Storing data on Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

How to store campaign data for Dataro's integration (Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT)

In order to take advantage of all the features in Dataro (including automated results analysis and better tagging) we recommend storing your campaign data in the following way. 

This article applies to all Dataro's Campaign modules (Appeal, RG Churn, RG Upgrade, RG Reactivation, Convert to RG)

Step 1: Create the Appeal and Associated Packages

We recommend using just a single Appeal for a particular fundraising campaign. Even if a particular campaign contains multiple channels (EDM, DM, TM, SMS etc), multiple Waves (Wave 1, Wave 2) or multiple segments (Lapsed givers, Regular givers). These will all come under the banner of a single Appeal in Raiser's Edge. The same logic applies for TM campaigns. Even for 'rolling' calling over many months, we group all calls under the same "Appeal" data. We do not recommend using the Actions table

Use the Package information to store all the different 'components' of the campaign.

• For a DM Appeal campaign: The Appeal may be called "2020 Christmas Appeal" which could include the packages "Active Givers - Wave 2 - Mail", while another may be "Regular Givers - EDM".
• For a TM Upgrade Campaign: The Appeal name may be "TM Upgrade Campaign 2021", which will include the Packages "January", "February", "March".

Use the following RE documentation to create these Appeals and Packages:

1. Create the Appeal
2. Create a new appeal by going to Records > Appeals > New Appeal (More details here)
3. Create each package in the Packages tab 

Pro Tip: Remember, make your Descriptions informative, while keep your Codes short and structured for internal lookups. For example if you are running a 2020 Christmas Appeal, your Appeal Description would be "2020 Christmas Appeal", while your Appeal Code might be "2020_APPEAL_XMAS". The same applies to Packages

Step 2: Add constituents to the appeal

This step is incredibly important for keeping a log of ALL constituents who received your appeal. It is important that every communication and every constituent has its own record. So, if a constituent receives a Phone call and 2x DMs, they will have 3 records added here. Here is how to add the list in RE:

1. Generate a list of all communications in the campaign, either using a Query in RE, or the exported list from Dataro's Campaign Builder.
2. Ensure your column names match what RE expects. Dataro recommends adding the following fields at a minimum. Additional fields can be seen in the screenshot below and in this PDF guide.
   
   

   ConsID	CAPAppealID	CAPPackageID	CAPDate	CAPResponse
   123456	2021-APPEAL-XMAS	Active Givers - Wave 2 - Mail	11/22/2021	Return to Sender
   123456	2021-Upgrades	January	09/22/2021	Voicemail

3. Add Appeal to records by going to Admin > Globally Add Records. Consult this article for more information.
4. If you are also storing Ask amount information, we recommend that you store the information in ConstituentAppeal. Comments like: Ask_1:<amount>,Ask_2:<amount>,Ask_3:<amount>

Valid Response text:

Response text is vital in analysing campaign performance. We support the following Response codes:

Excluded, Confirmed, Deceased, Negative Response, Positive Response, No to Ask, Yes to Ask, Not Available, Not Called, Donation, With Supplier, Wrong Number, Voicemail, Phone disconnected, Upgrade, Return to Sender.

Optional: Storing Data for Experiments

When you are running an experiment, it is also important to store the data in a specific format so we can easily analyse the results. 

The way you store the data depends on the type of experiment you are running. We support two experiment types. These are; Content Experiments (where you are testing something in the content, copy, design or materials a donor received such as plain envelopes and printed envelopes) and Targeting Experiments (where you are running an experiment comparing Dataro's AI targeting to your current targeting methods). 

For Content Experiments

We only need to store an ID for each experiment in the Comments field. Here is an example:

For Targeting Experiments

In these experiments, there are actually 3 groups instead of two due to the overlap that exists in targets between strategy A and strategy B. In targeting experiments you have the following groups that should show up in the data. 

• Donor targeted by your existing targeting method (Called "MethodA-only") 
• Donors targeted by Dataro AI only (Called the "Dataro-Only")
• Donors targeted by both groups (Often called the "Both")

Again, this information should be represented in the Comments field.

For more information on imports in RE. Consult this article by Blackbaud. Most importantly, if you are using Excel, use Text as the column type for any field with leading zeroes. Otherwise, Excel drops the leading zeros.