Constituent Code Hierarchy

Kylee Hamilton

Good afternoon all,

Happy Friday! Wondering if anyone might ba able to share a Constituency Code Hierarchy Policy/Procedure? I love this idea, but just don't know where to begin.

We currently have far to many codes, which needs to be addressed!

Thanks,

Dariel Dixon

This is a task that is very organization specific that I don't know if you'll be able to find one that another organization has that will work for you. However, it's not too hard to create and determine what it is for you. I always think this is best written down for documentation purposes. A pyramid structure works best IMO.

If you take a look at all the constituent codes you have in your database, you'll have to determine which is the most penultimate code. As in, which code supersedes all other codes. I think from there, you just continue to filter down to the most basic of codes (ie. Friends, Donors, Individuals). Board members or similar codes usually are higher ranking.

It is possible to create a pivot table of codes with the primary constituent code, but I forgot how to do it.

Kylee Hamilton

@Dariel Dixon thanks for the advice!

I'd really like to see a sample of how someone has laid this out in a policy/procedure, understanding of course that the codes may be very different.

Kylee ?

Tom Klimchak

@Kylee Hamilton We have less of a “procedure” and more a of list. We arranged all our Constituent Codes in the Constituent Codes Table by importance (with the top records being most important) and working our way down. Our data processors know to choose the highest one on the list and to arrange codes on records accordingly when they are out of place. After the first ten entries the order matters a little less, but they're still used.

Here's a quick run down of our top constituency codes:

• Trustee - Active
• Trustee - Life Trustee
• Trustee - Trustee Emeritus
• Alumnus/a
• Employee
• Current Parent
• Former Trustee
• Student
• Grad Student
• Former Student
• Friend

After that we go into a bunch of corporate/organization codes (largely based on VSE reporting)…