Spousal Relationships

Aldera Chisholm · October 2022

This is one of these questions where I know the “right” way to do it, so please don't pile on me saying it's not best practice!

To preface - with spouses, the spouse we deal with is the constituent, and the other is a relationship. (We only have them both as relationships in situations where each spouse has a unique relationship with us - not many.)

With that in mind - more and more are filling out their online donation forms with First name “Bob and Mary” and Last Name “Smith.” Is there an argument for NOT having the spouse as a relationship if they don't have any unique contact info, and putting Bob and Mary as the First name?

The advantage is that I don't have to correct it with their online giving, but also, it then would allow emails to them to go to “Bob and Mary” since NXT email can't currently go to Salutation/Addressee, but it can go to First Name.

Has anyone done this, and what are your thoughts?

Aldera

Austen Brown · October 2022

@Aldera Chisholm - The small wins you would get in the short-term do not out-weight the headache you would be creating for the long-term. I can understand the thought process behind wanting to moving data around to accomidate system limitations, but I would discourage this type of edits to a constituent record as it will have a significant impact on addressee/salutations - every export out of the system. As someone who recently tried to overhaul add/sals in a database, these are a pain to change en masse.

Karen Diener · October 2022

@Aldera Chisholm I'm pretty sure that this would ultimately mess with any data append services you would use through Blackbaud or other companies. Their data would not match “Bob and Mary”, but they would match Bob (or Robert) or Mary.

Karen

JoAnn Strommen · October 2022

@Aldera Chisholm Yes, I get a number of entries like that for online gifts. (And admit that in the past I entered my husbnd's name with mine when I wanted him included. ? )

I concur. @Austen Brown and @Karen Diener pointed out key reasons. I know it would be easier but in the long run for the integrity of your database not the best plan.

I've actually run into several instances of that from predecessor or unchecked data entry person. I always opt to clean up.

Aldera Chisholm · October 2022

Does anyone have good suggestions on designing OLX forms to discourage writing in names that way? Weirdly, our OLX donors do it often, but my donors via another online portal we use almost never do (CanadaHelps) and I'm not sure what the behavioral trigger is that leads to such a different trend in the forms!

Austen Brown · October 2022

@Aldera Chisholm - You could try adding a “Donor Recognition” field to your form, as an avenue for donors to list how they want to be recognized publicly. Otherwise, it is just a pain point that you'll have to deal with when reviewing gifts.

Jaclyn Whitelock · November 2022

@Aldera Chisholm:
Does anyone have good suggestions on designing OLX forms to discourage writing in names that way? Weirdly, our OLX donors do it often, but my donors via another online portal we use almost never do (CanadaHelps) and I'm not sure what the behavioral trigger is that leads to such a different trend in the forms!

Could you edit the “first name” field to say something like “First Name (one individual)” or similar? (My brain in failing me a bit, but surely there's a way you could indicate that it should either Bob OR Mary, not both! Perhaps that combined with the option for a “donor recognition” name later in the form would help. (Regardless- I feel your pain! This and shared email addresses are two of my biggest frustrations with spouses).

Aldera Chisholm · November 2022

@Jaclyn Whitelock Hmm, great question! I'm not sure if I can do that on OLX forms, but I will 100% check that out. It's become quite the trend lately, solidly ⅓ gifts are coming in this way lately!

Kristine Marvin · November 2022

@Aldera Chisholm
If you have not yet done so, there is an idea open for vote to add Salutation as a merge field in NXT emails. Search for idea 2285 .

Spousal Relationships

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