Does Raiser's Edge has the capacity to give access to alums/donors to update their own contact records

Payal Sen

We have been looking into few different thirdparty softwares which can be integrated with RE to give constituents the access to update their own contacts. I was wondering if RE can do that in a some way without involving a third party.

JoAnn Strommen

I believe I heard some time ago that could be done. And I don't think there was a review option.

I recommend caution. I see the data that comes in from NetC, our various online giving platforms, and our alum platform. A lot of it is auto fill. People misspell their own names, their addresses, omit digits in phone #s, etc. IMO, it could have an affect on your database integrity.

Candy Reichert

If you turn on Donor Portal there is an option for constituents to update their profile and their own contact information and any changes should come in for you to review them. You would need to research that feature and what all it includes. They have mentioned working more on the portal in the future.

I would also recommend caution as this gives them access to their giving history. You would want to ensure the correct person has that access. We share it on an as needed basis. We are waiting for a few more features.

Edit: I just saw this is for Database view. The Donor Portal is for Web view.

Lee Grisham

Both @JoAnn Strommen and @Candy Reichert bring up great points as giving people access to update information can come without context and cause MORE errors, which you are trying to avoid. I've used Portal in the past and there is a section where you can review profile updates, but lacks that context as to why the change was made.

In a perfect world, we could have a staff/volunteer call/email/text/mail each donor to ask for updates and then record that in the database with a message as to why there was a change. I've seen some surveys accomplish something similar that doesn't automatically make changes, but allows you to review them before they are permanent and can record the why with a required question. Good luck

Elizabeth Johnson

@JoAnn Strommen and @Candy Reichert I love that you both recommend caution with this. The last time I looked at this the giving history access was our big roadblock to using it. While we don't share amounts for in-kind gifts with donors we do keep their value to us in the system. And the auditors take special attention to in-kind gifts that have values over 5K. If anyone has used it lately and know if this can be filtered out - I would take another look. Glad to hear they plan to spend more time on this in the future.

Dariel Dixon

The Donor Portal is an option but like others have stated, a cautious approach is suggested. Have donors been requesting this access? My organization generally allows donors to request to see what is in their record, but we don't widely give access to make updates. @Lee Grisham's suggestion of a staff or volunteer follow up is important, because changes without context can create confusion. (I did not plan that wonderfully alterative phrase, but hey…)

I've found that update forms with staff follow-up have worked better in my experience. If a donor wants a more thorough review, we can do that personally. It's a great stewardship touchpoint and a great way to create trust.