Online Express Spouse Data Entry

Marcy Deeds
Marcy Deeds
Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Boomerang (2024)
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions
We have been using  RE & FE for about 8 months. We don't love this software yet and keep trying to learn more about it. One thing that drives me crazy is on the Online Express donor form I can't find a way to add the spouse field. I send thank you notes to donors and there is no way for the donor to add their spouses name unless they happen to type "John and Jan" in the First Name field. We added name (s) to try to give people a hint but they don't get it. My problem is that we are offending donors by not including the spouse in the thank you note because we do not know there is a spouse. Seems like an easy thing. Maybe I am missing something but our consultant said we can't add an optional spouse field. Does anyone else have this problem and if so, what is your work around? Thanks in advance.
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  • JoAnn Strommen
    JoAnn Strommen Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 March 2026 Challenge: Answered Questions January 2026 Monthly Challenge
    I agree it would be nice to be able to have a spouse field. I too have had a number of Joe & Jill entries in first name field. When that occurs I just be sure we do have spouse on their record and included in add/sals. 


    My thinking is how can you offend by not including spouse if they didn't include the name either? If they didn't tell you, you have no way to know.  If I want my husband acknowledged when I've done gifts on line I've put both our names in the field. Yes, I get it that you want a way to collect the info but it's not there. 
  • Judy Spigarelli
    Judy Spigarelli
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant
    Although I would prefer there be a proper way to map spouse name, you could create a gift attribute of spouse name.  This would allow the spouse to be captured on the OLX form, downloaded as an attribute, and then added to the record.  When you run acknowledgments, you would then have both names.  If you have two attributes Spouse First Name and Spouse Last Name, then perhaps you could merge the spouse first name into the emailed acknowledgement - but I'm not sure as I've not tried to merge in gift attributes.
  • Heather MacKenzie
    Heather MacKenzie
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 August 2025 Monthly Challenge Badge bbcon 2025 Attendee Badge
    Judy Spigarelli:

    Although I would prefer there be a proper way to map spouse name, you could create a gift attribute of spouse name. This would allow the spouse to be captured on the OLX form, downloaded as an attribute, and then added to the record. When you run acknowledgments, you would then have both names. If you have two attributes Spouse First Name and Spouse Last Name, then perhaps you could merge the spouse first name into the emailed acknowledgement - but I'm not sure as I've not tried to merge in gift attributes.



    I love this idea, Judy Spigarelli‍! I don't think that's a mergeable field, thought, so it still will take some data review and entry as the gift is being processed in batch, but it's better than not having it at all.


    Also, Marcy Deeds‍, I'm curious why that would be offending people? Did you ever learn why? and I'm curious as to what you ended up doing. Please update us!

  • Judy Spigarelli
    Judy Spigarelli
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    I love this idea, Judy Spigarelli‍! I don't think that's a mergeable field, thought, so it still will take some data review and entry as the gift is being processed in batch, but it's better than not having it at all.

    You're right Heather MacKenzie‍, gift attributes are not merge fields allowed in the automated email acknowledgement. Bummer! But at least it can be dealt with in the batch. I think I'll check the idea bank in case this is in there and needs my vote - or I'll add it! Gift attributes allowable as merge fields in OLX!!!

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