Using the system to manage basic fundraising

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Revision as of 08:43, 1 May 2024 by Hburrowes (talk | contribs) (Setting up an extension database)
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The system does not have specific features designed solely for fundraising, however there are certain features that can be used to help manage fundraising. This guide will look at the areas of the system that can be setup in relation to fundraising activities.

Managing Donations and Legacies

Donations and Legacies can be managed on the system using a project and extension database or with just an extension database. This section will look at both methods.

Using a project to manage Donations and Legacies

In this example we will look at receiving a donation and sending a thank you letter. The diagram below is the process that is to be setup;

Donationsdiag.PNG

Project Set Up

The first step is to set up a project, the images below display the recommended settings:

General Settings

"a screenshot of the project set up page. The project is called Donations and Legacies, and set up as a standard project type."


Record A Contact Settings

"a screenshot of the project set up page. This displays the record a contact section."

On the Types of Orgs and People tab select the people and organisations that you would receive donations from.

Using Templates

Templates can be used to manage the workflow when receiving donations and legacies. In this example there will be two templates, one to manage donations and one to manage legacies. See Referral Templates for full details on setting up template)

The first template will be for donations, this will assign the project subcategory 'Donations', see Project Subcategories (Users will need to have access to enter subcategories).

"a screenshot of the template set up page. The template is called Donations."

The following stages have been setup;

"a screenshot of the stages for the donation template. These are called donation received, donation banked, thank you letter sent."

Extension Database

An Extension Database is going to be used to report on the monies received.

"a screenshot of the Extension Database set up page. It is called donations and legacies, it's set to be referral linked and linked to the project labelled donations and legacies."

The fields will be as follows;

"a screenshot of the Extension Database field set up page. It lists a field for Date, Type, Gift aid cert received and amount."

  • Type: Donation or Legacy
  • Gift Aid Cert Received: Yes or No

Managing Collection Tins

If you use volunteers,staff and shops to collect donations on behalf of the organisation you can look at the following options.

Using a project to manage the issue of the collection tin

Project Setup

Below is a basic process chart on issuing Collection Tins.


Collection tin process.png


The first step would be creating a project. and making this available to staff, volunteers and organisation. Below is some example screen shots of the suggested project settings;

"a screenshot of the project set up page. The project is called Collection Tins, and set up as a standard project type."

Give the project an appropriate name.


"a screenshot of the record a contact section on the project set up page. The project is called Collection Tins."

As above you may wish to allow recording of time and travel to monitor resources.


"a screenshot of the types of orgs and people section on the project set up page. The section displays the relevant record types, such as clients, referrers, organisations. Clients are ticked."

Select the record types for those who may take a Collection Tin.

Using Templates

Using templates will manage the process of issuing, returning and replacing tins. There are two templates that this example will use, one for organisations and one for staff/volunteers.

Template to manage Collection Tins left with organisations.

The template has be set up as follows:

"a screenshot of the referral template creation page. The template is labelled 'collection tins for shops and organisations'."

…and the stages on the template as follows:

"a screenshot of the referral stage list. The stages are labelled: new request for collection tin, collection tin delivered, collect and replace, and ceased - no longer required."

The diagram below displays the workflow of the stages:

Collection tin stageprocess.png


When a request to site a new collection tin is received a new referral will be created on the Organisations record and initially this will be set to the default stage for 'New Request'. An outstanding action will appear on the staff member or volunteers action list that is to deliver the tin. From here the template will auto populate as each step is updated. If the tin is permanently returned the 'Ceased' stage will be selected closing the referral/process. In addition to the template an extension database can be used to record the values etc (explained in a later section)

Further option: you could create a new org/person record type called Collection Tins.  Each tin with serial number would be added as a record.  The project could then be set on the 'Types of orgs/people' tab to use an additional organisation (bottom section) with the record type 'Collection Tins' ticked.  The alternate name would be set as Collection Tin and you would want to tick the option 'Tick the box if you want the extra organisation/person to only be associated with 1 open referral at a time.'  In Operational Rules you could set history to be on the receiver and extra org and you will see the details on the Collection Tins history tab.

Template to manage Collection Tins issued to staff and volunteers

The template has be set up as follows:

"a screenshot of the template set up page. The template is labelled 'collection tin for staff / volunteer'."

…and the stages on the template as follows:

"a screenshot of the stage set up page. The stages are labelled 'collection tin issued' and 'collection tin returned'."

The diagram below displays the workflow of the stages:

Collection tin processstaff.png

Setting up an extension database

In order to report and manage the tins you may wish to set up an extension database for the project.

Below is the main setting of the extension database:

"a screenshot of a collection tin extension database set up. The extension database is set up to appear against referrals."

Below you will find an example of the fields:

"a screenshot of the collection tin extension database field set up. The extension database is set up to appear against referrals."

Once complete return to the set up of the Collection Tins project and got to the Additional Data Collection section to setup up the Extension Database on the project.

"a screenshot of the 'when to ask for data entry' field within the project set up. The option is set to 'when creating referrals or actions (for every occurrence)'."

The user will be displayed the following screen to enter information about each collection tin:

File:Collection tin extdbentry.png

Report Options

You will be able to use a series of reports to mange the project, the two most useful being:

KPI Report Designer This will report on the overall statistics of the number of referral and demographic data.

Progress Interval Report This will report on each stage of the process.

Extension Database Reports This will report on the outcome of the donation.

Using Just an Extension Database to manage Collection Tins

You can have just an extension database to record the details of collection tins, this will not produce reminders on the action list.

Below is the main setting of the extension database:

File:Collections tinsextdbsettingsnoproj.png

Below you will find an example of the fields:

File:Collections tinsextdbfields.png

The user will be displayed the following screen to enter information about each collection tin:

File:Collection tin extdbentry.png

Report Options

You will be able to use the following report:

Extension Database Reports This will report on the outcome of the donation.


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