Recommendations on where currently tracked data could be captured in RE

Kathryn Hardi 2 · March 2016

I am new to RE and taking on the task of help my organization get back to maximizing RE. For the past few years only gifts have been logged in RE and constuient information is being kept and updated on a cloud based spreadsheet system. I have a list of current information being tracked and I am trying to figure out the appropriate place to have that data live in RE. We have the prospect module but aren't planning on keeping it since it's never been used.

Individual Capacity

Giving Capacity

Likelihood of Engagement

Referred or Recommended by

Desired Relationship/Engagement Level (i.e donor, board, council)

Current Relationship (declined engagement, has received info)

Engagement Status after recent Communication

Thanks for your help!

Ryan Hyde · March 2016

Every time I hear about an organization paying for RE and then using it this poorly, it blows my mind.

Anyway.

If you do decide to keep the prospect module, then a lot of this could/should go in there. A lot of this could just go in the General screen there, or it could be added as ratings. But if you're not going to keep that, then this is how my gut tells me to handle this kind of info.

The following should go in as attributes, and the description should be a pre-populated drop-down menu to ensure data accuracy:

Individaul Capacity

Giving Capacity

Likelihood of Engagement

Desired Relationship

Current Relationship

It sounds like maybe "Engagement Status" should be a constituent code, but if not, then that should be an Attribute as well.

Referred/Recommended by sounds like it should be a relationship.

And once you have this squared, the next thing you have got to do is get people to start using actions. If your solicitors are not using actions then you are losing valuable institutional information every time enough time passes by for people to forget the details.

Sounds like you've got a lot of whipping-int-shape to do!

JoAnn Strommen · March 2016

Kathryn,

That's a good amount of data. We don't have the prospect module but it sure looks like the data you'd want to utilize it for.

If you really don't keep it, I'd keep most of that data in constituent attributes. I'd also set up table for the description fields for consistent data entry so you can query and report on it. It makes updating a lot easier too. It's going to take some dedication to consistently update all the attributes.

For 'referred by' you can actually set that description field to be a look up field an pull in the name from a constituent record. I have an attribute we use like that and it works really smooth.

Ryan Hyde · March 2016

JoAnn Strommen:

For 'referred by' you can actually set that description field to be a look up field an pull in the name from a constituent record. I have an attribute we use like that and it works really smooth.

I was totally unaware of this feature! This could come in handy for lots of things.

Kathryn Hardi 2 · March 2016

Thanks Ryan and JoAnn! I've taken some fundamentals classes, but I am relatively new to the organization and to RE so I appreciate the help!!

Kathryn Hardi 2 · March 2016

JoAnn Strommen:

Kathryn,

That's a good amount of data. We don't have the prospect module but it sure looks like the data you'd want to utilize it for.

If you really don't keep it, I'd keep most of that data in constituent attributes. I'd also set up table for the description fields for consistent data entry so you can query and report on it. It makes updating a lot easier too. It's going to take some dedication to consistently update all the attributes.

For 'referred by' you can actually set that description field to be a look up field an pull in the name from a constituent record. I have an attribute we use like that and it works really smooth.

I really appreciate your idea of making "referred by" a look up field. Can you explain how you do that? I'm looking in config and I can't quite figure it out.

Ryan Hyde · March 2016

So you go to Config > Attributes > Constituent, find the attribute you want to edit (or create a new one if need be), and in the "Data Type" column you would select "Constituent Name." If you're making a new attribute, don't forget to check the "Active" box all the wqay to the right, and consider whether or not it would be applicable to allow multiple instances of this attribute on a constituent record or not (check or uncheck the "Allow only 1 per record" box."

Kathryn Hardi 2 · March 2016

Wonderful, thank you!

Christine Cooke 2 · April 2016

Those are all Moves Management subjects. so they should be tracked in the Prospect Module if you have it and/or the Action Tab.

Recommendations on where currently tracked data could be captured in RE

Comments

Categories