own records. However the danger in that is that it's easy to place a note, action, etc on the wrong record. Additionally it has caused some confusion in list pulling, etc. Board member spouses appearing on lists that we wouldn't want them on. We are leaning toward getting rid of the separate record for a spouse even if they are very involved in the organization. Are there any other organizations that have moved toward this? Or never make a separate record under any circumstances, have their been drawbacks? Thank you for your feedback!!

    We have constituents who are board members and their spouses on committees.  We keep the spouse records together and use specific Addressees/Salutations to address the appropriate individual or couple based on the criteria.  We are selecting the recipients via a query and then using Export to produce the list.  In the Export once you have selected the Address and/or Salutation click the Format button and the select the appropriate specific address i.e. Board Member Addressee.  You won't need to worry about the Head of Household processing.  For us,it's okay that there may be two separate Notes or Actions in the same record for the same event/meeting.  These separate Notes or Actions would be differentiated somehow to show one was for the board member and the other was for the committee member.

    Nancy Ross

    Gift Operations Coordinator, Indian River Medical Center Foundation

    Vero Beach FL

  • Melissa Graves 2
    Melissa Graves 2 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2
    Nancy Ross:

    We have constituents who are board members and their spouses on committees.  We keep the spouse records together and use specific Addressees/Salutations to address the appropriate individual or couple based on the criteria.  We are selecting the recipients via a query and then using Export to produce the list.  In the Export once you have selected the Address and/or Salutation click the Format button and the select the appropriate specific address i.e. Board Member Addressee.  You won't need to worry about the Head of Household processing.  For us,it's okay that there may be two separate Notes or Actions in the same record for the same event/meeting.  These separate Notes or Actions would be differentiated somehow to show one was for the board member and the other was for the committee member.

    Nancy Ross

    Gift Operations Coordinator, Indian River Medical Center Foundation

    Vero Beach FL

    But if you have the volunteer module or the like - not having a record for the spouse makes coding them as a volunteer impossible. If you mark the board member as the one who volunteered then reporting will be all FUBARed.

    Each organization, depending on the extra modules they have, the type of data they have, and the type of reporting they expect to do, will have to make this decision themselves.

  • Nicole S
    Nicole S ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 3 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Melissa Graves:

    But if you have the volunteer module or the like - not having a record for the spouse makes coding them as a volunteer impossible. If you mark the board member as the one who volunteered then reporting will be all FUBARed.

    Each organization, depending on the extra modules they have, the type of data they have, and the type of reporting they expect to do, will have to make this decision themselves.

     We are using BBNC and the event module, and find that we are add more separate records.  Sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. Events will not let you link non-constituent records - so you have to manually enter a spouse for each event - PAIN!  And BBNC ignores business rules so new records are often made for spouses making gifts or registering for events.

     I have found though, that once a separate records is made I try to just keep it that way.  I have tried merging and getting rid of the second record on to find that another one is created later - endless cycle.  Like I said, we use BBNC and events and this could be the cause.  If a spouse often comes to events or both spouses make gifts online... eventually the record is going to be made again. 

  • Tracie Cassidy
    Tracie Cassidy ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Meredith Lynch:
    Hello, I know this is a topic of debate but I was hoping to get some further insight from other organizations. For the most part we keep spouse records together, and never give a spouse a separate record unless they make a gift that they do not want associated with their spouse. However, we have some constituents who are board members and their spouse serves on a committee and is very active in the organization, in this case many of them have their own records. However the danger in that is that it's easy to place a note, action, etc on the wrong record. Additionally it has caused some confusion in list pulling, etc. Board member spouses appearing on lists that we wouldn't want them on. We are leaning toward getting rid of the separate record for a spouse even if they are very involved in the organization. Are there any other organizations that have moved toward this? Or never make a separate record under any circumstances, have their been drawbacks? Thank you for your feedback!!

    Meredith - We are an org that keeps our records together. As Melissa & others have stated, you have to weigh all your options. There are pros & cons to doing it both ways. We have LOTS of workarounds for our Membership & Volunteer modules. And many custom crystal reports; most of the canned reports don't work of us. We also use additional add/sals to identify Board Members. We keep the person closest to us, regardless if it's the husband or wife, as the Primary Constituent. It's becoming more problematic as we use BBNC for event registrations. We'd LOVE to split them up, but until BB solves the spouse soft credit issues we don't feel we can successfully.

