Events: New emails and phones - source attributation

Jack Briggs

Hello! We use event registration forms in NXT and they've been a great buy-in from the team (hooray!), but when new email addresses and phone numbers are added, we need to be able to source these. We use the 'comment' field in RE7 but those that are automatically added by NXT aren't 'known' to us to check; how are people dealing with this?

I've subsequently created a query to find 'phone changed this week' and 'phone comments blank' but then I'm having to detective if it's an event or gift via NXT, or a team member gone rogue. When consent changes are recorded via forms, there is an 'NXT user' attributed. Do we think this can be done for event and gift info? Or will comments finally come to NXT?

Lena Payne

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/314375#Comment_314375

One thing you could do, if knowing the channel the data came from was important, is create a new phone or email type (for example, "Email Gift") and use that when processing the data. We used to use the comment box when it was practical, but we've been relying on it less and less. At the end of the day, you either have consent to contact someone (as recorded in the solicit codes) or you don't.

Karen Diener

I have never worked with an organization that sourced contact information. What is the rationale behind it? I wonder how much effort would be put toward this and detract from other work.

The feature grid may have details on comments in webview. I would also check the idea bank.

Jack Briggs

By 'sourced' I mean note where we got the contact details from i.e. did a person directly give us the information, did we get it from a business website, etc. If we don't know how we got an email address or phone number, we shouldn't use it for data protection reasons (like, if a friend randomly gives my phone number to an organisation, the organisation certainly shouldn't then use it to contact me!). I'm based in the UK - international protections may differ!

Wendy Bondeson

I agree, make an email type to be used on the event registration forms for your tracking purposes.

Karen Diener

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/314375#Comment_314375

I knew what you meant by "sourced" but didn't know why that would be important. In what kind of situation would a friend provide a phone number for you that the organization could not even use? I feel like I wouldn't even put that into the database.

Otherwise, using specific types may help. Otherwise, your policy may need to state that you only add contact information that you are allowed to use.

JoAnn Strommen

Understand you're in a bit different situation with GDPR. We use a source/comment of 'constit provided' - info we need yet broad enough to cover many incoming channels.

Jack Briggs

So my issue is that I am not processing the data - it's coming automatically via registration forms or donation forms through NXT… I think. And it's the "I think" part that I am unable to source with conviction, and opens a hole for me with GDPR. It's nothing to do with solicit codes.

If I can make every event and donation form-acquired phone number or email address go to it's own email type that would be amazing, because then I never need to think about it, and if I get some unattributed strays then they're going to be from team members and I can add e.g. constit provided myself.

Is this the function in Tools > Form settings? e.g. Email mapping?

Lisa Komp

I agree with Jack. We've been using Event forms for 3 years and run into the same issue.

I do like the idea of creating a new email type just for event registrations and donations, so we always know exactly where that new email address comes from, and so it never is mistaken by any of our users as the primary email.