Managing Relationships In Raiser's Edge

What are Relationships in Raiser’s Edge and how are they managed?

The Relationships Tab on the Constituent record in Raiser’s Edge allows you to link records throughout your database in order to identify and track those Constituents that possess special affiliations and associations. Through this Relationships Tab, there are up to 6 different kinds of Relationships that you can track for a given Constituent:

Individuals
Organizations
Banks & Financial Institutions
Education & Schools
Assigned Solicitors
Funds

What is the purpose of drawing these relationships and how does doing so benefit your organization?

By being able to identify such things as married Constituents or Constituents that are employed by a given organization, you are much better able to fine tune mailing processes and Appeal segmentations.
In this way, your organization is better equipped to organize your fundraising efforts and maximize your returns.

In identifying and establishing these relationships among your Constituents you are building the “Relationship Tree”, through which you can see a real-time break-down of all of the relationships of the Constituent.

The most frequent kind of relationship that is likely to exist for an average Constituent is an Individual Relationship. It should be noted that Individual Relationships are not restricted to merely spouses. You can create virtually any kind of relationship that two human beings may possess, from parent – child to business partners to friends, etc. These Constituents, regardless of the relationship, will be linked via the Relationships Tab and will each appear as a Relationship for the other. Be sure to indicate both the “Relationship” and the “Reciprocal” fields to keep the Relationships in order across both linked records.

Another type of relationship that you are likely to frequently draw between your Constituents is an Organizational Relationship. This may be the place of business in which the Constituent is employed, for example. However, just as you are not limited to only having a spouse as an Individual Relationship, you are likewise not limited to only having an employer as an Organizational Relationship. An Organizational Relationship can be any organization that the Constituent has any kind of affiliation with. Perhaps they serve on the board of directors of the local hospital, or are a member of a club or museum. These, too, are relationships that should be identified and tracked via the Relationships Tab.

You can also draw a relationship between a Constituent and a specific bank or financial institution. This is likely to be done much less frequently than establishing Individual and Organizational Relationships. Often this type of Relationship will only exist in Raiser’s Edge if you require the Constituent’s banking information in order to process their giving transactions. For example, if the Constituent chooses to donate through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), certain specific banking information needs to be tracked and maintained.

A fourth type of Relationship that you can draw in Raiser’s Edge is an Educational Relationship. In drawing Relationships between your Constituents and their places of education, you are able to track such things as year of graduation, grade point average, major/minor, etc. This feature is used most often by Colleges and Universities that utilize Raiser’s Edge to maintain all of their Alumni information.

Assigned Solicitors is another type of Relationship that can exist between your Constituents. Assigned Solicitors are those Constituents who have a specific role, or function within your organization to raise monies from other Constituents. These solicitors are frequently made up of senior members of your organization, members of your Board of Directors, etc. Once a given Constituent has been assigned a solicitor, that solicitor relationship will be displayed on the Relationships Tab.

The sixth and final type of Relationship that you can draw within Raiser’s Edge is a Fund Relationship. It should be noted that a Constituent can have a relationship with more than just one Fund. Essentially, these are Funds with which the Constituent has a special affiliation. An example may be if a Constituent sets up a Fund in the memory of a deceased family member. In this instance, you would draw the Relationship between the Constituent and that specific Fund in order to quickly and easily identify both through whom the Fund was started and which Funds a Constituent feels are especially important to them. This too will assist you in segmenting your Appeals, as you can direct given Appeals to specific Constituents based on where the monies from those Appeals will be directed, ie. the Fund.

The Relationships Tab is one of the most important features on the Constituent record in Raiser’s Edge, and the importance of drawing these relationships amongst your Constituents should not be understated. It is key that these relationships be identified and tracked in order to maintain integrity and accuracy across your database. Relationships are also fundamental to reaching your fundraising goals. For example, if you have an Organizational Constituent that is willing to match the donations of their employees – a Matching Gift Company – then the employee/employer Relationship MUST be established via the Relationships Tab in order to create a matching gift pledge on the Organization’s Constituent record.

So remember to identify and track those relationships that exist throughout your database and build the Relationship Tree! You will be building your infrastructure for improved fundraising.