Campaigns, and Fund Codes, and Appeals...oh my!

In addition to Campaign, fund and appeal, you could also use an appeal package for a furthe breakdown and there are some very nice canned dashboards that will push those number out for you.   If that's not enough, you can always add gift subtype as well - which connects with Financial's Edge and can make "sub buckets" within the fund itself.



Hope this helps!

I would recommend that you very carefully consider how you are going to set up not just this fundraising endeavor, but also others (now and in the future).  There is somewhat of a heirarchy to these fields, with Campaign, then Fund, then Appeal & Package.



From what you wrote in your original post, I would probably set up the 4 big buckets as Campaigns, and prefix them with something that identifies them as being part of this Larger Project/Special Fundraising Project.  Then use Funds for your sub-buckets.  And Appeals will then remain as intended, as a way to track the specific vehicle used to solicit the gift (like your phoneathon).



Appeal Packages are designed to be used to segment an Appeal List.  So if you're sending out a big mailing in August, and that mailing is going to Individual Donors who gave in FY15, Individual Donors who gave in FY13 or FY14 but not FY15, and Corporate Donors, you would have 1 Appeal (August Mailing) and 3 Packages.  You assign the Appeal Tags on the Constituent records and then include them on the gifts when you get them.  The Appeal report shows how many people were solicited and how many gave...and it will break that down by package.  However, Appeal and Package were specifically designed to work together, so you may not get exactly what you want if you're trying to run an Appeals Report but you're really looking at Package data...especially if you are trying to compare a Phone-a-thon package from two different Appeals.



On the actual Campaign, Fund, and Appeal Records, you can specific, set a default, and even restrict which Campaigns and Funds are available.  So if everything in one Fund must be in one of 4 Campaigns, you can list those Campaigns on the Fund record, and then check the box to restrict, meaning when doing data entry, you can't select something different.



Generally, I try to keep data split into separate fields, because it provides easier ways to use it later, but for something like this, using a prefix usually works fine, and doesn't use up a precious field.  If you want to, you can also duplicate that data (that this is part of this Large Project) using Gift Subtype, Gift Code, or a Gift Attribute.



I would also suggest that you enter a few dummy records and then setup and test any reports you're going to use...figure out what works best to get your desired reports, and then determine where you will store each piece of data from that.  And always keep in mind what you may need in the future.  Nothing worse than setting up a system and then 6 months later having to export & import, or worse yet, manually change data to move things around so they'll work better or work with the next fundraising endeavor.



Oh, and please add comments and notes, either in a Procedures Manual or on the Campaign, Fund, Appeal records (or on a Dummy Constituent Record).  That way if someone years in the future needs to know what you did (or why), there's a snowball's chance in heck of finding it.

My suggestion is similar to Jennifer's.  If there is not a need to link GL info to what you call 'buckets' I would make those the 'campaigns.'  Names could be ABC Campaign - Bucket 1, etc. to show they are all part of the campaign. 



The highest level that needs link to GL would be my fund.  I'd be very hesitant to record alot of data that I'd need to run lots of reports on at the appeal level or anything lower in the hierarchy. 



Are you using solicitors for the campaign?  If so, I'd definitely keep everything possible at fund level.  While you can assign solicitors on an appeal they don't have all the function as they do on a fund.  You can not import solicitor appeal assignments.  When entering a gift in batch in the pop up to make an asssignment, the appeal level is not available.  (I put suggestion to increase functionality of appeal solicitors on Discovery Idea site years ago.)



What you end up doing needs to be based on what works for you and your definition of the fields, but as others have posted it will affect use of RE in the future.



PS nothing happens to your existing appeal codes.

Thanks for this post, and for the generosity of everyone who has replied. I am wondering about the campaign categories and attributes. I am curious if anyone is using categories and/or attributes for campaign reporting purposes. Thanks