Help – Training – Explanations – Hints
This is the HELP TEXT narrative for “Using the Alphabetic Look-Up & Contributor Filter” on the Add Contribution screen and on the Modify Contribution screen. This will provide information about how to use the Alphabetic Name Look-Up function and post to a donor by name, if you are not using the Envelope Look-Up method.
There are slight differences depending upon whether you are posting a new contribution or modifying (updating) an existing contribution. In this case, about the only difference is the Add Contribution screen will be blank and the Modify Contribution screen will already have a donor selected and displayed. If you want to change the donor, just follow the same procedures described below.
There are two main sections of information here, and you will want to review them both!
1) How to use the “Person Giving the Contribution” look-up to select the donor.
2) How to use the “Filter by Contributors” feature to make the donor look-up go more quickly.
Section 1 – Person Giving the Contribution:
If you are not using envelope numbers but you know the name of the person, click in the “Person Giving the Contribution” box and follow these easy steps:
1) Type at least the first three letters of the First Name or Last Name of the person.
2) After typing three letters (or more), a new window with a list of names will open. Displayed in the new window will be all the possible names matching the letters you typed. Of course, the person has to be one of the contact records in your MemberLink database. If this person has never been entered, please add them your system and then you can post their donations.
3) You can select a name at this point, or continue typing more letters. If you continue typing additional letters such as a fourth letter, a fifth letter, and so forth, the list of people’s names will get smaller as it adjusts for the potential to match the letters you have entered in the box.
4) At some point during typing letters into the “Person Giving the Contribution” box, you will stop entering letters and select a name from the list displayed. You select a name by clicking on it. This will be the person you want as the donor of the contribution you are posting. After you select the person, the entry box will show their name as the current entry.
Section 2 – Filter By Contributors:
“Filter by Contributors” feature allows you to shrink the list of people presented to you in the Alphabetic Name Look-Up function. The [Filter by Contributors] toggle button is just right of the “Person Giving the Contribution” entry box. It is a toggle button that you can click to switch back-and-forth between a filtered list of choices and a full list of choices.
The default display will show all contact records (people) in your system database. A filtered list will show only the names of those who have previously been a contribution donor. Therefore, a filtered list will be smaller and you will be able to find the person you are looking for more quickly.
** Example: Let’s say you have 300 contact records of people but only 120 of them have previously been identified as a donor. Click the [Filter by Contributors] toggle button, and now only 120 names will be available to display when you click the “Person Giving the Contribution” box and start entering First Name or Last Name letters. Scrolling down the list to find the correct donor name will take less time, since there are 120 choices at the start instead of 300 choices.
Often you will have fewer donors than contact records. This will occur for a variety of reasons. In one case, you may have individuals or families that just do not give or give anonymously. In another case, the donations for a family may always be given by the Husband or Wife, never by the children. In that case, the filter will show the two adult names but there would be no need to show the children’s names and complicate the choices. Using this filter cuts down on the number of possible choices, thus speeding the process of posting contributions.
After you have clicked the [Filter by Contributors] toggle button, the label will change and it will be a [Filter by All] toggle button. This means the current view is filtered, and if you want to see the view of all possible donors, you have to click the button and toggle back to the full view.
** Note: If you are posting a transaction for a first-time donor, obviously their name will not appear in a filtered list of prior donors. You can toggle back to the full list to find and select that name. After you have completed posting one transaction to a person, their name will always appear in the filtered list.
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