Segregated Databases

Amanda Doty
Amanda Doty
Tenth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions
We have an affiliate organization, ministry rather, which our organization supports by providing financial and administrative resources however this organization operates separately as its own entity.  They do not currently own database software and we have been recording the donations they receive in our Raiser’s Edge database with special fund codes and reimbursing.  They are expanding their fundraising efforts and are asking for access to their donor records.  The problem is that many/most of these donors also give to our organization and we do not want to give them access to any shared donor’s full giving history or information that pertains to our organization’s relationship with the donor as to not go against donor privacy policies.  Their number of donors is not large – approximately 2,500 to 3,000.  This affiliate organization may not be financially sustainable in the distant future so with that and the small number of donors it is not reasonable for them to purchase a software as extensive as Raiser’s Edge but it is becoming cumbersome on our staff to continue providing their donation maintenance and revenue reporting.  One solution discussed was to create a segregated database in our Raiser’s Edge with duplicate records for the shared donors that they could access and maintain.  Another solution was for them to purchase a smaller software package with less commitment required such as Little Green Light and provide them with an exported file of their donors to set it up with.  Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or have any suggestions? Thanks!
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  • Karen Diener
    Karen Diener
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper
    Before moving to LGL, investigate two security options for those users:


    Security by Constituency:  If you add a specific constituent code to records they would not be allowed to see, you can then use that in a security group in Admin to prevent them from viewing the constituent records.  It would be nicer if you could opt them in to seeing records, rather than opt them out, but that's how it works.


    Gift Security by Fund:  Similarly, you can set up security to prevent those users from seeing specific Funds.  Again, this opts them OUT of seeing "your" gifts.


    The combination of the two could accomplish what you are looking for, but the question is how easy will it be to maintain and keep accurate.  Do some testing on a small group of records - including how it work in queries / exports / reports - before you set up the whole process.


    If it doesn't work or isn't really easy to maintain, LGL could be a great alternative.


    Karen

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