Assigned Solicitor Types for Fundraising and Engagement Staff

Taylor Jennings

Hi Everyone, our team traditionally uses primary solicitor and secondary solicitor types for staff leading the fundraising strategy for an ask - with the primary being the lead, and secondary being a supporter. We would like to also identify staff that lead an engagement strategy - ie. they work with the constituent because they are the staff lead on a volunteer committee, and as such have an existing relationship with the individual. The constituent may or may not be a donor or prospect. Depending on the nature of the work and the staff member, if the relationship grows to be cultivation for a proper solicitation, the staff member may or may not be involved in a solicitation. Does anyone track this staff-volunteer relationship in the assigned solicitor tile, and if so, what do you call the staff member? It may or may not work to have them listed as a secondary solicitor, and it may be confusing to call them a primary solicitor when they are not in fact soliciting. Does anyone instead keep their types more general - like a primary staff, or a primary relationship manager, etc. Have you added a type that speaks directly to the staff member being the lead with the constituent due to their involvement with a volunteer committee? At our organization, we do not want to have more than one person listed as a primary solicitor or a secondary solicitor. Does anyone instead use the relationship tile to track this staff-volunteer relationship? Thanks for sharing any ideas or things your organizations do to manage this!

JoAnn Strommen

@Taylor Jennings Welcome to the BB Community forums.
You could certainly add a type. Whatever name works best to describe it: Staff-Volunteer / Staff Relationship /….
We limit on one primary as well and do have some secondary. We have a solicitor type of Natural Partner that we use to note another person on campus who has a relationship with the constituent and is often included in meetings or for info.

Faith Murray

@JoAnn Strommen
I like the label “Natural Partner”. :-) That is a great label that speaks so well to the role.

My one concern with using the Solicitor function for this relationship is if the staffer/volunteer has access to RE. As an assigned solicitor, it will show up on their NXT fundraiser dashboard, even if they are not the “primary” contact and none of the Actions relate to them. I personally only use Solicitors for Development staffers or leadership who should be primary managers of the relationship. For other support people who are not responsible for initiating actions, I would use an Individual Relationship and create a custom relationship type for that.

Marie Broek

@Faith Murray Another option you could consider is using an individual relationship record. On the relationship record, you can indicate the connection using options customized by your organization. It will show up in a separate tile on the constituent record but still allows you to standardize the tracking of those connections.