FUN - Generate Donor Records
Overview
The Fundraising 'Generate Donor Records' program is used to quickly create donor records for current parents, enrolled parents, past students, teachers and past parents.
This program can (and should be) run frequently. Donor records that have been previously created using this program and that are still linked to a parent, past student or teacher record will not be created again.
Correct linking of donor records is important so that address changes made elsewhere in TASS.web are automatically reflected in their donor record and that the correct status from the linked record (enrolled/current/past parent) is displayed.
Where a donor record is 'linked', the mailing name, address and phone details from the linked record are used as defaults in the corresponding fields on the donor record. Thereafter, the address fields only are automatically updated as the address is changed elsewhere in TASS.web. Where a donor record is 'linked' to a parent, the address number used can also be defined (if the default address is not used).
This program works using a wizard to step you through the various screens that are required to generate donor records.
Step 1
Fields that require detailed information | |
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Generate Donors from which area? | Use the drop-down list to pick the target group from which you want to generate donor records. The options are current parents, enrolled parents, past students, teachers and past parents. People who already have a Donor Records will not be included in the target group. |
Click the 'Next' button.
Step 2
Fields that require detailed information | |
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Donor Group | The donor records that will be created during this process will be allocated to the group that you enter here. A more detailed description of donor groups is provided on the 'Donor Group' tab in Finance > Fundraising > Setup Information > Fundraising Setup. |
Next Follow-up Date | This is a date that you intend to next contact the donors that you will be creating. This is not a mandatory field. |
Status | The donor records that will be created during this process will be allocated the status that you enter here. A more detailed description of donor status is provided on the 'Donor Status' tab in Finance > Fundraising > Setup Information > Fundraising Setup. |
Status Date | This is the date at which the donor records about to be generated will be allocated. There is a status advancement facility in TASS.web Fundraising that allows donors to advance to a 'higher' status. |
Hold Flag | The hold flag on the donor record is set to 'Yes' for any donor who you do not want to create mail merges or emails for using Finance > Fundraising > Listing/Reports/Merges > Donor Labels/Letter Merges. In this program, you would probably leave this flag unchecked and then go back in and change it for the individual donors for whom you need to hold correspondence. |
Donor Gender Hierarchy | This determines whether this 'generate' program will use the name of 'Parent/Caregiver 1' first or 'Parent/Caregiver 2' first when creating the 'Donor Contact' field. If the first preference does not have a record on the parent record then it will use the second. Important! This field is only applicable when generating donor records for parents. For more information, refer to Student Admin > Parent Records > Setup Information > Parent Records Setup on the 'Addresses' tab. |
Exclude Deceased Persons | When generating donor records for past students, tick this option to not create donor records for deceased persons. |
Click the 'Next' button.
Step 3
Fields that require detailed information | |
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User Defined Fields | You can use this section to pre-fill data in these user-definable fields as part of the generate process. It is important to note that every record that you generate will get any selection that you enter here. An alternative to this would be to enter your user-definable data after the records have been entered using Finance > Fundraising > Donor Information > Donor Grid Entry. |
Click the 'Next' button.
Step 4
Fields that require detailed information | |
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1st 2nd and 3rd Priority Address | This allows you to nominate an alternative address (e.g. Current parent from the 1-20 address blocks available on the parent record) as the address that the generated donor records will be linked to. If there is no address record for an entity in the address that you nominate as '1st Priority Address' linkage then the 'generate' program will revert to the address nominated in '2nd Priority Address' field. If there is no address record in '2nd Priority Address' field it will revert to the '3rd Priority Address' which is the system default address. This functionality is only available for generating donor records from parent records with one exception. If you are generating donor records from past students and the 'Address Linked' button is ticked you can use this facility. Be careful doing this though as creating unlinked donor records this way is not advised. (Read below.) |
Address Linked | It is strongly recommended that this flag remains checked. Important! By unchecking this option, the 'generate' program will copy the address information into the new donor record as opposed to linking to the originating entity address. Because there is no link in place the next time you run this program it will create another donor record. About the only time you may choose to run this is if you want to maintain different addresses between parent and donor record. Even then it is not a great idea as you have to maintain the address in two places. |
Exclude records with NO default address | This is a new option that was introduced to help schools that have old past student records with no address details. These will be excluded when creating donor records if this box is ticked. |
Click the 'Next' button.
Step 5
The program will now display a list of donor records that it wants to create.
You can click on the active links in the 'Action' column to 'View', 'Edit' or 'Delete' donor records before generation.
For example, you may decide to change the 'Donor' Group' or 'Contact Name' for a donor before generating the record.
Click the 'Next' button and a list of generated donors will be displayed.
You have now successfully generated donor records.
Important!
The records generated this way will not be available using the 'Search' function in Finance > Fundraising > Donor Information > Donors until the overnight search collection has been run. Therefore, users will only be able to access these donor records by using the 'Picker' until the day after the generation has been run.