Goal and Use

This page enables targeted communications with Donors and, as a bonus, extracts data from MinistryPlatform via export for further analysis.

• The information included is specifically to assist with getting the most targeted communication out possible.
• Online Giving is carved out so you can tell if donors are giving in that manner yet.
• Giving is aggregated to the Household so you can avoid making appeals to people to "begin giving online" who already do.
• Similarly, soft credit is included as we do not want to make appeals to "begin giving online" to people who give through a third party that gives online.
• Member Status, Participant Type, First HH Donation, Last HH Donation and many other fields can be used to create the right list of Donors with whom you are comfortable having a detailed conversation about giving.
• Bonus: This information can shed light into how giving is changing at a Household level from this calendar year versus the last and from before services were cancelled and since.

Users can:

• See how Donors have given year to date this year and last including the variance.
• See how Donors have given year to date this year and last year specifically for online gifts.
• See how Donors have given in the time frame prior to and after a specific date (such as the date when COVID-19 orders forced church to move services and classes online).
• Run basic reports.
• Send emails to the Head of Household.
• Use basic tools such as Transfer Selection and Contact Log to help facilitate communication with sub-sets of donors.
• See all Donations associated with the Household via the Donations sub-page.

Suggested Use:

Each church can leverage the Giving Unit Summary page however they see fit. Some tips and ideas to get started include:

• Reach out to Donors who have not yet donated online.
  • Use a Planned Contact or the Selected Call List report to connect with them via a phone call.
  • Mail a pre-addressed envelopes to Donors who have not yet given online and may be more hesitant to do so.
  • Mail a letter/postcard with instructions on how to give online since many of these check and cash only donors may not have an email address in your system to reach another way.
• Reach out to new online donors.
  • Send them a "thank you" text, email, or postcard/note.
  • Be sure to include a story of how your church is reaching its community and fulfilling its mission in this time.
• Reach out to Donors who haven't given since the Comparison Date.
  • Give them a phone call to check in and pray with them; they may be struggling financially.
  • Send them a text, email, or postcard/note letting them know you are praying for them.

Eligibility

For a Giving Unit to be eligible to have a Giving Unit Summary record, they must have:

• At least one Household Member with a Donor record
• At least one Gift (Donation Distribution) in a finalized Batch dated in the current or prior year credited to that Donor
  Important: Because the Giving Unit Summary is keying off of Households, Donors without a Household do not have their Donations included in this data set.

Soft Credit

Soft Credit Donations are included on the Soft Credit Donor's summary record and are not included in the original Donors summary record. For example, if Joe gave via his Joe's Junkyard business account with Joe as the Soft Credit Donor, Joe's Junkyard will not have a summary and all Donations from that business account will be accounted for in Joe's summary record.

The Donor whose statement would display that Donation will only have a summary record if they have other donations where soft credit was not applied.

Customization

The Giving Unit Summary page can be customized for you church based on Configuration Settings and Payment Types.

Communications

Communicating from the Giving Unit Summary page is similar to other Platform pages. The Contact in scope is the "First Household Member". When both Heads of Household are identified and both Genders are known, this is the male Head of Household. Otherwise it is:

• If both Heads of Household identified but only one known Gender, the known Gender is First Household Member.
• If both Genders known but only one identified as Head of Household, the Head of Household is First Household Member.
• If neither Head of Household identified and no Genders known, the lowest Contact ID is First Household Member.

Professional Services

Other ways a church wants to leverage this tool is up to them. However, any assistance we provide will be a Professional Service. We accept requests to make this better, but they must fit within the primary goal of the page.

Professional Services can also assist with reconciling this data set against other reports and outputs and researching anomalies with this data set. (Note: If such research uncovers an actual error, we will not charge for the team's time.)

Other Important Data Points

For other key data points to be considered in conjunction with the Giving Unit Summary, see:

• Donor Tracking
• Participant Tracking
• Contact Tracking