There are five closely-related records in MinistryPlatform.

• Contact: Everyone. Holds personal information such as gender, birthday, mobile phone, and email.
• Household: Almost everyone. Holds information such as multiple contacts, physical address, home phone, and congregation.
• Donor: Anyone who has given money. Holds information such as Donations, pledges.
• Participant: Anyone involved in the life of the church. Holds information such as participation in Groups and Events.
• User: Anyone who creates an account online or those who have right to the platform. Holds username and password.

A person always has a Contact record and a Household record, regardless of the entry point of that record into the database. Depending on how a person enters into the database, they may have a Donor, Participant, and/or User record.