Peter's 2nd Blog -- Constituent Codes

Welcome to Peter’s 2nd Blog!

Today we’ll be talking about Constituent Codes in the Raiser’s Edge® database system.

It is common for organizations that use Raiser’s Edge® to misuse several of the tables / data entry fields throughout the Constituent Record, and we will discuss more of those in future blogs.

It is crucial, when tracking information in your database, that you follow two simple and fundamental policies:
1) Always track specific information in the pre-specified fields within Raiser’s Edge®
2) Never track the same information in more than one location

This is important, as when it comes time to both query and report on the data, you will pull specific information from specific fields.

Constituent Codes are one of those tables in Raiser’s Edge® that are frequently misunderstood and misused. Also, an organization may also have far too many Constituent Codes populated in the table.

First off, what is a Constituent Code?

A Constituent Code defines the relationship a given Constituent has with your specific organization.
In other words, a Constituent Code tells you why the Constituent is in your database in the first place and how their relationship with your organization has changed over time.

The Constituent Code should be a one or two word, very specific, self-explanatory description of how this particular individual or organization is related to your organization.

Examples of Constituent Codes may include Alumni, Board Member, Donor, Employee, Friend, Prospect, Supplier, & Volunteer.
It is important to note that Constituent Codes are very organization / industry specific and differ depending on the type of organization and the type of Constituents.
For example, a university or college may have a Constituent Code of Alumni or Student, whereas neither one of these would be appropriate for, say, a Hospital Foundation.

The number of Constituent Codes that you have populated in the Constituent Code drop down menu can vary however in most circumstances they should not exceed 20.

With the additional optional Raiser’s Edge® modules that your organization may have installed, it is very easy to track the information you need to without having an abundance of Constituent Codes. For example, you can have one, rather generic Constituent Code of “Prospect” and then further define the type of prospect via the optional Prospect Tab.
In a similar way, you can have a single Constituent Code of “Volunteer” and further define the type of Volunteer and their tasks via the optional Volunteer Tab.

Each Constituent record in your database should have at least one Constituent Code listed, while some may have several. For example, if you have a Constituent that is both a Volunteer and a Donor, then that Constituent should have two codes populated.
It is also important to note that the Date To and Date From fields should be utilized along with the Constituent Code, thus making it very easy to see the transition that your Constituents make with their relationship to your organization over time. For example, if a Constituent becomes a volunteer, you would populate their record with a Constituent Code of Volunteer, use the Date From field to indicate the date they first volunteered and then, if/when they cease their volunteering activities with your organization, you can use the Date To field to indicate the date they ceased being a Volunteer.
Using the Date To field provides the additional benefit of not needing additional Constituent Codes to indicate former relationships, eg Ex-Board Member, Ex-Employee, Ex-Volunteer. These can be identified simply by having the Date To field populated.

It is essential that the names given to Constituent Codes are as self-explanatory as possible so as to prevent confusion as to what is actually being tracked.

A tremendous benefit of Constituent Codes is that they are extremely easy to query upon. For example if you want a very easy way to count or to list, for example, all of your donors who are also volunteers, this becomes a very simple query to run if you are using Constituent Codes to track that information.

Note that the Constituent Code is populated via the BIO2 tab of the Constituent record, and the code that you select for a given Constituent is displayed in red at the bottom on the BIO1 Tab.

Two “take aways” to remember about Constituent Codes:
1) They are a one or two word, very specific explanation of how the Constituent relates to YOUR organization.
2) Every Constituent should have at least 1, some Constituents may have several.

If you ever have any questions about Constituent Codes, or any other technology issue, please email me at plucas@resolutionstech.com and perhaps your question will become my next Blog!

Thanks for reading my 2nd Blog, and don’t forget to tour the website and check out Robin’s Blog too!