Household vs Individual Accounts

Rachel Carlin
Rachel Carlin
Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud eTapestry® General Discussions
Hello,


We are just getting started with eTapestry. Would you recommend entering spouses as one account in a household or separate individual accounts?


Thank you.

Comments

  • Crystal Bruce
    Crystal Bruce admin
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Commented in Discussion First Reply
    Discussion moved to eTapestry Community. Thanks!
  • Geoff Arbuckle
    Geoff Arbuckle Blackbaud Employee
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 4 Name Dropper Participant
    HI Rachel.  Generally speaking, I would recommend entering two accounts and then having a spouse/spouse or husband/wife relationship between the accounts.  You can even set one side of the relationship as the "Primary" and the other as a "Member" to establish a household relationship between the two people.


    This way, you can enter direct gifts from one of the individuals in that person's account, still report on it as being a relationship to see a grand total between the members, and still have autonomy if one of the members decides to volunteer or become a board member and so forth without it becoming too confusing about which person is doing what with your organization.
  • Rachel Carlin
    Rachel Carlin
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Hi Geoff,


    Thanks - that's really helpful!
  • Robin Bennett
    Robin Bennett
    Seventh Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Hi Rachel! From the beginning, we combined spouses into the same account. It's worked fairly well with us, but once in awhile it would be easier if we had the spouses in their own account, e.g. if spouses get divorced, the giving information stays with the spouse who made the donation and easier to update contract info. The plus, of course, is that it will take us longer to meet our accounts limit.


    Robin
  • Rachel Carlin
    Rachel Carlin
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Hi Robin,


    Thanks for the response - it's really helpful!


    --


    Rachel Carlin

    Development Associate

    Bridge the Gap College Prep





  • Roma Sharma
    Roma Sharma
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    Hi Please would you be able to share with me your answers.


    Many thanks

    Kind Regards

    Roma
  • Jeff Rogers
    Jeff Rogers
    Fifth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1
    Hi, Rachel:


    We're a year into eTapestry, and we started with having individual accounts and linking via relationships. 


    Then, about six months in, I saw how fast we were adding accounts. I called to check on how to bump up our limit and was told they it was done in batches of 5,000 accounts. Can't recall the cost, but it wasn't cheap.


    So I dived into combining all our spouses into one account for each couple. 


    For consistency, I decided to put in the male name first, followed by an ampersand (&), and the female first name, then the surname. I made sure in the Sort Name field to use Surname, a comma, then the first names. The payoff is when exporting, I can sort out the first names easily, I know at a glance when I have a couple because of the ampersand, and the sort name lets me quickly target on the last name in Excel. 


    Obviously, you have to decide how to handle same-sex couples (primary donor 's first name is first, perhaps?) and couples who use different surnames. Perhaps in the latter case, the best way is to go ahead and split those into separate accounts. 


    After a year, I have plenty to learn, and there are likely far better experts at this, but that was what I came across stumbling across this first year. 


    I wish you well. 


    Jeff


     
  • Roma Sharma
    Roma Sharma
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    Hi This is very helpful.  Please is any way you can share your procdure notes for Household management or screen shot?


    Many thanks

    Kind REgards

    roma

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