Proposals and Gifts - Linking Solicitors

Options
Teresa Goddard
Teresa Goddard ✭
Ancient Membership First Reply
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion

Happy Monday to everyone.  I've done a lot of searching and test exporting of data related to how solicitors get linked to gift and proposals.  My conclusion is that solicitors are automatically linked to gifts based on assigned solicitor relationship.  However, it links ALL assigned solicitors to a gift, not just one.  I have also not found anything in a Business Rule to default a particular solicitor type on a gift.

 My other research deals with reporting on funded proposals and the solicitors linked to the proposal.  It appears that there is no criteria on the export side of RE to export the solicitor attached to a proposal.

While we have multiple solicitors assigned in Relationships, only 1 or 2 of those solicitors could be linked to a proposal.  I need to write metric reports specific to solicitor success and I'm not convinced the canned reports will give me anything close to what I need.

I'm trying not to make gift entry a nightmare on which solicitor needs to be attached to a gift based on the current proposal.  How in the world am I going to be able to do that?????

Tagged:

Comments

  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Teresa Goddard:

    Happy Monday to everyone.  I've done a lot of searching and test exporting of data related to how solicitors get linked to gift and proposals.  My conclusion is that solicitors are automatically linked to gifts based on assigned solicitor relationship.  However, it links ALL assigned solicitors to a gift, not just one.  I have also not found anything in a Business Rule to default a particular solicitor type on a gift.

     My other research deals with reporting on funded proposals and the solicitors linked to the proposal.  It appears that there is no criteria on the export side of RE to export the solicitor attached to a proposal.

    While we have multiple solicitors assigned in Relationships, only 1 or 2 of those solicitors could be linked to a proposal.  I need to write metric reports specific to solicitor success and I'm not convinced the canned reports will give me anything close to what I need.

    I'm trying not to make gift entry a nightmare on which solicitor needs to be attached to a gift based on the current proposal.  How in the world am I going to be able to do that?????

    We don't have prospect module. My experience in RE has been that it is the solictors for the specific fund (where we make our solicitor assignments) that are linked to the gift.  When we assigned solicitors by appeal, those solicitors assigned for the appeal were linked.  So not necessarily 'all' solicitors on the record but those with that specific assignment.  I like that in batch if my fund field precedes the assigned solicitor field, the solicitor field will auto fill with appropriate solicitor(s). 

    Does it possibly work the same way with prospect module?  Sorry, don't know more about that module.

  • Melissa Graves 2
    Melissa Graves 2 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2
    Teresa Goddard:

    Happy Monday to everyone.  I've done a lot of searching and test exporting of data related to how solicitors get linked to gift and proposals.  My conclusion is that solicitors are automatically linked to gifts based on assigned solicitor relationship.  However, it links ALL assigned solicitors to a gift, not just one.  I have also not found anything in a Business Rule to default a particular solicitor type on a gift.

     My other research deals with reporting on funded proposals and the solicitors linked to the proposal.  It appears that there is no criteria on the export side of RE to export the solicitor attached to a proposal.

    While we have multiple solicitors assigned in Relationships, only 1 or 2 of those solicitors could be linked to a proposal.  I need to write metric reports specific to solicitor success and I'm not convinced the canned reports will give me anything close to what I need.

    I'm trying not to make gift entry a nightmare on which solicitor needs to be attached to a gift based on the current proposal.  How in the world am I going to be able to do that?????

    I am with Joann - I think this depends on how you are setting up your assigned solicitors. If you say that a solcitor is only for X campaign then when you enter gifts to that campaign only that solicitor should be automatically entered - same for fund and appeal codes. You do need to fill in the campaign fund and appeal fields before getting to the solicitor field in batch but it should work this way.

    I can't say with 100% certainty but I think also that if you link the proposal to the gift as soon as you start (possibly even before entering campaign fund and appeal) then the campaign and fund and solicitor should be brought over from the proposal. Is this not working that way for you?

  • Teresa Goddard
    Teresa Goddard ✭
    Ancient Membership First Reply
    Melissa Graves:

    I am with Joann - I think this depends on how you are setting up your assigned solicitors. If you say that a solcitor is only for X campaign then when you enter gifts to that campaign only that solicitor should be automatically entered - same for fund and appeal codes. You do need to fill in the campaign fund and appeal fields before getting to the solicitor field in batch but it should work this way.

