Constituency Codes: Hierarchy, End Dates & Attributes (Oh My!)

Miranda Diakiw

Hi all,


We are a fairly recent implementation (from Banner to RENXT) and we are continuing to refine our processes around constituency codes and trying to simplify things. We are a higher ed institution and our main constituency groups are: Alumni (3 sub categories), Employees (current and former), Organizations (various types), Board members (current and former) and Friends (reserved for those with no other relationship other than donations). So I have a few questions:


1) It seems as though there are problems with gift reporting if you use end dates on the constituency code itself (ie, gifts from that constituent that fall outside that active period will not be reported on as part of that group). We code employees and had thought to move to using an end date, but now realize that we may need to either keep our former employee constituency code type or create an attribute to code current and former with end dates. How do you manage relationships where there is a finite time period but any giving the person is doing is likely related to that relationship (whether current or former). Attributes? Constituency Codes?


2) Hierarchy of constituency codes - this is related mostly to the fact that insights designer only allows you to filter based on primary constituency code. So that hierarchy has to facilitate the most important reports you pull. For those of you who are higher ed - is Alumnus at the top of your constituency code hierarchy? How do you manage this? Also if you change the hierarchy - does that automatically change the primary constituency code on the constituent records or does that have to be recoded manually?


Any thoughts you might have related to these issues in general around constituency code management appreciated!


Miranda


 

Dariel Dixon

I think you're on the right track regarding your CCs.  The first thing I would note is that it might be worth noting the relationship between primary CC and gift constituency.  By default, the primary CC will be gift constituency, but it can be changed upon entry.  It may be better to report on gift constituency if possible.  There are times were a gift does not match up with the primary constituency.


If you use dates in your constituencies, you will have to remember to add that date in your queries.  (for instance, constituency = alumnus & constituent date = 7/1/2020)


In regards to hierarchy, I think alumni is generally your primary code, but there are always exceptions.  If you have a board member that is also an alumnus, I think you'll probably have the board CC as primary.  All codes are coded manually, so it depends on the constituent record you are editing.

Lynnette Fisher

HI Miranda,

I work in higher ed.  In regard to your question regarding constituent codes and end dates.   Here is an example of how we do it and it has worked well for us.  Say John is a current board member and an alum.  His hierarchy would look like this:  


Board of Trustee (Current) with a start date of 11/21/1999

Alumni with a start date of 05/08/1988


When John's board term is up I would put an end date on his board of Trustee (current) entry, add a Board of Trustee (former) constituent code and a start date and move the alumni entry up in to the primary position.  It would look  like this:

Alumni (start date) of 5/8/1998

Board of Trustee (Former) with a start date of 10/01/2020

Board of Trustee (Current) (Start date) 11/21/1999 (End date) 09/30/2020


Because Alumni is now primary all the Gift Constituencies will now be under Alumni where before they were under Board of Trustee (Current).  It allows a little more granular reporting.


At our institution Alumni is always primary unless the person is also a current board member or an employee and then those codes are primary until they term or employment ends.


Here is another example of a entry

Alumni  (start date) 05/08/2020

Current Student (start date)  08/02/2016 (end date) 05/07/2020


Hope this helps and wasn't too confusing.


 

Jenny Marquardt

I do it the same way Lynnette Fisher‍ does it.