FundSvcs Community

Greetings, Friends!

We have a large group of our Greek community who are pooling funds together and making a gift through a third-party to donate to our university. If we get the names of these individuals, what is the best way to associate them with the gift? I initially thought soft credit, but that seems pretty faulty, as we won't know how much each person contributed and we don't want to associate each person with the full amount of the lump sum. 

We could also tag each person with an attribute, but I'm not sure if there is a better practice here.

Of course, it would be better if each person just gave directly to us, but I've got to work with the situation I have.  :) 

Any insight is appreciated.  

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Michael Adzovic
Northern Illinois University Foundation
madzovic@niu.edu
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Thanks, John-your response is helpful.  I thought about entering participants as event attendees and that actually might be the route that I go, especially since gift credits factor into our lifetime giving calculation.  

In terms of how the data is going to be used, we are currently in a campaign to build a new Center for Greek Life, so being able to code these constituents and marry that data with wealth scores, affinity, etc is important in building in discovering some new prospects.  

Grateful for your response and insight.  

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Michael Adzovic
Northern Illinois University Foundation
madzovic@niu.edu
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-02-2025 06:03 AM
From: John Taylor
Subject: Whether or Not to Soft Credit

I have seen two other processes. The first is to give each $1 soft-credit as a placeholder. The other is the derive an average gift amount and give each an equal amount.

But I always worry about the gift processors. Doing all these soft credits is a pain! So first ask how necessary this is. How will the data be used?

While it won't reduce entry a third option is to create an Event for this apparent fundraiser and add each as an "attendee."

John

John H. Taylor

919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)

Big Ideas - Small Keyboard

Original Message:
Sent: 4/2/2025 2:18:00 PM
From: Michael Adzovic
Subject: RE: Whether or Not to Soft Credit

Thanks, John-your response is helpful.  I thought about entering participants as event attendees and that actually might be the route that I go, especially since gift credits factor into our lifetime giving calculation.  

In terms of how the data is going to be used, we are currently in a campaign to build a new Center for Greek Life, so being able to code these constituents and marry that data with wealth scores, affinity, etc is important in building in discovering some new prospects.  

Grateful for your response and insight.  

------------------------------
Michael Adzovic
Northern Illinois University Foundation
madzovic@niu.edu
------------------------------

John--didn't realize you worked with NIU in the past.  We are still in Millennium--but not for much longer.  We recently began the conversion process and hope to be in Salesforce (Affinaquest) by June 2026.  To your point about interest indicators, I could use Millennium's attribute table for this. 

Love the work you did at Duke to capture interest via survey and market via those interests.  We are hoping that the new CRM will allow us to implement these types of strategies  more seamlessly.  

Cheers!

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Michael Adzovic
Northern Illinois University Foundation
madzovic@niu.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-02-2025 01:55 PM
From: John Taylor
Subject: Whether or Not to Soft Credit

That makes sense, Michael. An Interest Code would be equally valuable. I know that when I worked with NIU, you were using Millennium, and I cannot recall whether that feature existed. I know other CRMs have an "interest indicator" that allows you to flag accounts with various interests that could be useful in the future. 

At Duke, we surveyed our constituents, asking them to indicate 35+ things they were interested in, including gardening, travel, and Greek life! We used those indicators during The Campaign for Duke for highly focused solicitations.

John

John H. Taylor, Principal

John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC

2604 Sevier Street

Durham, NC     27705

johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com

919.816.5903 (cell/text)

Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987

Original Message:
Sent: 4/2/2025 2:18:00 PM
From: Michael Adzovic
Subject: RE: Whether or Not to Soft Credit

Thanks, John-your response is helpful.  I thought about entering participants as event attendees and that actually might be the route that I go, especially since gift credits factor into our lifetime giving calculation.  

In terms of how the data is going to be used, we are currently in a campaign to build a new Center for Greek Life, so being able to code these constituents and marry that data with wealth scores, affinity, etc is important in building in discovering some new prospects.  

Grateful for your response and insight.  

------------------------------
Michael Adzovic
Northern Illinois University Foundation
madzovic@niu.edu
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-02-2025 06:03 AM
From: John Taylor
Subject: Whether or Not to Soft Credit

I have seen two other processes. The first is to give each $1 soft-credit as a placeholder. The other is the derive an average gift amount and give each an equal amount.

But I always worry about the gift processors. Doing all these soft credits is a pain! So first ask how necessary this is. How will the data be used?

While it won't reduce entry a third option is to create an Event for this apparent fundraiser and add each as an "attendee."

John

John H. Taylor

919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)

Big Ideas - Small Keyboard