Welcome to Lesson 10.6! While FastFund Raising offers a robust suite of standard reports, there will undoubtedly be times when you need to extract highly specific data tailored to your organization’s unique needs. To accomplish this, FastFund provides a powerful Custom Reports Builder.
In this lesson, we will explore how to design custom queries, select your desired output fields, apply complex filter branches, and securely share these reports with your team.
1. Detail vs. Summary Custom Reports
Before building a custom report, you must decide how you want the data presented. FastFund allows you to generate custom reports in two distinct formats:
- Detail Custom Reports: In a detail report, every database record that matches your search criteria is represented by its own individual row in the output. For example, a detail report would list the names and addresses of every single donor who lives in a specific zip code.
- Summary Custom Reports: In a summary report, groups of records that share a common value are summarized into a single output record using aggregate values. For example, instead of listing every donor, a summary report would simply give you the total number of donors within that zip code.
2. The Custom Report Building Process
Creating a custom report is essentially a four-step process: naming the report and setting user access, choosing your output fields, building the filter criteria, and generating the final report.
Step 1: Set Up and User Access
- Navigate to Reports on the Main Menu, and under the Reporting Tools section, select Custom Reports.
- Click New + and enter a Report Name and Description.
- Crucial Internal Control: You can restrict access to sensitive custom reports by assigning specific users. By moving a user from the “Unselected Users” list to the “Selected Users” list, you grant them access. Note: If a user only has read-only permissions in FastFund, they will be able to run the custom reports assigned to them, but they will not be permitted to edit the report’s criteria. Click SAVE.
Step 2: Choose Your Output Fields (Report Column Data) Next, you must tell the system exactly which columns of data you want to appear on your final report.
- Click the Object drop-down to select the data table (e.g., Constituent, Address, or Transaction).
- Click the Field drop-down to select the specific data point (e.g., First Name, Amount, or Date).
- Select a Display value. Leaving it as “Value” generates a detail report. Choosing an aggregate value (like SUM) groups the data for a summary report.
- Select a Sort order (Ascending, Descending, or Unsorted). The field listed first in your grid will act as the primary sort key. You can use the up/down arrows on the left to drag and drop the fields into your preferred column order.
Step 3: Build the Filter Criteria Below the output fields, you must build the filter that tells the system which records to pull. FastFund uses Boolean logic (AND/OR operators) to combine conditions.
- Golden Rules Reminder: Just like standard Report Filters, if your custom report includes mailing data, you must include
Address Select Is True to prevent printing duplicate addresses for the same donor. If your report includes financial data, you must specify the transaction type by including TransactionType Is [Type]. - Filter Branches: If you need to build a complex query—such as an exclusion report to find donors who gave last year but have not given this year—you must use Filter Branches. You can build a primary branch for the previous year’s donors, a secondary branch for the current year’s donors, and join them using the All Do Not Exist condition. This perfectly isolates the donors who lapsed.
Step 4: Generate or Clone the Report
- Once your fields and filters are built, choose your Report Format at the top of the screen. You can generate the custom report as an HTML preview, an XLSX (Excel) spreadsheet, or a CSV text file. Click GENERATE REPORT.
- Cloning: If you need to build a similar report in the future, you do not have to start from scratch. You can open the custom report and click the CLONE button. FastFund will duplicate the report and name it “(Clone ID#) Original Name”, which you can then rename and modify.