    I can't say with 100% certainty but I think also that if you link the proposal to the gift as soon as you start (possibly even before entering campaign fund and appeal) then the campaign and fund and solicitor should be brought over from the proposal. Is this not working that way for you?

    We are assigning solicitors directly on relationships under Assigned Solicitor.  We are not breaking down by campaign or fund.  It is a general 'who is in charge' of the prospect.  Also, if there is a primary or secondary solicitor, we set those up as a different solicitor type under assigned solicitors.

    One prospect can have 3 or 4 assigned solicitors.  Under Prospect tab and proposals, we assign one of those solicitors to the proposal just as we do when entering an action.

    In Gift Batch, I have added Solicitor to the gift entry template.  When I enter a gift in a test batch, all of the solicitors default into the gift separated by semi colons.  I've noticed, though, that before the entire gift is entered in batch mode, it DOES ask how much to credit to each solicitor for the gift.  That is encouraging.

    My hope I guess was that in building an export to use in a custom report, I would be able to export data from the proposal on the solicitor that was credited with the proposal.  I'm finding that in building the export, there are very few choices under the Proposal menu for criteria or solicitor. 

     I will definitely test the linking of the proposal first before the gift batch is started.  That may be the 'missing link' that I've been stressing over for the past week.

    Thanks!!!

  • Melissa Graves 2
    Melissa Graves 2 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2
    Teresa Goddard:

    We are assigning solicitors directly on relationships under Assigned Solicitor.  We are not breaking down by campaign or fund.  It is a general 'who is in charge' of the prospect.  Also, if there is a primary or secondary solicitor, we set those up as a different solicitor type under assigned solicitors.

    One prospect can have 3 or 4 assigned solicitors.  Under Prospect tab and proposals, we assign one of those solicitors to the proposal just as we do when entering an action.

    In Gift Batch, I have added Solicitor to the gift entry template.  When I enter a gift in a test batch, all of the solicitors default into the gift separated by semi colons.  I've noticed, though, that before the entire gift is entered in batch mode, it DOES ask how much to credit to each solicitor for the gift.  That is encouraging.

    My hope I guess was that in building an export to use in a custom report, I would be able to export data from the proposal on the solicitor that was credited with the proposal.  I'm finding that in building the export, there are very few choices under the Proposal menu for criteria or solicitor. 

     I will definitely test the linking of the proposal first before the gift batch is started.  That may be the 'missing link' that I've been stressing over for the past week.

    Thanks!!!

    I hope that works for you. Having multiple solicitors who are not assigned based on campaigns or funds must be very confusing.

  • Teresa Goddard
    Teresa Goddard ✭
    Ancient Membership First Reply
    Teresa Goddard:

    We are assigning solicitors directly on relationships under Assigned Solicitor.  We are not breaking down by campaign or fund.  It is a general 'who is in charge' of the prospect.  Also, if there is a primary or secondary solicitor, we set those up as a different solicitor type under assigned solicitors.

    One prospect can have 3 or 4 assigned solicitors.  Under Prospect tab and proposals, we assign one of those solicitors to the proposal just as we do when entering an action.

    In Gift Batch, I have added Solicitor to the gift entry template.  When I enter a gift in a test batch, all of the solicitors default into the gift separated by semi colons.  I've noticed, though, that before the entire gift is entered in batch mode, it DOES ask how much to credit to each solicitor for the gift.  That is encouraging.

    My hope I guess was that in building an export to use in a custom report, I would be able to export data from the proposal on the solicitor that was credited with the proposal.  I'm finding that in building the export, there are very few choices under the Proposal menu for criteria or solicitor. 

     I will definitely test the linking of the proposal first before the gift batch is started.  That may be the 'missing link' that I've been stressing over for the past week.

    Thanks!!!

    I just figured out that when a gift is entered, it will bring in the assigned solicitors.  Then, when the proposal is linked to that gift, if the solicitors are different, it will ask if the proposal should be updated with the solicitor(s) from the gift.  Hmmmmm, I kind of wish it was the other way around.  If it updates the gift solicitors from the proposal, then that would make my life a bit easier and so would gift entry.

