Additional items or services required to use online
features
Important Notices for Trial Users
How to Install GiftWorks from a CD:
How to Install GiftWorks from a Download:
Getting the Most out of GiftWorks
Queries, SmartLists, Mailing Lists and Reports Explained
Donation Changes And Additions
Mailings Changes And Additions
Importing into an Existing Database
Steps for Importing from Outlook
General Steps for Importing from Excel, Text, or Access
Specifics for Importing by File Type
General Guidelines for Importing from Excel
Importing from Multiple Tables
Importing from Text Files (.txt or .csv)
More than 10 Donations per Donor Row
Special Options on the Mapping Screen
Creating Custom Fields and Groups
Mapping and Creating a Custom Field in One Step
APPENDIX A - Importable Fields
Individual Address Information (up to 2 addresses)
Organization/Company Information
Organization Address (up to 2 addresses)
Organization Contact Information
Organization, Individual and Household Default Values
GiftWorks Fields (Drop-down lists)
Custom Fields for Donors and Donations
View and Edit Donations and Pledges
Run Reports on Donation and Pledges
GiftWorks Honoraria and Memorials
Creating, Editing and Deleting Honoraria and Memorials
Accrediting a New Donation to an Honorarium or Memorial
Creating and Managing Built-in Mailings
Creating and Managing Mailing Lists
Adding Donors to a Mailing List
Run a Report Using a SmartList
Running a Report on a SmartList
Running a Report on an Individual Record
Report Styles and Customization
Print Reports and Export Lists
Integration with Intuit QuickBooks™ Accounting Software
Transaction Option: Cash Basis vs. Accrual Basis
Summary Option: Summary vs. Individual Transaction
Information
Posting Changed or Deleted Donation/Pledge Amounts
Changed Donation/Pledge Amounts
Deleted Donation/Pledge Amounts
Posting Transactions from GiftWorks to QuickBooks
Donor Data Stored in QuickBooks
Good Data Management: The Care and Feeding of Your Donor
Data in GiftWorks
Creating and Choosing a Location for your Database File
A Word about Creating Copies of your Database File
Periodically Backing Up your Database File
Maintaining Consistent Data Entry Practices
Thank you for your
purchase or trial of Mission Research GiftWorks! Satisfaction is 100%
money-back guaranteed – see your license agreement for details.
GiftWorks helps
you support your organization’s mission more efficiently and effectively by
tracking donors and donor relationships, donations and pledges,
mailings, lists, and campaigns—all in one place. Kick off campaigns easily with
our smart wizards and built-in marketing tools. Impress your board and sponsors
with crisp, clean reports produced in minutes. Turn your volunteers into heroes
who are happy and productive from day one, without the hassle of software
training. GiftWorks is the best investment you can make toward raising more
money, most effectively. Let’s get
started!
To use Mission
Research GiftWorks, you need:
·
PC with
Pentium III 333 MHz processor (Pentium 4 1GHz recommended)
·
Microsoft
Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4, Windows
XP Home Service Pack 2, Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, Windows Server
2003 Service Pack 1, or Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 1 operating
system
NOTE: Please make sure your operating system has
the latest updates from Microsoft by navigating to: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
It may take several passes through the Windows update process to retrieve all
of the critical updates. Please continue to run Windows update until no more
critical updates are found.
·
Microsoft
Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0
·
128 MB
of RAM (256 MB recommended)
·
40 MB
of available hard-disk space
·
CD-ROM
drive (for installation from CD)
·
Microsoft
Outlook required to send email
·
Internet
access required for automatic software updates and sending email
·
The
GiftWorks trial is intended for evaluation purposes only.
·
The
GiftWorks trial expires 30 days after installation. This means that files
created with the trial software will no longer be accessible after trial
expiration. After the trial expires, you will need to purchase a GiftWorks
license in order to continue using GiftWorks.
·
Emails with
customer service are included with this trial. There is no paid technical
support included with this trial.
·
You
must accept the GiftWorks License Agreement during installation before you can
use this product. If you do not accept the terms of the License Agreement, do
not install or use the product.
1. Insert disk into your CD-ROM drive.
Installation will
automatically begin. If it does not, double-click My Computer, and then double-click your CD-ROM drive icon. Choose SETUP.EXE.
2. From the initial setup screen, click Next. Please note that you can select Back at any time during installation if
you want to change a previous selection.
