Lesson 4.6 – Donor History and Relationship Management

Welcome to Lesson 4.6! Understanding a donor’s past giving habits and their connections to other individuals or businesses in your community is vital for effective stewardship and targeted solicitations.

FastFund Raising provides comprehensive, multi-level views of a constituent’s financial history and offers powerful linking tools to map out their personal and professional networks.

In this lesson, we will explore how to access donor giving histories, utilize the summary tabs, and manage interconnected relationships within your database.

1. The Quick Snapshot: Recent Activity

When you first open a constituent’s record, you do not have to dig deep to see their latest contributions. As long as your user profile has the proper permissions to view financial history, the main Details tab will automatically display a quick snapshot of their giving.

• Recent Activity Grid: Located in the center of the Details screen, this grid displays the donor’s last six transactions. It includes the date, transaction type (e.g., Cash Gift, In-Kind), the driving appeal, the gift designation, and the amount. You can drill down directly into the original transaction by clicking on the transaction line.
• Donor Summary Box: Located just to the right of the Recent Activity grid, this box provides a high-level comparison, displaying the total annual giving for the current year versus the previous year, alongside the donor’s lifetime total number of donations and lifetime total amount.

2. The Detailed View: The History Tab

For a comprehensive look at every transaction a donor has ever made, you will use the History tab located at the top of the constituent’s record.

This screen acts as a dedicated transaction register for the specific donor. By default, it displays activity for a specific date range, but you can easily manipulate the view using the filter tools at the top of the screen:

• Date Range: Quickly filter the history using preset date options like Fiscal YTD, Last Calendar Year, or custom date parameters.
• Donation Types: Choose exactly what type of financial activity you want to see. You can filter the list to show only Donations/Receipts, Pledges, In-Kind gifts, or Soft Credits.
• Advanced Filters: You can further narrow the history by searching for a specific Check Reference number, a specific Appeal, or looking for gifts greater than, less than, or equal to a specific dollar amount.

If you need to share this history with a board member or development director, you can easily export the filtered list into a PDF, Excel (XLSX), or comma-delimited (CSV) file using the Export drop-down menu.

3. The Long-Term View: The Summary Tab

While the History tab shows line-by-line transaction details, the Summary tab provides a macro-level overview of the donor’s long-term loyalty to your organization.

When you click the Summary tab, FastFund automatically calculates and displays:

• The exact date and amount of their Last Donation.
• The exact date and amount of their Largest Donation.
• A year-by-year breakdown of their total giving for the last ten calendar years, culminating in their grand total lifetime giving.

4. Relationship Management (Linking Records)

Cultivating major gifts often relies on understanding who your donors know. FastFund allows you to map these networks using the Relationship code type.

Relationships allow you to structurally link two distinct constituent records together to define their connection. Common examples include family ties (Parent/Child), professional ties (Business Partners), or corporate matching ties (Employee/Employer).

Steps to Create a Relationship Link:

1. Open the constituent’s record and navigate to the Codes tab.
2. Select Relationship from the Code Type drop-down menu and click New +.
3. Select the specific relationship type (e.g., “Business Partner”) from the drop-down.
4. Link the Entity: You must link this relationship to another existing record in your database. Begin typing the related constituent’s name in the Entity field. FastFund will auto-fill the matching name alongside their unique Entity ID number to ensure you are linking to the correct person.
5. Add any relevant notes in the Comments field and click SAVE.

Once saved, the relationship is established. When viewing this relationship on the Codes tab, the related constituent’s name will appear as a blue hyperlink. Clicking that link allows you to instantly jump from the current donor’s profile directly into their partner’s or employer’s profile.