Constituent Preferences: how to register in NXT/TRE?

Martin Drenth

Hi folks.

We have collected preferences from a large number of constituents. These consist of six themes the constituent might be interested in and five areas of interest (mostly related to the faculty they are an alumnus of). What would be the best way to process this information in TRE/NXT? Obviously, we want to be able to easily select these constituents to approach through mailings, etc.

Is it advisable to create Constituents Codes for this purpose? That makes eleven in total, on top of al lot of other Constituencies we already have. Or is there another way to 'bundle' them? A membership perhaps?

JoAnn Strommen

Not knowing exactly how your org utilizes RE you do have options as you mentioned.

I would shy away from adding these all as constituent codes. I try to keep const codes related to ‘Why is this person in our db?/Why do they matter to our org?’

With the info you posted, I would suggest constituent attributes. These can be easily queried/reported/exported. I would use table vs. text for consistent entry and avoiding any typos as you add preference to a record. You have a date field and comment field that can be quite useful as well.

If you have the volunteer module it might be something that could go there. Don't know what the preferences are in regards toward.

Faith Murray

Attributes are one good option, but Solicit codes are another great option. Solicit codes are meant for customizing communications, and it sounds like that is the main purpose of your categories. They exist inherently as table fields, and can be filtered in webview lists in NXT.

Depending on your usage, “interests” may also be recorded under the database-view “Prospects” tab, under “Philanthropic Interests”. This would apply more to a donor universe (interested in funding endowments, sports games, events, etc.) as opposed to the much more diverse interest areas you could expect for alumni (interested in Board updates, voting opportunities, volunteering, etc.) So the applicability of this field depends on how you use your “interest” categories. This field resides under the “Prospect Management” tile in webview. It is queriable in database, but sadly is not yet a filter option in webview lists.