3. Read the GiftWorks License Agreement. If
you accept the terms of the License Agreement, select the I accept button and click Next.
If you cannot accept the terms of the License Agreement, then select Cancel and do not install or use the
product.
4. Enter your name and your organization's
name in the spaces indicated. If you want anyone using this computer to be able
to use GiftWorks, then select the Anyone
button. You will be able to add additional user names after installation. If
you are the only person who should be able to use GiftWorks, then select the Only for me button. Click Next after making your selection.
5. GiftWorks will install into your Program
Files folder by default. Click Next
to accept this default setup. If you would like to install into a custom folder
instead, select Change and browse to
the folder of your choice. You can create a new folder if you wish. Click OK once you have chosen your custom
folder, then click Next. If you are
creating a new folder, GiftWorks will ask you for confirmation. Click OK to confirm this.
6. GiftWorks is now ready for installation.
Click Install to
complete the wizard and install GiftWorks on your computer. Installation may
take several minutes.
7. When the installation wizard is completed,
you may check the Launch Mission
Research GiftWorks box and click Finish
to launch Mission Research GiftWorks. If you want to use GiftWorks later, just
click Finish.
1. Download the
GiftWorks installation file from http://www.missionresearch.com/downloads.
2. When given the option, choose to save the
downloadable file, and save it to an easy-to-remember location such as your
Desktop.
3. When the download is complete, double-click
on the downloaded file to start the installation.
4. From the initial setup screen, click Next. Please note that you can select Back at any time during installation if
you want to change a previous selection.
5. Read the GiftWorks License Agreement. If
you accept the terms of the License Agreement, select the I accept button and click Next.
If you cannot accept the terms of the License Agreement, then select Cancel and do not install or use the
product.
6. Enter your name and your organization's
name in the spaces indicated. If you want anyone using this computer to be able
to use GiftWorks, then select the Anyone
button. You will be able to add additional user names after installation. If
you are the only person who should be able to use GiftWorks, then select the Only for me button. Click Next after making your selection.
7. GiftWorks will install into your Program
Files folder by default. Click Next
to accept this default setup. If you would like to install into a custom folder
instead, select Change and browse to
the folder of your choice. You can create a new folder if you wish. Click OK once you have chosen your custom
folder, then click Next. If you are
creating a new folder, GiftWorks will ask you for confirmation. Click OK to confirm this.
8. GiftWorks is now ready for installation. Click
Install to
complete the wizard and install GiftWorks on your computer. Installation may
take several minutes.
9. When the installation wizard is completed,
you may check the Launch Mission
Research GiftWorks box and click Finish
to launch Mission Research GiftWorks. If you want to use GiftWorks later, just
click Finish.
1. To launch GiftWorks, go to the Windows task
bar and click Start, click Programs, click Mission Research, and then click GiftWorks, or double-click on the GiftWorks “G” icon on your
Desktop.
2. If you've already purchased GiftWorks,
enter your Software Key in the box indicated and click Go. To buy GiftWorks, click on Buy
GiftWorks Now and submit payment through our secure Web site. To start a
no-risk trial, click on Try GiftWorks
Free.
3. Next,
you must register your copy of GiftWorks. Enter the requested information
and click Next.
4. The following page will confirm your Trial
or Purchase. Click Next.
5. At the welcome screen, click Start.
6. If you installed GiftWorks from a CD, we
recommend that you check for any software updates. Click Check for Updates to
do this now.
7. GiftWorks is set to check for software
updates automatically. Click Next to
confirm this setting and have GiftWorks check for updates automatically. If you
wish to turn this feature off, simply deselect the Have GiftWorks check for updates box before clicking Next.
8. Enter your name in space provided, and then
click Next.
9. If you would like to simply try out the
features of GiftWorks without setting up your own database, you may select the Use the sample database button before clicking Next. GiftWorks assumes that you would like to
create a new database. Click Next to
set up your new database. If you have an existing GiftWorks database to use,
select the Select an existing database
button before clicking Next.
a. If you are creating a new database, enter a name for this database in the
space provided. GiftWorks will save your database in a pre-selected GiftWorks
folder. Click Next to accept this
selection, or if you wish to save your database in a custom location, click on
the filename and choose the folder that you would like to use. Click on OK once you have highlighted your
selection, then click Next.
b. If you are selecting an existing database, click on Browse and choose the GiftWorks database that you would like to
use. Click on Open once you have
highlighted your selection. Click Next
to launch your database.
