Major Appeal- Camapign, Appeal and Fund coding HELP!

Question

Hi all,

I have just joined a new org and inherited a coding structure that does not make sense and I'm looking to consult the hive mind to see how we can fix it and what good looks like.

We have a Major Appeal launching with an overall fundraising goal and it will take 5 years. Currently the Major Appeal is set up as a campaign (no issues there) but then all of the elements of the campaign (i.e what we are funding) are also set up as campaigns (so there are 15 current campaign codes associated with this Major Appeal). Funds have then been set up to duplicate some of these campaign codes, for specific projects associated with the Appeal, and are also being used to track funders (our corporate partnerships team uses funds for all of their corporate partners).

So… in my mind I would like to keep the Major Appeal main campaign code, get rid of all of the other 14 campaign codes and switch these to funds (hopefully this is correct). Then create some ground rules (one code type, one purpose) to stop people using campaign codes to designate vague donor interest, or to designate restriction and to stop people using funds to show funders.

Campaign- Major Appeal

Fund- part of the Appeal the money is going to i.e funding a specific research grant or nurses

Appeal- how the money came in i.e Major donor solicited, Xmas Direct Mailing

But what do we do about corporate partner income. How are people coding donations from employees or locations of a corporate?

Would be great if anyone had any examples of a coding structure for corporate income or Major Appeal.

Alan Cole · Answer

JoAnn and Dariel are absolutely right. Always start with the reporting and work backwards. That is how I got to my solution, but what works for me might not suit your needs.

JoAnn Strommen · Answer

Reading your post and was going to say exactly what @Alan Cole said, "I think you are on the right track."

If your corporate income is not able to be pulled by fund, it certainly could be its own appeal or using a gift code or gift attribute.

It would be worthwhile to have a discussion with your team on what reports you anticipate needing. Then ensure that you have the needed fields/data entry to filter and produce report.  Try to decide what you do need without making gift entry difficult.

Dariel Dixon · Answer

@Elizabeth Whelehan It does sound like the current structure does not make much sense, but I would advice you to think about your reporting.  What will you need to report on, and creating a structure that makes that easiest. And for the love of all things holy, DOCUMENT IT.

It won't matter what you do if you don't have a document explaining how and why things are the way they are.  You don't want someone to come into the same situation you just did.