  • Eileen Fitzpatrick
    Eileen Fitzpatrick ✭
    Tenth Anniversary First Reply
    I'm so happy to find this post.  I'm new to BBNC and I'm trying to anticpate how to set up records for an event.  As I'm adding codes I learned I can't add the same code to a spouse record as I can to the primary whether using constituency codes or attributes.  Both primary and spouse may be members of a group or sometimes only the spouse is the member.  Creating a new record has cause for concern since we mail to the couple and I want to keep giving history on one record.  Soft crediting just opens another set of problems when it not's done consistently. UGH!   Let's just say misery loves company. Hopefully there will be an answer some day.
  • Kathryn Hardi 2
    Kathryn Hardi 2 ✭
    Ninth Anniversary First Reply
    I'm finding myself creating individual records for multiple spouses lately. My reasoning for that is because there have been a lot of development department actions that apply to only one part of a couple. For example Mary is a relationship record to John Smith, but then Mary attends an event solo or my development director sends an email to just Mary. I don't want the actions tab of John filled with actions that apply to only Mary so I create a record for Mary.

    Is this consistent with what other people are doing? It seems like a lot of people keep spouses together instead of creating individual records. If that is what you do, what is your precedure in instances like this?


    Thanks!!
  • shani traum
    shani traum ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper May 2023 Monthly Challenge
    We do something similar.  There is a single record until there is a reason to create a seperate record for the spouse - an event or connection that is uniquely the spouse's. 


    So Jane Smith has a record because she serves on our Board, and her husband is a non-constituent relationship.  At some point, he comes to an event - he gets his own record.  Or his mother moves into one of our housing sites - he gets his own record as he is now a "Family Member". Or our gift officers reach out directly to him, etc...


    And I agree that actions (contacts) should be placed on the record of the individual with whom they occurred. 
  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Yes, many cases require separate records.  It would be nice if it were handled better in RE but until then...  Ditto what Shani said on placing actions/contacts/notes/relationship info what ever it is on the record of the appropriate person.  When they're combined, sooner or later in my opinion it leads to confusion.
  • Gina Gerhard
    Gina Gerhard ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 3 Photogenic
    Maybe someone with RE NXT could respond, but I thought NXT was going to think of records differently -- as consolidated households -- which would include both spouses and also the children and others that are part of the household.


    Does anyone know more about this?
  • Karen Stuhlfeier
    Karen Stuhlfeier ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 3 Name Dropper Photogenic
    The records in NXT are still separate, but it is easier to view the relationships. A constituent's record is on one page without having to open up a lot of tabs. If you haven't seen NXT yet look for a demo that you can watch. 

     
  • Gina Gerhard
    Gina Gerhard ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 3 Photogenic
    Karen - 


    So just curious, when you do a mailing is there still HOH processing -- or is there something else in place that will consolidate all constituents identified as living in the same household and send out only one mailing?
  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Gina Gerhard:

    Karen - 


    So just curious, when you do a mailing is there still HOH processing -- or is there something else in place that will consolidate all constituents identified as living in the same household and send out only one mailing?

    Mail, most of Query, Export, Admin, Config, Batch, etc. are still all functions that are done from RE:7, not yet available in NXT.  So there is still the same HOH processing.  For now.

  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    I do most of our mailings, etc. outside of RE, and we Import Appeal/Event tags for everyone, even those who are pulled from the list (so that if there's a question later, it's recorded in RE that we did not mail the appeal or invitation, and usually a reason why).  So I fixed this problem with an Attribute.


    Robert Hernandez, ConstID 4567891 has an Attribute of Secondary Record: Head of Household: hoh4567891+sec4567892

    Wendy Hernandez, ConstID 4567892 has Secondary Record: Secondary: hoh4567891+sec4567892


    If Wendy uses her maiden name instead of Robert's surname, the Attribute Descriptions would be HOH-Different Lastname and Secondary-Different Lastname.


    With this system, I can sort by the Attribute Comment, and regardless of the lastnames (even if they're the same and something like Smith or Jones), they'll sort right next to one another.  With the second line of Sort as the Description, you can put all the HOH records first, followed by the SecRecs.  Then I check for any secondary records without the HOH record on the list (it's rare, but happens) and put the secondary records in the DNM package of the appeal.


