Best Practice for Entering Constituents in Same Household/Diff Last Names

Kelley Malcolm
Kelley Malcolm
Fourth Anniversary Participant
in Blackbaud Altru® General Discussions
Hello! I'm working through some backlog of gifts that weren't entered for FY21 (prior to my joining the agency). One gift is for a couple which have different last names - not entirely uncommon. What are some best practices - two separate records? One record?

Grateful for any insight!

Comments

  • Debbie McKenzie
    Debbie McKenzie
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Enter one of their names and then add the other as the spouse. That will set up a household “Jane Smith and John Doe”. Be sure on the “personal info” tab to check the name format, I find the system defaults to Jane and John Smith or one record and Jane and John Doe on the other, luckily it is easy to correct.

  • Faith Murray
    Faith Murray Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper

    Agree. Whether you set them up as a single record with spouse, or as separate records with Head of Household, should depend on what your policy for other married couples is. Treat them the same as all your married constituents; just be sure to check the Addressee and Salutation fields for format. If you don't have the format you need, you can set a new Salutation format up in Config.

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