Third Party Events as Constituents or other tracking?

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Angie Stumpo
Angie Stumpo ✭
Ancient Membership Facilitator 2 Photogenic
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
We have a very robust third-party event program. We have upwards of 150 events each year, and many are repeats every year. We have always tracked these events by appeals. We have been considering adding these events as organization constituents so we can better track contacts and possibly total giving through the use of soft credits. Right now, a lot of this information lives in spreadsheets outside of RE and we would love to have it integrated. Does anyone else track third-party events this way? Any drawbacks to creating an event as a constituent so we can track all the necessary info on a record? Thanks for your insight!
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  • Matt Page
    Matt Page ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Photogenic

    Angie Stumpo:

    We have a very robust third-party event program. We have upwards of 150 events each year, and many are repeats every year. We have always tracked these events by appeals. We have been considering adding these events as organization constituents so we can better track contacts and possibly total giving through the use of soft credits. Right now, a lot of this information lives in spreadsheets outside of RE and we would love to have it integrated. Does anyone else track third-party events this way? Any drawbacks to creating an event as a constituent so we can track all the necessary info on a record? Thanks for your insight!

    WHen yo usay "third-party event program" do you mean events that another organisation / community group / individual runs themselves and give you the money? If so we sort of do that (as in have the name of the group as a organisational constituent). Essentially we set up each group and then the gifts are linked to/given through them.


    Matt

  • Joy park
    Joy park ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    One thing I will suggest is, NEVER create an Event as an Organizational Constituent Record.  Just... don't.  It will create so much chaos in your reporting!  I have an Event saved this way in our RE from 8 years ago. I am cleaning up the Event and Gift Records right now in my "spare time"  and yeah.... just don't do it.  


    If you don't have an Indv. Constituent Record of "Anonymous Anonymous", create one.  Use that record for all the random "anon" stuff you end up recording at events:  $100 at the business card draw, $1500 at the drink bar, $238.13 in donation boxes", etc.  


    I would say KEEP using your Appeal codes  and maybe look at using Packages within Appeal.  Then you could have Appeal = Summer BBQ Events and you can use the Package codes to describe:  CORP Event, Indv. Event, whatever category you need them to be.  This could work for marathons too.  Appeal = Summer Marathon; Package: 10km, 5km, Kids Run, whatever....


    I would add Constituent Records ONLY IF these are the direct contacts: i.e., Bonnie's Pie Oven holds an annual bakesale to the tune of $1500 every May.  

    Mrs. Bonnie White is your Primary Contact, the Org. Constituent Record to record gifts under would be Bonnie's Pie Oven.  

    If you don't have direct contacts and these are vague collection drives or you don't really know WHOM, I would stick with "Anonymous Anonymous" as the Constituent to record gifts to the "2017 Pie Oven Bake-Off!".


    I hope that makes sense.... we are the Charity of Choice for over 100 community-based events each year so we definitely needed a solution that would give us easy reporting options! 

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