10. If you have created a new database, GiftWorks will now take you through the
Setup Wizard, which will give you guidance for doing some preliminary setup for
your database and take you through the optional process of importing donor and
donation information from another application.
11. You have completed setup! Click on Sign In to open GiftWorks. If you wish
to change any of your setup selections before signing in, simply click on the
option and follow the setup instructions for that item.
An Overview of Fundraising and Donor Relationship Management with
GiftWorks
Your nonprofit
survives on the investment of your donors, the good will of your volunteers,
the work of you and your co-workers, and the passion of your supporters. The
more efficient you are with your fundraising, the easier it is to raise the
money you need to accomplish your mission on an ongoing basis.
Mission Research
developed GiftWorks to help you increase the effectiveness of your fundraising
efforts. This overview will give you insight into the power of GiftWorks for
managing your donations, donor relationships, and fundraising process.
Using GiftWorks is
mostly easy—you already know that. Sections are on the top, things you can do
are on the left, your work is in the middle, and help is on the right and
follows you where you go. But using GiftWorks (or any software) effectively is
a different thing altogether and depends more on you and your decisions than
the software. The quality of the software should be matched by the quality of
the data you put in and the methodology of your fundraising. So here we
go—ready?
You have donors
and potential donors. Everybody you know—friends, family, vendors, volunteers—is
a potential donor. Not all people and organizations in your
GiftWorks database make donations. We call them
donors optimistically; in GiftWorks, everyone is considered a donor or a
potential donor. Donors who
gave this year are more likely to give next year than donors who gave last
year, and are certainly more likely to give than those who have never given.
So you add donors
to GiftWorks with the expectation that they or someone they know could give a
donation sometime in the future—it’s part of building
your support base. When they give a donation, there’s a lot of important
information you should track that can be important later toward giving you
insight into what works, who gives, why they give, and how you can raise more.
If you’ve used
older, outdated fundraising software, you probably know about codes for organizing your donors into
categories. GiftWorks doesn’t have any codes—codes are cryptic and we try to be
very clear about everything in GiftWorks. Instead, GiftWorks has Groups, which give you a way to organize your
donors based on whatever you’d like--non-demographic information. For instance,
GiftWorks has a Volunteers group to which you can add donors.
Let’s say you add
a new group (Donors, Manage Donor Groups) called Fall Dinner Hosts. You can assign
donors to this group by clicking Edit this Donor, then scrolling to the bottom
and checking that group and saving. You can also add donors to a group when you
add them to GiftWorks for the first time.
Now go to
SmartLists, create a SmartList of
people who belong to the Fall Dinner Hosts group by selecting Personal Details
> Groups >
Fall Dinner Hosts. Remember when you added your new group, Fall Dinner Hosts?
That shows up in SmartList criteria, in your letter template fields, and your
donor records. So now we’ve selected Fall Dinner
Hosts as your SmartList criteria, everyone who belongs to that group will show
up on this list. Save it as Fall Dinner Hosts, making sure
you add the list to your Favorite SmartLists.
Another place to
create and manage groups is from within the Donors screen. Clicking on Manage Donor Groups on the left
menu under Other Tasks take you to a Manage Donor Groups screen where you can
create new groups.
So you’ve created
a group, and you’ve created a SmartList of
that group, so that now when you add a new person to the group, they
automatically show up on the SmartList of Fall Dinner Hosts.
Once you have a
SmartList, you can do things with it, like add it to
a mailing list, send mail directly to the list, send
email to the list, and run a report just for the people on the list. You can
also browse through the list by double-clicking on a donor name
to view the donor, then clicking on the arrows on the bottom of the list to
view each donor on the list. If you click on a different tab, GiftWorks will
show that tab as the default view as you step through the list.
If you’ve used
Access or some
fundraising packages, you’ve heard of queries. A query is a question to the
database, like “Would you please give me all donors
from
In GiftWorks, a SmartList describes the result, and instead of creating
a “query”, you “build” a SmartList--a SmartList shows the results of a query.
You build your SmartList, telling GiftWorks to show you donors who match the
criteria you want, and GiftWorks shows you those donors. Then you can save that
SmartList and name it for later use.
