Whoever Said, “It’s as Easy as Pie” Never Had to Bake One

Becca Rosin

November 2022 in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® Blog

Why is it that a beloved family recipe never seems to be written down?

I wanted to make my late grandmother’s famous apple pie, but she always made it from memory. I asked my three aunts if someone could write out the recipe for me, and each of them actually sent me a slightly different version.

The ingredients were all the same, but some specified particular brands. None of the versions had the same number of steps. None of my aunts used the same shorthand for measurements, nor could they define what equaled “a pinch.” It was chaos.

I decided to try all three recipes verbatim: the first pie was so salty it was inedible, and the crust on the second one was dry to the point where it crumbled and fell apart. The final pie—thankfully—was exactly like my grandmother’s, most likely because the correlating recipe was the most thorough and specific.
Details and specifications matter in baking and in other tasks that require precision, like data entry. It’s vital for everyone to be on the same page—literally and figuratively—to achieve the same result. It’s good if your organization has policies and procedures, but they should be thorough, recorded, and current.
Blackbaud has two new 90-minute courses to help you create and update policies and procedures and evaluate which are essential to your particular organization.

• Raiser’s Edge NXT Best Practices: Policies and Procedures - Constituents helps you examine how your organization currently uses a Constituent record, and explores capabilities for increased efficiency. You’ll encounter thought-provoking scenarios such as whether requiring certain key fields would help with data tracking and reporting. There are guidelines for deciding which relationship types to use as well as when to create a non-constituent record. The course provides a handout resource with helpful tips, prompts, and checklists to apply what you learn in the course.
• Similarly, Raiser’s Edge NXT Best Practices: Policies and Procedures - Gifts aims for introspection of how your organization uses Gift records and how to improve. You’ll explore which gift fields are vital for fundraising and how to require them for more accurate accounts and forecasting. Additionally, you’ll review how to determine the best way to enter and adjust various gift types. There is also a handout resource for this course, to use as you follow along with the instructor and to save your thoughts and ideas for later.

Robust and well-thought-out documentation is helpful in the present as well as the future, ensuring smooth, stress-free operations and easier transitions. It can also spare your granddaughter the experience of having to taste some truly awful pies.

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