How do I make a constituent my primary contact at an organization?

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Elizabeth Aldous
Elizabeth Aldous
Tenth Anniversary First Reply
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Our organization recently transitioned to using Raiser's Edge, so we've been doing some data clean-up. In some of the organization records we have, there are 3 individual constituents linked to the record. They are all employees of the organization, however I want to make one of them my "primary" or "main" contact and indicate this on the organization record as well as on her individual constituent record. Is there a button/tab that allows me to do this? On the relationship tab, it only allows me to select "employee" but there is no option for "primary contact." Any ideas?
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  • Michael Sherman
    Michael Sherman
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    Elizabeth Aldous:
    Our organization recently transitioned to using Raiser's Edge, so we've been doing some data clean-up. In some of the organization records we have, there are 3 individual constituents linked to the record. They are all employees of the organization, however I want to make one of them my "primary" or "main" contact and indicate this on the organization record as well as on her individual constituent record. Is there a button/tab that allows me to do this? On the relationship tab, it only allows me to select "employee" but there is no option for "primary contact." Any ideas?
    Most organizations use "Contact Type" to indicate if the person is the "Primary Contact". In the "Contact Type" field we also have Secondary, Grants, Accounting, Marketing, etc. In some cases we will have more than one Primary Contact if they are both to receive the same information including acknowledgement letters and appeals.
  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Elizabeth Aldous:
    Our organization recently transitioned to using Raiser's Edge, so we've been doing some data clean-up. In some of the organization records we have, there are 3 individual constituents linked to the record. They are all employees of the organization, however I want to make one of them my "primary" or "main" contact and indicate this on the organization record as well as on her individual constituent record. Is there a button/tab that allows me to do this? On the relationship tab, it only allows me to select "employee" but there is no option for "primary contact." Any ideas?

    As Michael said Contact Type is the best way to record this.  We also have added numerous types for special funds, other Y branches, etc.  In Mail function you have option to select specific contact types. 

    Just a quickie - not sure how your data transitioned/imported.  If the contacts have their own record, be sure the link is there to the constituent Sam Smith and not just a relationship on org record to Sam Smith.  You can tell by an ID # in that field when you are working in the relationship window.  I've run across a few in our database that where the name was added but didn't search using binocular icon to actually create relationship to existing record. 

  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    JoAnn Strommen:

    As Michael said Contact Type is the best way to record this.  We also have added numerous types for special funds, other Y branches, etc.  In Mail function you have option to select specific contact types. 

    Just a quickie - not sure how your data transitioned/imported.  If the contacts have their own record, be sure the link is there to the constituent Sam Smith and not just a relationship on org record to Sam Smith.  You can tell by an ID # in that field when you are working in the relationship window.  I've run across a few in our database that where the name was added but didn't search using binocular icon to actually create relationship to existing record. 

    Added thought - for Relationship/Reciprocal you can use Employee/Employer or add your own.  We added "Owner/Partner of Business/Firm/Co" and "His/Her Business/Firm/Co" as flip.  We find that helps to track numerous contacts.

  • Elizabeth Aldous
    Elizabeth Aldous
    Tenth Anniversary First Reply
    Michael Sherman:
    Most organizations use "Contact Type" to indicate if the person is the "Primary Contact". In the "Contact Type" field we also have Secondary, Grants, Accounting, Marketing, etc. In some cases we will have more than one Primary Contact if they are both to receive the same information including acknowledgement letters and appeals.
    Thank you Michael - very helpful info. We currently only have a couple of options in the Contact Type field, so I will ask our administrators to add an option for "Primary Contact." That way, like you said, we can have more than one primary contact if we choose. Cheers!
  • Elizabeth Aldous
    Elizabeth Aldous
    Tenth Anniversary First Reply
    JoAnn Strommen:

    As Michael said Contact Type is the best way to record this.  We also have added numerous types for special funds, other Y branches, etc.  In Mail function you have option to select specific contact types. 

    Just a quickie - not sure how your data transitioned/imported.  If the contacts have their own record, be sure the link is there to the constituent Sam Smith and not just a relationship on org record to Sam Smith.  You can tell by an ID # in that field when you are working in the relationship window.  I've run across a few in our database that where the name was added but didn't search using binocular icon to actually create relationship to existing record. 

    Thanks JoAnn - I have been checking to make sure the constituent linked to the org is actually an individual constituent too. It can be a little confusing to navigate at times, but I think we're on the right track. I appreciate you sharing your learnings and advice!
  • Gina Gerhard
    Gina Gerhard
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 3 Photogenic
    Elizabeth Aldous:
    Our organization recently transitioned to using Raiser's Edge, so we've been doing some data clean-up. In some of the organization records we have, there are 3 individual constituents linked to the record. They are all employees of the organization, however I want to make one of them my "primary" or "main" contact and indicate this on the organization record as well as on her individual constituent record. Is there a button/tab that allows me to do this? On the relationship tab, it only allows me to select "employee" but there is no option for "primary contact." Any ideas?
    I think this ties into a frequently discussed limitation in that you can only choose one single contact type on a relationship. What many want (there are currently over 700 votes for this) is to be able to set up many types and check MORE THAN ONE for an individual. Blackbaud suggests that you use attributes but these are so buried and hard to maintain if they don't have visibility. Please consider voting for this idea: http://rediscovery.uservoice.com/forums/137015-raiser-s-edge-discovery-topics/suggestions/2758210-allow-a-single-relationship-to-hold-multiple-conta

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