Split Gifts Repeating in First Gift Query

Aldera Chisholm 2 · November 2019

So, right off - I'm aware of how awful split gifts are with reporting in general and the challenges with exporting etc.

But this is a new one for me. I've started at a new org that does A LOT of split gifts. I need to get a list of individuals whose First Gift was to a specific event (this event is tracked as an appeal.) So, I'm using a constituent query and searching for First Gift equals date range x and appeal x. Seems easy enough, and something I've done often in the past.

Turns out every gift to this event/appeal combo was a split gift. So I'm getting each constituent twice. But since it's a constituent query, shouldn't they still only show up once? I am 99% sure I didn't have this challenge at my old org, so am wondering if there is something wonky in setup that I'm missing?

I can then just save that query to a list, and then I know exactly how many are unique, but this seems odd to me. Would appreciate any advice!

Austen Brown · November 2019

Hi Aldera Chisholm‍ - Because the system considers split gifts to be multiple gifts listed in one gift record, the system will list the constituent for each iteration of a split. I would recommend that you take the query created and run it through an Export with a field for first gift - utilize a split gift amount field (i.e. Appeal Split Gift Amount) so that the export gives you the correct number based on the particular appeal you are reporting on. In general, I run queries through exports when producing reports that rely on gift numbers/amounts as there is much more customization available through export than query.

Aldera Chisholm 2 · November 2019

I'm not actually outputting any of the gift information, for that, I absolutely agree that exports are the only way to go!

In this case, my only output is the Constituent ID. The reason I'm finding it so odd is that it is giving multiple Constituent ID's for the split gifts, which is something I haven't seen in the past when running Constituent Queries where there is no gift information in the output. (Gift Queries, yes, but in this case it's a Constituent Query and one that I've been using for this exact scenario for years.)

Because the only info I need is the number of constituents, it's easy to just save it as a Query List to get that magic number of constituents, but it's more just puzzling.

Dariel Dixon 2 · November 2019

I have no idea is this would work to fix the problem, but maybe using a summary field and using the other information as filters on that summary. Like total number of gifts is greater than 0 and have the Fund and Appeal information as filters.

Rachel Cavalier · November 2019

If it's a constituent query and you only want each constituent to show up once, what about Tools > Query Options > Record Processing and check the "Suppress duplicate rows" on the query?

Aldera Chisholm 2 · November 2019

Dariel, I will give that a shot, thanks. I always forget about using Summary in Criteria.

Dariel Dixon:

I have no idea is this would work to fix the problem, but maybe using a summary field and using the other information as filters on that summary. Like total number of gifts is greater than 0 and have the Fund and Appeal information as filters.

Aldera Chisholm 2 · November 2019

Yes, that is on --- hmm I am starting to think there may be a system glitch (or maybe something unusual in the way the gifts were set up) so maybe I will drop a quick note to support.

Rachel Cavalier:

If it's a constituent query and you only want each constituent to show up once, what about Tools > Query Options > Record Processing and check the "Suppress duplicate rows" on the query?

John Heizer · November 2019

Consider making it a Static Query and see how many records are saved.

Split Gifts Repeating in First Gift Query

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