What Happened with Constituents in 2015

View attachment descriptions and dates — To help build a complete picture of your constituents, you can attach collateral — such as correspondence, artifacts from prospect research, or pictures or videos from events — on their records. For each attachment, you can now view when it was added to the constituent's record or transferred as media from the database view. For attachments added as media in the database view, you can also now view their descriptions for additional details or context. For more information, see Attachments.

• Manage a prospect's status — With Prospect Research Management, you can track and update prospects as they flow through your moves management process. To better describe this feature, Prospect research now appears as Prospect management on a constituent’s record. Under Prospect management, you can now update a prospect’s status in your process, quickly see how long they've been at their current status, and scroll through their moves history.

  

  To better track your moves management process, your organization can also set expected time frames for each status. A constituent's prospect status now appears as an alert at the top of their record — in addition to under Prospect management — when they have a status for too long. (Previously, the status always appeared at the top of the record, regardless of how long the constituent had it.) For more information, see Prospect Status.

  Note: Admins! To alert fundraisers when a prospect is past due, select Settings under Prospect management to set how long someone should stay in each stage of your moves management process.

• Add profile pictures to constituent records — To help identify a constituent or personalize their relationship, you can attach a photo or image — such as a selfie or company logo — at the top of their record, in place of the default avatar . You can use any image file — PNG, BMP, or JPG — saved locally or on your network as a profile picture. For more information, see Profile Pictures.

• Make a constituent a fundraiser — To enable someone to manage relationships with constituents or related actions or proposals and view their assignments in Work Center, they must be a fundraiser. To make a constituent a fundraiser, you can now select Mark as fundraiser on their record. You can also select Stop assignments to prevent new relationships or other assignments. For more information, see Fundraisers.

  Tip: Before you stop assignments for a fundraiser, first reassign their work as they'll appear on any current assignments but won't be available in Work Center.

• Attach files to a constituent's record — On a constituent's record, you can now upload or link to collateral collected about the relationship — such as images , videos , PDFs , Microsoft Word documents , Excel spreadsheets , and other files — under Attachments. As attachments live in the cloud, you can:

  • Quickly upload files to a constituent's record.

  • Easily access files across multiple devices.

  • Open and work with files in their native applications such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat.

  For information about how to add and manage these files, see Attachments.

• Filter constituents by any or all of specific tags — To view constituents with certain situations such as lapsed giving and/or no interactions, you can now filter lists to include only those who have all — or any — of specific tags.

  • To view constituents with specific combinations of tags, such as Lapsed and No contact, select Filters, choose "All of these tags" under Tagged with, and choose which tags to include.

  • To view constituents with any of a set of tags, such as Lapsed or No contact, select Filters, choose "Any of these tags" under Tagged with, and choose the set of tags to include.

  Note: Previously, you could only include constituents with any of a set of tags, such as Lapsed or No contact.

  For more information about filter criteria for constituent lists, see Constituent Filters.

• View a constituent's membership details — With Membership Management, you can set up membership programs — including their categories or levels and the fees and benefits associated with each — to encourage donor loyalty and reward your constituents' continued support with exclusive, personalized incentives. On a constituent's record, you can view details about their activity as a member — such as when they joined, dues paid, any additional members, and benefits received — under Membership. For more information, see Memberships.

  

• View a constituent's volunteer details — In addition to money, some individuals may give their personal time and expertise to help support your mission. With Volunteer Management, you can now view and track details about a constituent's volunteer efforts — including their time given, value contributed, interests, jobs, and availability — under Volunteer on their record. For more information, see Volunteers.

  

• Tags! Heads up when constituents need attention — To help focus on relationships that need your attention, Raiser's Edge NXT now automatically listens to your constituent records and tags them each night based on special situations such as upcoming birthdays or lapsed giving. With these tags, you can prioritize interactions, easily identify donors to engage with, and plan how to best cultivate each relationship.

  • To view which situations apply to a constituent, refer to Tags on their record.

  • To view which situations apply to a list of constituents, such as the Portfolio or Unassigned constituents list, include the Tags column.

    Tip: To filter a list a constituents by tags, use the new Tagged with filter to include only those with or without tags or specific situations. For more information, see Constituent Filters.

  • To quickly view who in your fundraising portfolio needs attention, select Overview in Work Center (more on that below!).

