NetCommunity overrides RE record when linking non-constituent (ie spouse) relationship

Hi Lindsy,


That's a great question. Just to clarify, are you processing these gifts in RE using the NetCommunity section/portal? Like going into RE, clicking on NetCommunity, going to Donations (or Memberships or one of those sections), processing each transaction, then going into a Batch to finish up? Or are you doing something else?


If you are going through NetCommunity and touching each transaction, then I may have an idea for you.


Just to make sure we're on the same page, I'm just going to describe what I'm seeing in RE (so apologies in advance if it takes me a minute to get to the point). When I go into NetCommunity and bring up Donations, I see information for each Donor. Like you described, I have to find a constituent in RE to link this donation to or I need to make a new constituent record.


Just focusing on Linking Constituents. Once I've found a constituent to link to, I can open that constituent's record to get more information. This may be how I discovered that the donor is the non-constituent spouse of an existing RE constituent. So let's say that I choose to Link the constituents in this case.


When I click on the "Link Constituent" - "Choose Selected Constituent" drop-down option, I am shown a window with information from the current donation that does not match the existing constituent's record. NetCommunity shows me "New Values" that do not match the "Raiser's Edge Value." Do you see that window?


It might say for Street Address:

• New Value is 123 Main St.
• Raiser's Edge Value is 123 Main Street

Or in your specific case, let's say John Smith made a donation. In our search, we discover John Smith is the non-constituent spouse of Karen Smith. Let's say you choose to link these records. I would expect that you should see for First Name:

• New Value is John
• Raiser's Edge Value is Karen

There's a column on the left called "Process?" with check boxes. If I uncheck a box, then I can keep the existing Raiser's Edge Value and not override with the new information from the BBNC transaction. Using the First Name example from above, I would uncheck the box for First Name and choose to keep constituent record as Karen's. I may also want to uncheck "Title" from Mr. so it stays as Ms. or Mrs., if that's the case. So I’ll uncheck the boxes I where I want to keep my current data and I’ll leave the other boxes checked where I want override with the new information. Then I'll click "Save and Close." A window pops-up that says that I ignored some updates for this transaction. And it asks "Do you wish to reject the remaining updates?" And I will hit "Yes."


That should allow you to link records without having to fix names afterward. One advantage to going this route, versus making the non-constituent spouse an actual constituent, is that it keeps all the household's gifts together on one record. Instead of splitting some gifts between Karen and some on John's record. But that depends a lot of your organization's policies as well as how you create your reports. What matters is making sure you're entering data consistently and in-line with your internal data standards.


If you have any questions or if I didn't describe something very clearly, please let me know. I'm happy to help.


Chris


 

When doing bulk processing pay special attention to the Option Tab.

There you will find checkboxes that default to over-writing existing RE values. Even after carefully touching each record and choosing what to change.

Also the button at the bottom does not process as I expected. Had to go back to the previous page to select process.

I understand that theoretically the constituent is the best source for data about them, I do get frustrated that 

everything defaults to over-writing my 9 digit zip codes and USPS compliant abbreviations with CAPS LOCK ugliness.