How do I set up my campaigns and keycodes in the Databank?

This is a question I'm often asked by new clients. It's tough to answer, because like many things in life, there is no absolute right or wrong way to do it - it really depends on the situation. First, consider the structure of campaigns and keycodes in the Databank. Here's an illustration.


Each donation is part of a Segment (with a unique Keycode), which in turn is part of a Campaign. Campaigns can be assigned a Type, and contributions can be searched and grouped by Type.

Now think about how you will want to report and search on this data. That will help you decide what a Campaign means in your Databank. Some of the most common ways to organize campaigns and the keycodes within them are:

• Time period, e.g. board fundraising for FY 2008.
• Communication method, e.g. phone, mail, online.
• Type of donor, e.g. new, renewal, lapsed.
• Purpose, e.g. general operating, program x, capital campaign, special appeal.

Here's a simple example, using campaigns grouped under the Type "special event."

More on this topic is in the Databank User Guide.

Congratulations to Sen. Chris Marr

Washington Conservation Voters recently named State Senator Chris Marr of Spokane as their 2008 legislator of the year, based on his leadership in advancing environmental protection.

Is it true that birds of a feather flock together? Senator Marr, Washington Conservation Voters, and the Spokane Democrats are all clients of thedatabank.

Product Enhancement: Contact History Sorting and Filtering

You can now sort and filter a person's contact history in their record by any of the columns. Columns can display in ascending or descending order. You can also set a filter on Contact History, so that it shows the items you specify. For example, say you are a Fundraising Manager and you only want to see Fundraising contact notes, nothing else. You can filter for Contact Type = Fundraising and display a nice, clean contact history with only the information you need. You can also click a box to remember the settings next time you sign on.

How to sort by zip code for bulk mail rates

If you're doing large mailing, your organization may be able to save money by using a bulk mail rate - which requires you to sort by zip code.

I just talked to a client who ran into difficulty doing this, due to a bug in Microsoft Word's mail merge which turns 9-digit zip codes into zeros in certain circumstances. I showed him a way to avoid this by circumventing Excel, and instead sorting the list in the Databank prior to exporting. Now it's occurred to me that other users might be interested in this tip. So here's how you do it.

1. Select your list in the Databank.
2. On the Search Results screen, use the Sort to sort by zip code.
3. Export your list, using either Roster or Download. The exported file will remain sorted in the order you chose.
4. Save the exported file to your computer. Do not convert it to an Excel file.
5. In Word, use the merge wizard to link your document directly to the downloaded file (as the recipient list/data file). Then complete the merge.

Question: How can I streamline thank you notes?

Here is the most efficient way people have found to do it. First you'll select the donors that need to be thanked, then merge their info into a letter.

1. Search > Contributions for Date Thanked / Is NULL. That gives you a list of everyone who has not received a thank you.
2. Selection > Roster, choose Member/Contribution Roster, and set it to include "contributions that match most recent search criteria" i.e. those where date thanked is null.
3. Download the roster with names, addresses, relevant contribution details.
4. Then merge that data file into your thank you note template. Once the merge is complete, you can go through the letters one by one and edit them if necessary, such as for large gifts or anything that requires special handling.

You will do two more things to complete the process.

1. Selection > Labels, for the envelopes, if desired. You can also print directly onto the envelopes, using a mail merge with your downloaded data file.
   
2. Selection > Tag, and set Date Thanked to [today] for the selected contributions.

TIP: Be Wary of Skype!

Skype is an Internet telephone service that has become quite popular because it makes long distance and international calling a lot cheaper, or even free. I'm writing this post because to date, we've had a couple of clients who have run into a problem with it with regard to PowerMail and Advocacy messages.

One of Skype's more interesting features is the ability to click on a phone number in a web page, Office Document, or Outlook email to initiate a phone call. But for PowerMail and Advocacy users, this comes at a price because Skype may, without you even being aware of it, add 55K of JavaScript code to your email message, to enable that feature. Their code may be longer than your message!

Skype is NOT being malicious; they're trying to make their service more available and easy to use. But all the additional code can adversely affect the deliverability and presentation of your email message:

1. Excessively long messages are more likely to be viewed as Denial of Service attacks, especially when lots of your recipients are at big providers such as Yahoo, Hotmail/MSN/Windows Live, AOL, GMail, etc.
2. All that JavaScript code may be viewed as an attempt to spread a virus, so receiving email servers may route your email as spam instead of delivering it to your recipients.
3. A large ratio of JavaScript code to message size can also cause your email to route as spam.
4. Even if it gets past spam and anti-virus filters, some email programs may display the JavaScript code as text, making your message look like spam to your recipients.
5. All of the above can be detrimental to your email reputation.

At this point it would seem there are few options for Skype users who want to ensure the best email deliverability:

1. Uninstall Skype (ouch!)
2. Do not use a computer with Skype installed when using PowerMail or Advocacy - especially when creating the HTML message. Also, do not copy content from a computer that has Skype installed - you may copy over the Skype code!
3. If you are comfortable working in the editor's HTML view, you can manually look for and delete the Skype code from your message before you send it. This option is only recommended for persons with a fair amount of technical savvy.

Your Ideas: Online Donors

How has your organization converted offline donors to online donors?

How have you attracted brand new online donors?

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