So what’s a report? A report is another way of
looking at a SmartList.
Reports give
you different views of your SmartList results, like bar charts or line charts that
plot donations from the donors on your SmartList. You can run a report about all
records in GiftWorks, or just on a SmartList. Here’s a good tip:
So what’s a Mailing List? A mailing list is a
list of donors you have designated to get a mailing. You can add donors to a
mailing list one at a time, or many at a time by adding a SmartList of
donors to the mailing list. If you have three SmartLists: Volunteers, Fall Dinner Hosts, and Board
Members. You can add all of them to your mailing list, Fall Dinner Invitations, by clicking Add to Mailing List when you
are viewing the SmartList. Or you can add the SmartList from within the Mailing
List Manager.
When you’re ready
to create your mailing, you can remove anyone you’d like from the
mailing list. They won’t be removed from the database, just the mailing list.
In the example
above, the appeals you make to these three different SmartLists of
donors—Volunteers, Fall Dinner Hosts, and Board Members—may need to be
different, because they may represent different audiences with different
motivations and interests. You can create
separate letter templates for these three types of donors, then create
SmartLists of these donors, and then either Send Mail to
the SmartList while viewing the SmartList, or create a new
mailing list for
each one and associate the different letter templates with the appropriate
mailing list.
Getting your existing data into GiftWorks is one of the most important things you'll do as a new GiftWorks customer. You want to make sure to preserve as much of your historical information as possible, so you can immediately take advantage of GiftWorks' abilities to create lists, send mailings, run reports and more.
GiftWorks makes it easy to import your existing donor and donation information, but importing is still somewhat technical and will require some preparation and forethought to be accomplished properly.
This guide will provide some suggestions, instructions and warnings to keep in mind as you plan and then import your data into GiftWorks. We assume that you will have a solid knowledge of your current donor management system.
Mission Research can provide assistance with your import in two ways. We can provide limited technical support when you contact us via the Help center at http://help.missionresearch.com. Another alternative is having Mission Research import and convert your data for you. Converting data to GiftWorks typically costs between $800 and several thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of your existing data. We can typically accomplish the conversion in about 10 to 15 business days. Please go to www.missionresearch.com/imports for more information about having Mission Research perform your conversion.
GiftWorks can import from the following sources:
If your data is in another format (for example in a different database program or commercial donor management package), you can normally export your data from that program to one of the above formats. It can then be imported into GiftWorks using the built in tools. Consult the user's manual of your current software or contact its manufacturer for more information about exporting data.
A typical import begins with analysis of the existing data. You’ll want to look through the data and “clean it up” (see Preparing for Import).
If you’re importing from a single spreadsheet, or a single table in Access, or a single text or .csv file, and you have cleaned an mapped the data properly, you will likely be able to complete your import in a single run through the importer. The only reason why you would not be able to do so is if you have more than 10 donations per donor in the file. Details on how to import more than 10 donations from a single spreadsheet is found under the Special Situations and Tools section of this guide.
Follow the steps through the importer, answering the questions about the data contained in your import file.
Your transition to GiftWorks will be simpler if you
"clean up" your data and prepare your files prior to importing them
into GiftWorks. "Cleaning" your data involves several standard steps
that will make your data more valuable by eliminating duplication and errors.
Thoroughly carrying out the following steps will ensure your data conversion
goes as smoothly as possible.
1. Removing Duplicates
Review your database and check for duplicate records. GiftWorks sees a
duplicate a record as an individual record with matching first, middle, and
last names, or in the case of an organization, matching organization name. It
is important to check all individual names, organizations, and addresses. An
example of a duplicate name might be “Fred Rogers at 13 Oak St.,” “Fred E.
Rogers at 13 Oak Street” or “Fred Rodgers at 13 Oak ST”. Combine records where
there are two or more sets of data for the same person with the same address.
Remember, you may have two records for a single donor or address for a specific
reason. For example, there may be a home address for "Fred Rogers"
and a work address, or a record for "Fred Rodgers at 15 Oak St." and
another record for "Ethel Rodgers at 15 Oak St." It is necessary to
decide if two records are needed. In general, it is best to eliminate
unnecessary records.
