Name changes related to gender/identity changes

Jeanette Hanlein

I am hoping that you can help me with how you are handling name changes that are not legal name changes related to alumni in the process of transitioning genders. It is coming up more and more and I am trying to come up with protocols. Do you change the first name field? Do you just add a nickname and use that in all communications? Do you change the gender field? What values do you have in the gender table? Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Austen Brown

@Jeanette Hanlein - I recommend that you list the names fields as their complete new name, and store their dead name in the Alias area - that way if anyone were to search RE with their dead name, their record would still appear. As for the gender table, I recommending updating that to the gender the constituent identifies with - do not make an assumption on this refer to actual information from the constituent, if you do not know “unknown” is a valid entry. At my last org, we included Mx. within the title table for folks to choose while making an online gift, and added “Non-binary” to the gender table.

Jeanette Hanlein

Thanks so much! So you are not concerned about if it is a legal name change or preferred name - correct? My alumni relations lead wants legal proof of name change before changing. Not sure that is "PC"

JoAnn Strommen

@Jeanette Hanlein This came up for us a year ago with a student wanting a new diploma (not done by us but request came to us). For that, legal documentation required.

We talked about requiring but have not implemented any requirements. Primary reason was for consistency. We do not require any documentation when last name changes due to marriage or divorce name changes so did not feel it was appropriate to ask for it in these cases.

Jeannie Goings

@Jeanette Hanlein we do something similar to what Austen Brown recommends. Our alias options include: Dead Name, Former Name, and Legal Name. Having the distinction of dead name is a signal to our fundraisers that it is not acceptable to use the name; however, if that is the name that is provided when asked about a constituent, the dead name is searchable.

Jaclyn Whitelock

@Jeanette Hanlein a bit late chiming in here, but the having to provide a legal proof of name change could be quite onerous for some people (name changes can take quite a bit of time, paperwork, and general red tape) and I would shy away from having this be a requirement if possible. As JoAnn pointed out, do you ask for proof in the case of marriage or divorce? If not, I'm not sure why this would differ.

Terri Nackid

@Jeanette Hanlein I just saw your question. My son just graduated from college and the university never hesitated to use his preferred (not legal) name. He never had to provide any documentation. He asked for his name and pronouns to be what he currently uses and everything was changed. There is record of his legal name, but we never had to use it. Having said that, I would think you can keep a record of the previous name as an alias, but change to the current name for everything else.

Morgan Shea

@Jeanette Hanlein We're seeing this more frequently with staff. We don't require documentation. If your alumni lead does NOT require documentation for marriage name change then they have no business requesting it to switch from dead name to chosen/real name.

We don't record the dead name so as to avoid anyone accidentally using it/it getting somehow generated in addressee/salutation. I'm still thinking through this (we all are!) and am curious to know when having the dead name in the record is helpful/what we're trying to avoid by including it?

For gender we use the gender they identify with. I like the idea of adding non-binary for folks who are non-binary, I didn't realize we could do that!

Dariel Dixon

@Jeanette Hanlein This topic does come up pretty often. Here is a link to a similar topic from some time ago (I gave my comments there).

Retaining former names for transgender alumni? - Blackbaud Community

However, I may add that requiring legal paperwork does nothing for your organization. Once you get it, then what? Are you going to store it somewhere? What problem does that solve? There should be a delineation between the academic records for alumni and the alumni/donor database. If a former student wants their name changed on their official transcripts and records, legal documents may be necessary, but I don't know if there needs to be that level of requirement here unless those records are linked and would change the records with the registrar.