    It's a bit complicated, but it works for me, and it provides information that is useful outside of RE, where HOH processing isn't available if you don't/can't use it on the Export.
  • Karen Stuhlfeier
    Karen Stuhlfeier ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 3 Name Dropper Photogenic
    She asked me the question Jen. You could give someone else a chance to answer the question instead of always jumping right in :)
  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Karen Stuhlfeier:

    She asked me the question Jen. You could give someone else a chance to answer the question instead of always jumping right in :)

    My apologies, Karen.

  • Stephanie Mangafakis
    Stephanie Mangafakis ✭
    Tenth Anniversary First Reply

    Tracie Cassidy:

    Meredith Lynch:

    Hello, I know this is a topic of debate but I was hoping to get some further insight from other organizations. For the most part we keep spouse records together, and never give a spouse a separate record unless they make a gift that they do not want associated with their spouse. However, we have some constituents who are board members and their spouse serves on a committee and is very active in the organization, in this case many of them have their own records. However the danger in that is that it's easy to place a note, action, etc on the wrong record. Additionally it has caused some confusion in list pulling, etc. Board member spouses appearing on lists that we wouldn't want them on. We are leaning toward getting rid of the separate record for a spouse even if they are very involved in the organization. Are there any other organizations that have moved toward this? Or never make a separate record under any circumstances, have their been drawbacks? Thank you for your feedback!!
     

    Meredith - We are an org that keeps our records together. As Melissa & others have stated, you have to weigh all your options. There are pros & cons to doing it both ways. We have LOTS of workarounds for our Membership & Volunteer modules. And many custom crystal reports; most of the canned reports don't work of us. We also use additional add/sals to identify Board Members. We keep the person closest to us, regardless if it's the husband or wife, as the Primary Constituent. It's becoming more problematic as we use BBNC for event registrations. We'd LOVE to split them up, but until BB solves the spouse soft credit issues we don't feel we can successfully.

     

    Hi, I work for a non-profit children's museum and work in R.E. I was wondering if you could explain the BB soft credit issue? Also this is an issue I have pondered, some spouses have separate records and some don't. Because of our programs and committees some have to have separate records. I am trying to sort out all kinds of issues because many people have put data into the system inconsistenly..

    Stephanie

     

  • Faith Murray
    Faith Murray ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    We typically do not create new records for Constituent spouses, with one exception in the case of a deceased Alumnus who is survived by his/her spouse (in this case we create a spouse record so that Alumni information is retained in the proper record). We do not use the Volunteer module, but we do use Events. Typically, we have found Events not to be too big of a hassle; we just enter the spouse name manually. Perhaps if we had larger events (most of ours seat under 600 people), we might feel differently about the manual entry. As far as online event registration, we use OLX, not NetCommunity, and OLX does allow you to link to the primary constituent's record as long as you use flexible search criteria and opt not to update the constituent name while downloading the gift. However, it then enters the gift under the constituent's name in the Event module, and we have to adjust it manually to the spouse. To us, this small amount of adjusting is worth it to avoid the hassles of soft credits.


    In the case of a spouse Board Member, I use Attributes to record Board & Committee members, largely because we have so many committees and boards, lol. So if the spouse is the board member, and not the primary constituent, I record it in the Attribute Comments which allows for accurate Querying. If we used Mail more we would also institute a special salutation type for Board member mailings.
  • Jill Freidmutter
    Jill Freidmutter ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2 Photogenic
    I just discovered something about spouses that I didn't know before. In our database, at some point in the past, spouses were given separate records. A few years later, some were connected via the spousal relationship. In the pre-'spousal relationship' years, spouse donations appeared only in their individual record. After they were joined as spouses, each received a soft credit for the other's donations. Now I am trying to get household lifetime donations, and it's a bit of a mess. 


    Because I want donor advisors to be credited for foundation gifts when calculating lifetime giving, the query I am using gives soft credits to both. But for spouses mentioned above, only looking at the head of household (HOH) total misses the individual contributions for the non-HOH spouse. Adding the two together double counts the soft credits.


    Since I am only doing this for top 100 donors, I'm manually finding and resolving these for now. "Solutions" that I see: 

    1. Merge spouses where appropriate.

    2. or Apply soft credits to pre-'spousal merge' gifts.

    3. or Export with columns for Spouse, Relationships, Individuals, "This Individual Is The Head of Household" and "This Individual Is The Spouse". Manipulate in Excel. 

    4. or Give the soft credit to the recipient. Sum the two spouses Livetime Giving into the couple's Lifetime Giving.


    It's complicated...

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