Batching without soft credits

Kathryn Yarzebinski:
Our organization does not soft credit gifts between spouses. However, in some cases each spouse has his/her own record to reflect his/her own unique relationship with the organization (volunteer, board member, etc.). When a gift arrives from the couple, our gift recorder is having to leave the gift entry batch to go into both records to see which spouse's record the gift should go on. Does anyone have suggestions for ways our gift recorder can avoid having to leave the batch and go into the record(s) to choose which is the proper record for the gift?

What's your criteria to decide whose record the gift gets recorded on?  Are gifts received with a response form with names on it?  If you're looking for a constituency or something like that at most you should only have to open one record - if it's not there, select the spouse. 

In batch if you enter one name you can use the 'go to record' icon.  Is that what you mean by "leave the batch?"  If it's the wrong one change the name you've entered in batch. 

We do soft-credit spouse records.  I don't really see why you wouldn't want to show that both are supporting your organization.  Much more accurate giving history on their record in event of death or divorce, in my opinion.

Kathryn Yarzebinski:
JoAnn, I agree that soft crediting is the way to go. However that has not been the process at my organization and so we are working on solutions under the current process. And yes, the "go to record" button is how the recorder is leaving the batch. If only one spouse is represented in the database, this is never an issue--the gift always goes to that spouse's record. But, as we build a more robust database with more than one spouse represented, this is now an issue.

So what is the criteria you use to determine which record to put the gift on?  Trying to think if there's a way to identify those with query/business rule.

Kathryn Yarzebinski:
Our organization does not soft credit gifts between spouses. However, in some cases each spouse has his/her own record to reflect his/her own unique relationship with the organization (volunteer, board member, etc.). When a gift arrives from the couple, our gift recorder is having to leave the gift entry batch to go into both records to see which spouse's record the gift should go on. Does anyone have suggestions for ways our gift recorder can avoid having to leave the batch and go into the record(s) to choose which is the proper record for the gift?

Christine Cooke:

 I agree, you should be able to set up a query/business rule to pop up and indicate if this is the record the gift should record on.  Although I have found it is better, if possible to make a rule for the organization that when at all possible the gift is recorded on HOH record and all spouses are always soft credited, both directions (in case there are circumstances where $ must be recorded on spouse record).

I would also suggest taking the time to back track and clean up the soft credits.  Utilize the soft credit spouse option in the drop down menu.  This will make all of your reporting cleaner and consistent, so you can see the couple's whole giving history without having to open both records.  Also be sure that spouse records are marked to automatically soft credit to each other.

Kathryn,  I see you're also on line.  As the others posted a business rule should help you.  Waiting to see what your criteria is.   

Aldera Chisholm:
I'd like to "second" this - using the constituent fields has been such a help to me, both to ensure I have the right person when I have people with identical names, or just to do a quick skim to ensure I have all the info logged in. I wish I had started using them sooner.

 Another second here for business rule and constituent view window. 

 I'm wondering why you choose not to soft credit -- it's an interesting choice since most other orgs do soft credit.