In part one of this post, I mentioned different ideas for you to start using Groups and Lookups. I also suggested a general rule of thumb to use Groups for people-focused lists and Lookups for financial and other lists. Don’t feel restricted by these guidelines; the sky’s the limit, actually, and uses and needs often change. I deleted some groups recently because TntMPD has new features for tracking those things now.

Using Pre-defined Lookups

TntMPD has some pre-defined lookups for you. When you open TntMPD you’re actually using a default lookup. Go to Tools / Options / User Interface and you’ll see a dropdown where you can choose your default lookup (Everyone, Relevant Contacts, or Newsletter List).

When you click on Lookups also notice these useful pre-defined lookups:

• “Pledge Fulfillment” lets you lookup partners that you may need to contact (or use Tools / Pledge Fulfillment Report). Also check out the other reports under Tools.
• “Unreviewed account Info” lets you lookup partners that may have an address / phone / email update from Cru. It’s good to check this before printing your newsletter envelopes.
• “This Contact” is obviously for looking at one contact or for exporting information from one person to Excel .
• “Newsletter Recipients” has many lookups which is also now available through the new Newsletter Tools helper under Tools.

Using a Saved Group or a User Field

In part one of this post, I explained how to consider using Saved Groups or Log History to track your information. In this post I’ll help you consider whether a Saved Group or a User Field would be a better option for you.

A User Field is similar to using Groups except that User Fields are exportable. You only have four User Fields while you can have an unlimited number of Saved Groups.

So, ask yourself would this information be useful for analyzing in a spreadsheet or for merging into a fund appeal letter? If yes, then create a User Field for that information. (I promise I’ll write about User Fields this year.)

Next, ask yourself what information would I like to track that I don’t have a field for in TntMPD? What is their church involvement? Is there a college student in the family? Has your donor gone on a mission trip or been involved with Cru in the past or now?

Some Ideas for Lookups and Groups

Here’s some Favorite Lookups and Saved Groups for you to try (also check out part one):

• Favorite Lookups
  • Largest Gift $100 – $999
  • Largest Gift $1000+
  • Donors who sent graduation gifts to our high school seniors
• Saved Groups
  • Original home base for donors (For instance, Mike and I started raising support in Erie and Cleveland, but many financial partners have retired to Phoenix and Florida).
  • Communication preference (Does our donor prefer phone calls, texting, emails, …?)
  • Manage an Increase Strategy Using Saved Groups (video with instructions)

The following is a teaser for the great ideas coming for the TntMPD User Fields in future posts. I keep one of my User Fields as a “Temporary Field.” I can move a Saved Group or a Lookup and their values into that temporary field and either export it for a merge or use those names in “Analyze By” in Analysis View. 

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Visit the Table of Contents for the You-Can-Too series posts. This post is part of the database series.  Keep following the series for posts on databases, communication, websites, and social media.

NOTES:

• I recommend these TntMPD videos:
  • Manage Prayer Requests Using Log History
  • Creating Your “Top 5o” List
• For more information on TntMPD’s website go to:
  • Lookups
  • Groups
  • Log History
  • User Fields