    Test, test, and then test some more.

  • Teresa Goddard
    Teresa Goddard ✭
    Ancient Membership First Reply
    Melissa Graves:

    I hope that works for you. Having multiple solicitors who are not assigned based on campaigns or funds must be very confusing.

    Thanks, Melissa. Ha!  Now you've got me thinkin' and thinkin'. .  . . . . . we have been tracking solicitors, actions, and now proposals.  With prospect and moves mgmt being somewhat new I'm building the process based on past experience with another system at another college.

    We have 14 regions throughout the state.  If one of those regions is in a major gift or capital campaign that spans multiple years, how would you break that down by FY?  Just on date range within the campaign code?  I ask this because even though a region may have a $10m goal for an overall campaign lasting 5 years, they will still have a FY goal to meet budget . . . . . . .

    With our 14 regions, I think 10-12 of them will be in full blown campaign by July-August.  YUP - Loads of fun managing all the campaign codes, solicitors, proposals and such.

  • Ethel Bernal
    Ethel Bernal ✭
    Ancient Membership First Reply
    Teresa Goddard:

    Thanks, Melissa. Ha!  Now you've got me thinkin' and thinkin'. .  . . . . . we have been tracking solicitors, actions, and now proposals.  With prospect and moves mgmt being somewhat new I'm building the process based on past experience with another system at another college.

    We have 14 regions throughout the state.  If one of those regions is in a major gift or capital campaign that spans multiple years, how would you break that down by FY?  Just on date range within the campaign code?  I ask this because even though a region may have a $10m goal for an overall campaign lasting 5 years, they will still have a FY goal to meet budget . . . . . . .

    With our 14 regions, I think 10-12 of them will be in full blown campaign by July-August.  YUP - Loads of fun managing all the campaign codes, solicitors, proposals and such.

    Hi Teresa, I realize this thread is old, but did you ever figure out which is the best way to do it? We have the same problem here. For now, linking the gift to the proposal seems to work, but my colleague suggested not to have solicitors on the gift in the first place. Thanks, ~Ethel Bernal
  • Melissa Graves 3
    Melissa Graves 3 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Ethel Bernal:
    Hi Teresa, I realize this thread is old, but did you ever figure out which is the best way to do it? We have the same problem here. For now, linking the gift to the proposal seems to work, but my colleague suggested not to have solicitors on the gift in the first place. Thanks, ~Ethel Bernal
    Why would anyone suggest not having solicitors on gifts?
  • Ethel Bernal
    Ethel Bernal ✭
    Ancient Membership First Reply
    Melissa Graves:
    Why would anyone suggest not having solicitors on gifts?
    Sorry for the delay response. She was suggesting it since the gift solicitors is typically pulling all solicitors from the Constituent record not specifically to the proposal. Our problem is similar to Teresa's.
  • Melissa Graves 3
    Melissa Graves 3 ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Teresa Goddard:

    Thanks, Melissa. Ha!  Now you've got me thinkin' and thinkin'. .  . . . . . we have been tracking solicitors, actions, and now proposals.  With prospect and moves mgmt being somewhat new I'm building the process based on past experience with another system at another college.

    We have 14 regions throughout the state.  If one of those regions is in a major gift or capital campaign that spans multiple years, how would you break that down by FY?  Just on date range within the campaign code?  I ask this because even though a region may have a $10m goal for an overall campaign lasting 5 years, they will still have a FY goal to meet budget . . . . . . .

    With our 14 regions, I think 10-12 of them will be in full blown campaign by July-August.  YUP - Loads of fun managing all the campaign codes, solicitors, proposals and such.

    Teresa - do those regions and/or campaigns have codes in RE that relate to campaigns or funds? If not, why not? If a solicitor is assigned only for a region or a campaign then add that to the solicitor assignment. Only if you have a single overall solicitor/primary relationship manager would you want to leave campaign/fund blank. If 4 people are assigned to a prospect, they are not all asking for the same type of gifts. Maybe you need to rethink your campaigns to make this work better for you.

Categories