Lesson 3.6 – Entities and Organizational Structure

Welcome to Lesson 3.6! In FastFund Online, building a clean, interconnected database is the key to maintaining accurate financial and development records. At the heart of this database structure is the concept of Entities.

Rather than maintaining separate, disconnected lists for your accounting, payroll, and fundraising departments, FastFund stores all individuals and companies in a shared entity table. This powerful structure saves data entry time, prevents duplicate records, and allows you to view a complete picture of an individual’s or organization’s relationship with your nonprofit.

In this lesson, we will explore the five entity types, how the shared database works, and how to seamlessly link records across your modules.

1. The Five FastFund Entity Types

All names entered into the FastFund Online system are collectively referred to as Entities. Depending on the modules your organization licenses, an entity will be classified into one (or more) of the following five categories:

• Constituents (Fund Raising): All individuals and companies that act as donors, volunteers, alumni, members, or prospects. Used to record donations, pledges, and fundraising activities.
• Vendors (Accounting): Individuals and companies you do business with and purchase from. Used to record invoices and cash disbursements.
• Clients (Accounting): Individuals and companies you provide services to. Used to record billings and payments.
• Employees (Payroll): Individual staff members you pay through the FastFund Payroll module.
• Other Names (Accounting): Individuals and companies used to record miscellaneous cash receipts or cash disbursements that do not fit into the other categories.

2. The Shared Entity Database (Sub-Classes)

A major advantage of FastFund is that a single person or company can be classified as multiple entity types simultaneously.

For example, a local law firm might provide legal services to your organization (Vendor) but also sponsor your annual gala (Constituent). In FastFund, you do not create two separate records. There is only one master entity record with two shared entity types (Sub-Classes).

[INSERT SCREENSHOT: Display the top right corner of a Constituent record, highlighting the ‘Sub Classes’ area with clickable blue links for ‘Client’ and ‘Vendor’.]

Because the data is shared, if the law firm moves to a new office, updating their address in the Fund Raising module will instantly update their address for the Accounts Payable department in Accounting.

To easily jump between a shared entity’s different profiles, you can simply click the Sub-Classes text links located in the upper right corner of the entity’s main Details screen.

3. Individuals vs. Organizations

Every entity added to FastFund must be explicitly classified as either an Individual or an Organization. This classification dictates the data entry fields available on their profile.

• Individual Records: Feature fields for First Name, Last Name, Middle Name, Maiden Name, Gender, Marital Status, and personal Employer information. The Display Name is automatically conjugated from the first and last name.
• Organization Records: Feature a single Entity Name field, alongside specific fields for tracking multiple company contacts, employees, and corporate matching gift policies.

If you accidentally create an entity as the wrong type, you can use the Convert to Organization or Convert to Individual link at the top of the record to correct it, though you may lose specific data associated with the original classification (like Alumni data for an individual).

4. Adding Constituents from Existing Entities

When you acquire a new donor, they might already exist in your FastFund database as an Employee or Vendor. To prevent duplicate records and take advantage of the shared entity structure, you should always add them using the Existing Entities function.

[INSERT SCREENSHOT: Show the Constituent list view with the ‘New +’ menu expanded, highlighting the ‘New from an Existing Entity’ drop-down option.]

Steps to Add a Donor from an Existing Entity:

1. Navigate to Lists > Constituents.
2. Instead of just clicking the New + icon, click the drop-down arrow next to it and select New from Existing Entity.
3. Choose whether the new constituent is an Individual or an Organization and click OK.
4. The Existing Entities window will appear, listing all current Clients, Employees, Other Names, and Vendors.
5. Use the Filters + tool to search for the specific name.
6. Click directly on the Entity Name. A verification window will ask if you want to add them as a new constituent. Click OK.
7. The system will pull their existing name and contact information into the Constituent screen. Review the data, apply any relevant fundraising Codes, and click SAVE.