Lesson 9.4 – Exporting Data and Reports

Welcome to Lesson 9.4! While FastFund Online provides comprehensive built-in reporting, there are times when you need to extract your raw data for external use. You might need to create specialized mail merges, import your donor list into a third-party email marketing tool, or perform advanced spreadsheet analysis.

In this lesson, we will explore the Names Export utility for extracting your constituent database, as well as how to export generated reports into various file formats.

1. The Names Export Utility

To extract the people and organizations stored in your database, FastFund provides the Names Export utility. This tool securely exports your constituent data into a Comma Delimited (.csv) file. A CSV file is a universally accepted format that can be easily opened in Microsoft Excel or imported into other software platforms.

2. Accessing and Selecting Data

Because FastFund shares a common names database across its accounting, payroll, and fundraising modules, you must specify exactly which type of entity you want to export.

Steps to Access the Export Tool:

1. Select Utilities from the Main Menu.
2. Under the Data Export section, click on Names Export.
3. A drop-down menu will appear. To export your donors, prospects, and other fundraising contacts, you must select Constituents. (Note: The other options—Other, Vendors, Clients, and Employees—are tied to the Accounting and Payroll modules).

3. Filtering the Export List

After selecting “Constituents,” a list of your database names will appear in the Export Names window. You rarely need to export your entire database at once.

FastFund allows you to apply filters to select a specific, targeted group of names to export. For example, you can use the Filters + tool to isolate all active donors who gave to a specific campaign, or constituents who live in a specific zip code. Alternatively, you can manually check the boxes next to individual names to select them for export.

4. Generating the Export File

Once your selections are made, you are ready to generate the file.

1. Click the blue Export button.
2. FastFund will automatically generate a default file name in the Export Filename field. You can override this and type a new file name, but be sure to keep the .csv file extension at the end of the name.
3. Depending on your specific web browser’s settings, the file will either automatically save to your default “Downloads” folder, or a prompt will appear asking you to select the location where you want to save the file.

5. Exporting Standard Reports

Beyond extracting raw constituent lists, you can also export any of the standard, formatted reports you generate in FastFund Raising (such as a Donor History Report or a Campaign Summary).

After generating a report, icons representing different file formats will appear at the top of the report window. You can click these icons to export the formatted report as:

• A PDF File (.pdf extension)
• An Excel File (.xlsx extension)
• A Comma Delimited Text File (.csv extension)
• An HTML File

When you select the Excel or CSV export options, a default file name will appear. You can use the “Save As” function to select the destination folder on your computer and assign a new file name.