  For more information about tags and the recommended next steps for each, see Tags and Recommendations.

• Overview! Quickly gauge your fundraising performance — To gauge the performance of your fundraising efforts — at a glance — and help plan how to focus your energy, you can now select Overview in Work Center. Under Overview, you can quickly check:

  • Which relationships in your portfolio need special attention, based on situations such as upcoming birthdays, lapsed giving, or lack of communication.

  • How many relationships you manage and how many are new assignments or lapsing.

  Under Overview, you can also quickly access lists filtered based on this information, such as to view your new relationships or lapsing donors. For more information, see Work Center Overview.

• View custom fields in lists of constituents — To view specialized information your organization tracks about a list of constituents, such as in Work Center or Unassigned Constituents, you can now include columns for custom fields. To include a custom field in a list, select Choose columns and choose which details to view. For more information, see Custom Fields.

• View lifetime giving in lists of constituents — To quickly view how much constituents have given through donations, payments, and pledge balances, including any soft credit, you can now include the Lifetime giving column in lists of constituents, such as in Work Center or Unassigned constituents.

• View appeals on a constituent's timeline —T o quickly view a history of solicitations sent to a constituent, such as to determine whether you ask them for gifts too often (or not enough), you can now view appeal activity under Timeline on their record. To view details about an appeal, such as its name and date, select it on the timeline. For more information, see Summary.

  

• View a constituent's appeals — Appeals are the solicitations used to bring in gifts, such as direct mailings, phonathons, auctions, or gala events. On a constituent's record, you can now view which solicitations they've received under Appeals. For each appeal, you can view details such as its name, date, and package. For more information, see Appeals.

  

• Manage all proposals for a constituent — With Prospect Research Management, you can manage proposal efforts to cultivate relationships with prospective donors. To view and manage a full list of a constituent's proposals, you can now select the total under Proposals on their record. For more information, see Opportunities.

• Easily assign multiple constituents to a fundraiser — From the Unassigned constituents list, you can now assign multiple relationships to a fundraiser at the same time. Simply select the constituents in the list and then select Assign fundraiser. For more information, see Unassigned Constituents.

  

• View when the Portfolio list updated — In Work Center, you can now view when the Portfolio list last updated. These lists automatically update with new and edited information periodically.

• Assigned fundraisers no longer appear as relationships — To help reduce redundant information on a constituent's record, their assigned fundraisers no longer appear under Relationships. You can view and manage who cultivates your organization's relationship with the constituent under Assigned fundraisers. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

• Solicitors are now "fundraisers" — To more accurately describe the people who interact with constituents and manage actions and proposals on behalf of your organization, they now appear as "fundraisers" throughout the web view. Previously, they appeared as "solicitors." For more information, see Fundraisers.

  Note: In the database view, fundraisers still appear as "solicitors."

• Easily manage unassigned constituents — To easily identify which active constituents aren't yet assigned to a fundraiser, you can now select Fundraising, Unassigned Constituents. From the new Unassigned constituents list, you can view details about each constituent to determine who would best cultivate the relationship and assign them to fundraisers based on those informed decisions. For more information, see Unassigned Constituents.

  Note: Admins! To set up Unassigned Constituents for your organization, choose which security groups have rights to access it. For information, see Fundraising Work Center Rights.

• Set alerts for constituent records — To give a reminder or special instructions to someone about a constituent's record, you can now set an alert to appear at the top of the record or under its profile information. For example, you can set an alert as a reminder to not update the record without first contacting the assigned fundraiser or with instructions to handle a high-priority donor with care. To view and manage a record's alert, select Alert under its profile information. For more information, see Alerts.

  

• Expand or collapse all constituent information — To quickly browse a constituent's record, you can now collapse or expand all its information. For details, see Records.

• Assign fundraisers from Work Center — To help cultivate relationships and gifts, fundraisers can interact with constituents and prospects on behalf of your organization. From Work Center, you can now create assignments from the Portfolio list. To assign a constituent to a fundraiser, select their menu and select Assign solicitor. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

  

• Portfolio list security by fund, constituent code, or action type — To help focus on only what's important to you, the Portfolio list in Work Center displays only information that you can view based on various criteria.

  • When you filter the Portfolio list, only constituent codes you can view appear as options.

  • The First gift, Latest gift, and Greatest gift columns display only gifts applied to funds you can view.

  • The Last action and Next action columns display only actions with types you can view.