When importing organizations with the same name, such as the First Methodist Church
which is in Boston and the First Methodist Church in Cambridge, you will need
to enter the organizations names as First Methodist Church of Boston and First
Methodist Church of Cambridge. If you do not change their names, the records
will not import properly.
2. Multiple types of data in one field
There may also be cases where more than one type of data is currently
stored in a single field and GiftWorks stores it in multiple fields. Common
examples include mailing addresses stored in a single cell within Excel (15 Oak
St., Lancaster, PA 17601) or name fields, where the first name, middle name and
last name are all stored in one field (e.g. “John Q. Smith”). The GiftWorks
importer does include a “Name Tool”, to quickly and easily clean name fields.
The details on using this tool are in the Special Options on the Mapping Screen
section of this guide.
Other fields where multiple pieces of data are combined into a single field may
need to be split into multiple fields.
3. Different data in the same fields
Occasionally, a custom database (and even some commercial ones), will
store, for example, individuals' last names and names of organizations in the
same field (for different records). The table below shows what such records
might look like:
|
Prefix |
First_Name |
Last_Name |
Suffix |
City |
Type |
|
Mr. |
John |
Smith |
Jr. |
Lancaster |
I |
|
|
|
Mission Research |
|
Lancaster |
O |
In cases like this, it is usually
necessary to import the individuals and organizations at separate times. Use a
query or some other method to divide the records into two sets and import each
separately. Frequently, the two types of records, i.e. individuals or
organizations, are differentiated by another field. In our example, a “Type”
column containing data such as “I” for Individuals and “O” for Organizations
have been used.
4. Data split into separate fields
There are several cases where related pieces of your data may be stored in
separate fields, but where the GiftWorks importer expects them to be in one
field. For these fields, it will usually be necessary to combine the data from
your separate fields into one field prior to importing. Some typical examples:
o
Area code, phone number, phone extension
GiftWorks expects all of these pieces of information to be in one field (e.g.
888-555-1212 ext. 123, or (888) 555-1212 ext. 123)
o
Zip code and plus 4
GiftWorks expects these pieces of information to be in one field (e.g.
17602-2915).
5. Map Data for Conversion
Once the data has been cleaned, make a list of all the fields you are planning
to import. The list should contain the name that you or your database program
has given to each field and what information each field contains. This will
help you when it comes time to choose how to match your fields to GiftWorks
fields. This process of matching is called "mapping" the data.
When you are ready to import your data into GiftWorks, there are two ways to proceed, importing data into a new database or importing data into an existing database.
If you are starting a new database, the Get Started screen will read "Hello, " at the top. Click Choose A Different Database, then click Create A New Database. If you are running GiftWorks for the first time, on the Select a Database screen, click Create A New Database.
Next, follow the steps in the GiftWorks Setup Wizard. When you get to the Add Your Data page, click Next to begin the importer process.
If you are importing into an existing GiftWorks database, click on the Settings button in the top menu bar then click on Import and Export Records, finally click on Import a File.
On the first page of the importer, choose the type of file you'll be importing. The options are Microsoft Excel, Text file, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Outlook.
Because the format of Contact records in Outlook is standardized the importing process is extremely straightforward. For Outlook imports, click the Browse… button to select the Outlook Contacts folder you wish to import. You can then choose whether to import sub-folders of that Contacts folder, and whether each folder should be added to a GiftWorks Group. You also can optionally choose a GiftWorks user to whom to assign the imported records.
Those are the only steps for Outlook imports. GiftWorks does not give you mapping options for this type of import because of the standardized data. All of the mapping is preset and automated. Follow the remaining prompts to complete your import.
The steps for importing these file types are generally the same.
o For an Excel import, you indicate whether the first row of your worksheet contains headers or column names, and also choose which worksheet you wish to import from the selected Excel workbook.
o For a Text import, you first indicate whether the first row of your text file contains headers or column names, and then choose the field separator (or "delimiter") that separates the values in your text file. Commas and Tabs are the most commonly-used. When you select the proper separator, you should see your data displayed in rows and columns.
o For an Access import, you indicate which table or query from your Access database you want to import. If you want to import data from multiple tables or queries, you must either use the importer multiple times or you must write a query that combines the all your data making sure all your field names and data remain clean.
