Gift Officer - Data Entry

Kim Maynard

Good Morning,

I am the Database Specialist at my organization and that has always included providing data entry and reporting for members of our development department. We have a request to start having gift officers enter their own data and pull their own reports. To me, this is an element of my job, but I'm wondering if other organizations have their gift officers pulling their own reports and how well does that work.

Thank you!

JoAnn Strommen

@Kim Maynard IMO it doesn't work well for many. Maybe you're small enough and have the most capable development team there it.

In db view, I would not even suggest they create their own reports. They could run/refresh a report created by someone who knows the ins/outs of database structure.
In web view, we have tried to create and helped dev officers (DO) create reports that they can run when needed.
For reports, maybe help them create. If they create on their own, check their work to be sure they are getting what they need.

What I've seen:

• DO who dug in - loves to see what can be pulled - pulls own reports in web view
• DO who doesn't seem to want to try to pull own reports - works without the data they should have as reluctant to ask for help
• DO who been doing this for years - doesn't want to run own reports, just asks others to run.
• DO who came with some experience in db view at another org - attempts to pull own reports but when I spot check does not have all the criteria needed to accurately pull in our structure

As to entering bio data/updates, that is only done by support/DBA, not DO. Tracking addresses, solicit codes, attributes needs to be done by someone who knows all the fields.

Our DOs do enter their own actions/notes.

When I started I was expected to pull weekly gift donation reports - I do not do this is that is something they can easily view in web view. It was a matter of educating.

Joe Moretti

@Kim Maynard Sounds like a disaster in the making!!!!!

Alex Wong

@Kim Maynard
RE NXT database view is powerful, but slow (performance issue BB still have and hopefully will fix, though it has been long time). However, learning curve is HUGE. None of our development officer is in database view.

RE NXT webview, there are simple reports that can be used (constituent list, gift list, etc) and if you have Insight Designer, you can design a little more complex dashboard that the DO can use everyday. However, they generally need more indepth stuff, and they are not in position to do this themselves.

We created a lot of BI reports that are “plugged” into RE NXT directly using SKY UX and it shows them exactly what they need to see to do their job, and yet.. we have some that will look themselves, and some will simply not. Rather than clicking 3 clicks to get into the report, they will email someone to get the report emailed to them, which may be hours/day later.

So this all depends on who you are talking to and if your org “forces” roles and responsbility down to the DO.

Faith Murray

@Kim Maynard, this can be a good idea IF (big IF!) it is done properly. Done poorly, it can be disastrous.

First, a scare story. A long time ago, one of our previous Directors took initiative to pull financial reports. However, she had it selected to pull on pledges AND pledge payments, not realizing that would almost double our supposed revenue, and she presented it to our Board along with our annual reports. How embarrassing it was when her successor had to explain that our revenue was actually only half of what we had been telling them!

Another time, we had a planned gift officer trying to pull his own mailing list - trying to use complex criteria and it was just a mess. DO's often don't have the database knowledge to be able to enter things properly, because that is not their full-time job. There's also the accountability factor, because a savvy person can “stack” the numbers in their report by adjusting criteria to make themselves look better for annual review.

However – I do believe that a DO can be more efficient if they can “own” their own process and adhere to certain ground-rules. They don't have to wait on you to enter their data. They can get a real-time picture of how they are performing. And it can save you SO much time if you don't have to enter their actions and notes for them!

At our org, I encourage DOs to enter their own actions and notes when they prove capable. I give them access to select reports in webview so they can view ongoing appeal and actions summaries. However, the number one rule is that these are only for their personal use. Anything “official” – like a mailing list, or any report that goes out to other departments, or our internal analytics – are pulled by myself or our gifts officer. This has worked well for us: it empowers them, and it frees me up from mundane entry to focus on bigger cleanup tasks.

It also elevates YOU, because instead of basic data entry, you now take on semi-managerial responsibilities in training and supervising other users, designing quality control checks, enforcing policies and procedures, etc. Looks good on a resume if you can pull it off. ;-)

Rachel Cavalier

@Kim Maynard
Even before we moved to Raiser's Edge, our Gift Officers would pull their own reports, add pledges and update records - but we have always had firm rules about how records should be updated that they should follow.

Our Supporter Care team are the only ones who pull mailing lists (to ensure we comply with consent etc) and enter cash gifts. The only tricky aspect we had in the switch from our old software to RE is that the old software allowed our colleagues to enter pledges but not cash gifts and of course, RE doesn't differentiate.

We get around this by having a dashboard that our team looks at each day with one tile that shows non-pledge gifts entered by colleagues outside the Supporter Care team. If any cash gifts get entered by mistake, we screenshot the gift record and send it to whoever entered it letting them know it has been deleted and to re-enter as a pledge. They have always been mindful of their data entry, but receiving a couple of these emails really help to cement that they have to double check before saving!

Dariel Dixon

@Kim Maynard This is one of those decisions that can go either way, but I applaud the concept behind it. I think more gift officers should have an understanding of how data can be pulled. However, you should be part of the training of how these reports can be pulled and how to use them. Perhaps it can be just running already canned reports and changing a variable or two.

I think that sometimes we as database managers try to own too much of the processes that we create more work than we need to. I believe in empowering those who have shown themselves to be capable of doing the work. That frees me up to take care of other things. Part of that is making sure you have a certain level of comfort in how they've been trained to do the work, and their aptitude. I'm sure you may have a one or two who just can't get it.

@Faith Murray brings up a wonderful point that could not be articulated better. This is an elevation of status for you to possibly handle bigger problems.

That said, I believe all gift officers should be responsible for adding in their actions and notes. No need to have that information entered second-hand.

Dan Snyder

@Kim Maynard You have a lot of great answers here and to expand a bit on @Rachel Cavalier's point, it can be beneficial to set up some audit dashboards (mine are in database view) if you are forced to allow the entry of data. For example, our GOs do enter their own actions and despite fundraising being a required field in both views, many of them use the Gmail plug-in and forget to check the fundraiser section, so I have an audit for that among other things.

Chanteasea Estes

@Kim Maynard, I think this is common in most organizations because Database persons do so many varied tasks that it isn't easy for them to manage all requests. Pulling your reports will help you see errors in numbers and reporting. You are most familiar with the data you see daily, and other departments pulling that information would not catch something erroneous.

Yes, it is another task assigned to your desk but it will become second nature. I think this will also expand your knowledge of accounts in the database. All the best, you will be just fine.

Chanteasea