• View a constituent's inactive proposals — With Prospect Research Management, you can manage proposal efforts to cultivate constituent relationships and major gifts. To quickly find an inactive proposal for a constituent, such as to reactivate it, you can now select Include inactive under Proposals on their record and view which are marked as inactive.

  

• View invalid and seasonal address details — Under Constituent summary on a constituent's record, you can now quickly view when an invalid address — such as one no longer in use — was valid and whether (and when) a seasonal address — such as a summer residence — is in season . For more details, see Contact Information.

• Save fundraising details for fundraiser assignments — To help track someone's fundraising effort, you can now save details — such as the goal amount, campaign, fund, and appeal — when you add or edit the assignment. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

• Edit fundraiser assignments — To edit the details of an assignment, such as to adjust its date or reason, select the fundraiser's menu under Assigned to on the constituent's record, select Edit relationship, adjust its information as necessary, and select Save. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

• End fundraiser assignments — To end a relationship with a constituent— such as if you decide to no longer actively solicit them — select the fundraiser's menu under Assigned to on the constituent's record, select End relationship, choose when the relationship ended, and select Save. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

• View additional constituent codes — On a constituent's record, you can view up to three constituent codes — in the same order as in the database view — under Constituent codes. To view any additional constituent codes, you can now select and more. For more information, see Constituent Codes.

• View contribution totals for prospect research — With Prospect Research Management, you can view a constituent's contributions to other charitable efforts under Prospect research on their record. For a more complete picture of their giving, you can now view how many gifts they gave toward a category of contributions, such as philanthropic efforts or political campaigns. For details about a specific category of contributions, select its amount. For more information, see Prospect Management.

• View additional online presence and statuses — Under Constituent summary on a constituent's record, you can now view up to five websites or social media pages under Online presence — with those marked as primary first — and quickly view whether a website is marked as primary or inactive . For any additional websites, such as a Tumblr or company blog, select and more. For more information, see Online Presence.

• View primary business contact information — On a constituent's record, you can now quickly view whether contact information is marked as primary business under Constituent summary.

• View additional contact information —Under Constituent summary on a constituent's record, you can view up to two addresses, three phone numbers, and three email addresses, with those marked as preferred or primary first. For any additional contact information, such as seasonal addresses or previous phone numbers, you can now select and more.

• Assign fundraisers to constituents — To help manage your organization's relationships with its constituents, you can now assign fundraisers to a constituent from their record. Under Assigned to, select Assign, specify who should manage the relationship and any other details, and select Save. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

• View only pertinent contact information — To help easily contact or locate a constituent, only their pertinent contact information now appears on their record. Under Constituent summary, you can now view up to two addresses, three phone numbers, and three email addresses, with those marked as preferred or primary first. You can also quickly view whether an address, phone number, or email address is marked as preferred or primary , inactive , or "do not contact" .

• View fundraisers assigned to a constituent — On a constituent's record, you can now view who's assigned to cultivate the relationship on behalf of your organization under Assigned to. For each fundraiser, you can view details including their name, type, and the duration of the assignment. For more information, see Fundraiser Assignments.

• Prospect research — With Prospect Research Management, you can now view basic details about a constituent as a prospective donor — as well as any known giving preferences and financial information — under Prospect research on their record. With this information, you can better develop strategies to cultivate the constituent relationship and determine their giving potential. For more information, see Prospect Management.

• Wealth ratings analysis — For each constituent in your portfolio, you can view wealth information — including their overall wealth rating, suggested donor type, and next ask amount — from Target Analytics, a division of Blackbaud Inc. To view this information, include the Wealth rating column on the Portfolio list in Work Center. For details about this information, see Blackbaud NXT Ratings.

  To view and analyze only constituents with specific overall wealth ratings, such as your most affluent five-star prospects, select Filters and, under Wealth characteristics, select which ratings to include.

• Manage all actions for a constituent — To manage all tasks and interactions related to a constituent, you can now view a full list of their assigned actions. To open this list, select the Actions total under Notes and actions on the constituent's record. For more information, see Actions.

• Delete notes and actions from constituents — To remove a note, task, or interaction from a constituent — such as if you inadvertently add it to the wrong person — you can now delete it from their record. To delete a note or action, select its menu under Notes and actions and select Delete note or Delete action. For more information, see Notes or Actions.