Constituent Codes documentation

Carla WeilandZaleznak

Hello. I'm looking to define each constituent code in our database. Within our organization we seem to have different opinions when it comes to defining foundations. We keep our codes to a minimum.

Current List:

• Board Emeritus
• Board Member
• Corporation
• Donor Advised Fund
• Former Board Chair
• Former Board Member
• Former Staff Member
• Foundation
• Friend
• Prospect
• Staff Member

I'm looking for written definitions that define specifically Foundation and Corporation. If anyone is willing to share my email is cweiland@edfoundationsrq.org or you can respond here.

It would be my preference to follow best practices. Thank you in advance!

JoAnn Strommen

@Carla WeilandZaleznak This is my take on the difference:

Corporation is a for-profit company.

Foundation is more along the lines of a non-profit:

Per Google:

A foundation is an organization that did not qualify as a public charity. They are very similar to nonprofits, except money for a foundation usually comes from a family or a corporate entity, whereas nonprofit money often comes from their revenues and other donors.

A foundation is a nonprofit corporation or a charitable trust that makes grants to organizations, institutions, or individuals for charitable purposes such as science, education, culture, and religion. There are two foundation types: private foundations and grantmaking public charities.

Many corporations/companies do have a 'foundation' entity as well, example 3M is corporation/company but also has 3M Foundation.

Dariel Dixon

I'm agreeing with @JoAnn Strommen but feel the need to add this caveat. You'll see times when a gift is expected to come from a company (Corporation) but the gift is routed through the non-profit arm (Foundation). Knowing that these things do happen and having a plan in place for them when they occur is a good idea. There are several ways of handling this, but the best one will depend on the structure of your database.