o If you indicated that there is donation information in your file to be imported, you must choose how many donations per donor there are to be imported. If you have multiple rows of data for a single donor that have one donation per row, you will choose one (1). If you have multiple donations in a row for a single donor, you will choose either the number of donations or the maximum number of donations per donor. If you have less then 10 donations per donor, than you will choose that number and only need one pass through the importer. If you have greater than 10 donations, you will require multiple passes through the importer. The details to import more then 10 donations are found in the Special Situations and Tools section of the Import Guide.
o You also must indicate how the donations should be assigned. The options depend on whether you have individuals and/or organizations in your file. You can choose to assign donations:
§ to individuals where possible, or else to organizations
§ to organizations where possible, or else to individuals
§ to individuals only (never to organizations), or
§ to organizations only (never to individuals).
o The Copy column allows you to create copies of fields in your import file. This can be helpful if, for example, you need to import an address or phone number for both an organization and individual in a record.
o The Your Import Fields column shows the names of the fields in your import file. If there are not column headers in your import file, these will display as F1, F2, F3, etc.
o Your Import Data column displays a sample of one record from your import file. To preview the data in your import file, use the arrow keys found at the bottom and middle of the screen.
o The GiftWorks Fields column displays any mappings you have completed so far. Click the linked text in each row to choose a GiftWorks field to map to your import field. You can only map one import field to each GiftWorks field. If you need to have one of your data fields mapped to multiple Giftworks fields, make sure you copy your field using Copy Column. As stated previously, the Copy Column tool will copy your fields. Once the copy has been made, you can map the original to one GiftWorks field and the copy to another.
o NOTE **Please see Appendix A of this Import Guide for a list of Fields that can be imported into GiftWorks.
There are two typical scenarios for importing from Excel. This first is that you have been using Excel as the primary place to store data about your donors. The other is that you have exported data from another program into Excel in order to import it into GiftWorks. In either case, you may have one or several spreadsheets to import.
|
First Name |
Last Name |
Member Since |
Address |
City |
|
John |
Doe |
9/15/02 |
123 Main St. |
Cucamonga |
|
Larry |
Wellman |
3/2/05 |
456 2nd Ave. |
Rancho Mirage |
The following is not directly importable:
|
Donor |
John Doe |
Larry Wellman |
|
Member Since |
9/15/02 |
3/2/05 |
|
Address |
123 Main St. |
456 2nd Ave. |
|
City |
Cucamonga |
Rancho Mirage |
If your worksheet is organized in columns, you can use Copy - Paste Special and then click the Transpose checkbox to paste your data into rows, rather than columns.
If all of your donor information is stored in a single table your import process will be virtually identical to the process to import an Excel spreadsheet. Normally in this setup, you have a row for each donor and multiple columns for each donation, address, etc.
Importing such a table is pretty straightforward. You use the importer and map the fields to the GiftWorks fields as you would for an Excel spreadsheet. Remember to keep track of the number of donations you have for each donor. If you have more than 10 donations, you will need to make more than one pass through the importer. (See Special Situations and Tools for the details.)
The second type of Access database that you may want to import will have multiple tables, typically with the donor's main information in one table, donations in another table, possibly addresses in a third table, and phone numbers in another table. This setup allows you to have multiple addresses, donations, etc. per donor without having to add columns to your donor main information table. Each donation or other record is typically matched back to the main donor table by an ID column or other primary key field. In this case, you'll want to make multiple passes through the importer to get all of the information.
Data stored in text files is usually "delimited", which means that the different fields of data are separated by a certain character. Commas are commonly used for this purpose, as are semi-colons, pipes ("|"), and tabs. Importing from text files is very similar to importing from Excel spreadsheets.
You must indicate whether the first row contains column headers (or field names), and also tell GiftWorks what the delimiters (or the characters that separate the fields) are. The guidelines for importing data are otherwise the same as those for importing from Excel.
If you have more than 10 donations per donor row, you will need to make more than one pass through the importer. On your first pass through the importer, import the following information:
In this first pass, GiftWorks will create a record for each donor and donation and will link the donations to the donors.
Continue making passes through the importer, importing 10 donations at a time until you have fewer than 10 donations remaining to be imported. Each pass import the same information, except import the donation information for next 10 donations. During these passes, GiftWorks will link the new donations to the donors created in the first pass.
When you have fewer than 10 donations remaining, make your final pass through the importer and import the following information:
During this final pass, GiftWorks will add the remaining information to the donor records created in the initial passes.
