Lesson 5.5 – Linking Campaigns, Appeals, and Funds

Welcome to Lesson 5.5! In FastFund Raising, organizing your donation transactions requires building a strict four-tiered Gift Pyramid: Funds, Campaigns, Appeals, and Gifts. Building these individual elements is only the first step; you must properly link them together to ensure your revenue flows accurately into your general ledger and your reports reflect your actual fundraising effectiveness.

In this lesson, we will explore how to connect the tiers of your Gift Pyramid and how to assign specific gift designations to your appeals.

1. Linking Campaigns to Funds

At the top of the hierarchy, every Campaign must be linked to one specific Fund (or Net Asset Class). While a campaign can only be tied to a single fund, you may have more than one campaign linked to the same fund to segregate your fundraising activities by year or specific purpose.

• When adding or editing a Campaign, you establish this connection by selecting the appropriate fund from the Fund drop-down menu on the Campaign Details screen.

2. Linking Appeals to Campaigns

Moving down the pyramid, Appeals represent the actual events, mailings, or drives that motivate donors to give. Every appeal must be tethered to a broader Campaign.

• When you create a new Appeal, you must select the overarching campaign from the Campaign drop-down menu (or use the auto-fill feature).

3. Assigning Gifts to Appeals

The most detailed level of linking occurs between Appeals and Gifts. Gifts define the specific type of donation received (e.g., Ticket Sales, Sponsorships). After entering your basic appeal data, you must explicitly assign specific gifts to that appeal. This acts as a critical internal control, restricting which gift designations are available to users when they are entering donations for that specific event.

Steps to Assign Gifts:

1. Open the Appeal record and locate the Appeal Gifts section at the bottom of the screen.
2. The Available Gifts box on the left displays all active gifts not currently linked to the appeal. The Assigned Gifts box on the right displays the gifts that are actively linked.
3. To link a gift, select it in the Available column and click the Right Pointing Arrow (>) to move it to the Assigned column.
4. You can also double-click a gift to move it, or use the Double Right Pointing Arrow (>>) to assign all available gifts at once.
5. Click the blue SAVE button to lock in the relationships.

4. Linking Gifts “On the Fly”

Sometimes during transaction entry, you may realize that the specific gift designation a donor chose has not yet been linked to the selected appeal. FastFund allows you to link gifts directly from the transaction screen without losing your place.

• In the Donations/Receipts (or Pledge/In-Kind) screen, select your Appeal. If the necessary gift does not appear in the Gift drop-down list, click the Link Gifts text link located above the gift grid.
• A pop-up window will display all active gifts not currently linked to the appeal. Select the required gifts, click OK, and they will instantly become available for your transaction.

5. The Final Link: Gifts to Revenue Accounts

The base of the Gift Pyramid is where FastFund Raising seamlessly integrates with FastFund Accounting. Every Gift must be linked to a specific general ledger Revenue Account.

• When creating a new Gift, you must select the appropriate revenue account from the Account drop-down list. When a donation is processed using that gift, the system automatically knows exactly which accounting ledger to credit.