When you are mapping the fields from your import file to the fields in GiftWorks, most of the fields are simple matches: you indicate that data from the First Name field in your import file should be placed in the First Name field in GiftWorks, etc.
For some types of fields, there are special options. These are Custom Fields, Groups and the Name Tool.
If you have existing Custom Fields in your database, you can map to them just like you map to any other field. But if you are importing data from your import file that does not map to one of the existing GiftWorks fields, you will need to map it either to a Donor Group, or to a Custom Field.
You can create up to 12 custom fields of different types for Donors in GiftWorks. You can create up to:
for a total of twelve custom fields each for Donors and Donations.
Groups can be a good option because you can create an unlimited number of Groups and each donor can belong to an unlimited number of Groups.
Note that it is important to make sure that you have mapped well and use custom fields and groups only as necessary. Adding people to Groups or Custom Fields may ultimately make it harder for you to manage your data well.
When creating a Group, there are two options. One is to use the header of the column (or field name) as the name of the Group. When you use this option, GiftWorks will assign imported records to the group based on the values in the field. If the field contains "True", "1" or "Yes", the donor will be placed in the Group. If the field contains "False", "0" or "No", the donor will not.
The other option for creating Groups is to use the data in the column as the Group values. For example if there are four different values in the column, groups with those 4 names will be created, and the imported records will be assigned based on which (if any) of the for appears in the row in question.
For situations where you have the entire name of each donor stored in a single field (e.g., "Mr. John C. Smith, Esq."), or even if you have the names of a couple stored in a single field (e.g., "Mr. and Mrs. John and Mary Smith"), the GiftWorks importer includes a Name Tool that will split those complete names into the separate fields for GiftWorks.
Q: How do I create Households when I import individuals?
A: Set up your spreadsheet to include both members of the new household in the same row. Map the primary or first individual with the information listed as Personal Information in your mapping choices. Then map the secondary member with the choices listed under the Spouse mapping choices.
Q: How do I add contacts for organizations in GiftWorks? How do I add employer information for individual?
A: In both of these scenarios, you will import the organization and individual information on the same row of data. Check both boxes to indicate that your import contains Individuals and Organization information. Then choose Create a Link between Individuals and Organizations were possible. Then map data to the appropriate values. In both of these scenarios, GiftWorks creates both an individual and organization record which are then linked (check the donor relationship tab for each).
Q: Can I make mass updates using the importer?
A: Some things can be changed via import such as adding your Donors to Groups. This can present many problems, though, if you are not very careful! Make sure that you are only adding/updating your Donor or Organization information and that the names on the import document match those in your database EXACTLY. If the names do not match duplicate Individuals or Organizations will be added to your database. If you import a donor address this will add the address to the Donor file, but will not replace the current address in your database. Also, please note that you CANNOT update donation information using the importer. Please remember to always back up your database before import into an existing database.
Q: When I start my import it says there are invalid characters in my import document, what does that mean and how do I find them?
A: The invalid characters are often imbedded within your data. The easiest way to find and remove these invalid characters is to open your spreadsheet and change the file type to CSV. To do this, click Save As and change the file type to CSV. Right click on this newly saved file and choose Open With and click on NotePad. You may need to look carefully, but the invalid characters are typically small squares. Once you find one, highlight it with your mouse and right click and choose copy, then click on Edit, then replace. Paste the square into the Find: area and then move your cursor to the Replace With field and press your space bar once. Find and replace any character you see in your document and don't forget to save it when you are finished. At this time you can resave the .CSV file back to Excel format or you can import directly from the .CSV file.
Q: I clicked on Save Import after I mapped my fields, but my information isn't in my new database. What happened?
A: When you click Save Import it is actually saving the mappings you just created. It is saved as a .gic file, which stands for GiftWorks Import Configuration. In order to finish the import you must click on the Next button at the bottom of the screen and follow all the steps until it takes you back to the GiftWorks Settings screen. You can use the .gic file you created if you ever need to re-import a file in the same format. Just enter this file on the initial import screen and click Load.
Q: I mapped the fields I want to import, why isn't the Next button available?
A: If you have mapped all the fields you wish to import, make sure to click on Ignore Remaining Fields. This will allow you to move on to the next step of the import.