How to Add a Household

When you add a household, the Add Household window opens. The layout of this window and the fields included are determined by the administrator. Some fields may already have values filled in. These are defaults that can be set by the administrator. You can change these values for this household if you need to.

If you have a simple household with only one person or couple, one address, and a few phones and emails, you may wish to use a Quick Add form. Click on the Quick Add Household button to switch to the Quick Add Household entry form. You can return to this form from the Quick Add form using the Advanced Add button.

To add a household using the Add Household window, do the following (note that the order of entry may be different, depending on how you have configured the layout for this window):

Search

Enter the last name, address, or email address of someone in the household and press enter.

  1. Before adding a new household, you first search the list to make sure the name does not already exist in your data. If any matching names are found, a list of potential duplicates appears. Scan this list to see if the name is there.
    1. You can choose to do one of the following:
      1. If you want to continue adding a new household, click on the Add Household button at the bottom of the list.
      2. If you want to view more details about one of the households or names in the list, double click on the name.
      3. If you want to skip adding the household, click on the X in the upper right hand corner of the screen to close it
  2. If no matching names are found, the Add Household screen appears.

Step 1 - Add a Name

  1. From the Add drop down, select Person or Couple.
    1. If you have a couple to add, you should select Couple even if you also want to add one or both of the people as individual names. After you have added all of the information about each member of the couple,  you can indicate whether you want to include one or both names as individuals also. You might wish to have a name as an individual as well as a couple if, for example, an individual is a volunteer or committee member but gifts come from the couple.
    2. Fill in the following fields for the person you are adding or for both people if you are adding a couple:
  2. Select a Prefix for this person. The list of available prefixes is defined in the Admin tab.
  3. Enter the person's first, middle and last names.
  4. If the person's name has a suffix, like "Jr.", enter that.
  5. Select a display name for this person.
    1. A default display name is selected for you, based on the preference that has been set for your organization by your administrator. You can select a different display name from the list.
    2. If you are adding an individual rather than a couple, you can add alternate names after you have saved the name by using the Mailing Preferences button on the top of the list of names.
    3. If you are adding a couple, you add alternate couple names when you add couple attributes, below.
  6. Select a salutation for this person. The salutation is used in a letter, after "Dear".
    1. A default salutation is selected for you, based on the preference that has been set for your organization by your administrator. You can select a different salutation from the list.
    2. If you are adding an individual rather than a couple, you can add alternate salutations after you have saved the name by using the Mailing Preferences button on the top of the list of names.
    3. If you are adding a couple, you add alternate couple salutations when you add couple attributes, below.

The following list includes the additional fields that are available. As noted above, these may be in a different order, they may not all be present, and there may be additional user-defined fields that are unique to your organization.

  1. Nick Name - nick names can be added just for reference. They are also included in the list of potential salutations for mailings.
  2. AKA - this might be a maiden name or a prior name that can be used to search for this person.
  3. Job Title - in addition to adding this as an important piece of information about this person, you can choose to have this included in an office address.
  4. Company/Division - you can use this field to record where this person works. This can be used in a query to find all of your constituents who work at a certain company, for example. It can also be included in an office address, along with the job title.
    1. In additional to adding Job Title and Company/Division to the person's information here, you can also link them, from the Relationships tab, to the Organization record for the company they work for.
  5. Birth Date - the person's birthday can be used to send birthday greetings.
  6. Gender - if you know the person's gender, you can add it.
  7. Is Primary - in each household, one person or couple is marked as the primary name for that household. The primary name can be used to build the name of the household and is also used as the contact name for the household if no specific name is chosen.
  8. Is Solicitor - if this person is a volunteer solicitor for your fund raising efforts, check this box.
  9. Is Volunteer - if this person volunteers at your organization, check this box. After you check the box, you can select a volunteer status for this person from the following list: Active, Inactive, On Call, Not a Volunteer.
  10. Make Gifts Anonymous - if gifts from this person are generally anonymous, check this box.
  11. Is Deceased - if this person is deceased, check this box. Checking the Is Deceased box simply marks this name. It does not exclude the name from mailings or lists. For more information about dealing with deceased names, see Deceased Names topic.
  12. Notes - add any notes or comments about this person.

NOTE: if this person is part of a couple, you will also have the opportunity to add some of these same fields to the couple name: Is Primary, Make Gifts Anonymous, and Notes. You may wish to add this information to the couple rather than to the individual name.

Step 1a - Add Partner

  1. If you chose to add a couple, follow the same steps as above to add a second name.
    1. You can add additional names to the household after you save the first name or names you have entered.

Step 1b - Add Couple Attributes

  1. If you have added a couple, you can elect to show one or both individual names in the name list along with the couple name.
    1. If you show an individual name, you can tag that name and add user-defined fields. You can also direct mailings to that name alone. To add tags or other attributes to a person who is part of a couple, first save the couple and then select the individual from the list of names.
  2. Select a display name for the couple.
    1. A default display name is selected for you, based on the preference that has been set for your organization by your administrator. You can select a different display name from the list.
    2. If you wish to add one or more alternate names, you can do so after you have saved the names by using the Mailing Preferences button on the top of the list of name
  3. Select a salutation for the person or couple.
  4. A default salutation is selected for you, based on the preference that has been set for your organization by your administrator. You can select a different salutation from the list.
    1. If you wish to add one or more alternate salutations, you can do so after you have saved the names by using the Mailing Preferences button on the top of the list of names.
    2. If this person or couple is the primary name for this household, click on the Is Primary check box.
  5. If gifts from this couple are usually anonymous, click on the Make Gifts Anonymous check box.
    1. If a couple is marked with this attribute, gifts from the couple are automatically marked as anonymous as you enter them, but you can choose to make any gift not anonymous if desired.
  6. Add any notes about this couple.

Step 1c - Add Additional Attributes

  1. Add Person or Couple tags.
  2. Fill in any user defined fields for the person or couple.
    1. If you have added a couple and wish to add tags or user defined fields to one of the people in the couple but as an individual, make sure you click on the Show Person box for that person. After you have saved the couple entry, you can edit the individual name and add additional information.

Step 2 - Add Household Attributes

  1. Select a name for the household from the Name drop down list. Potential names are created as a shortcut for you, and one has been selected as the default by your administrator.
  2. A sort key is created for you. This is used when you wish to sort your households in alphabetical order. You can change the sort key if you wish this household to appear some place else in the list.
    1. The following list includes the additional fields that are available for defining household attributes. As noted above, these may be in a different order, they may not all be present, and there may be additional user-defined fields that are unique to your organization.
      1. Type - this indicates the Type of this household, for example, a family, an individual, or a student's household. This list of options for household Type is created in the Admin tab.
      2. Source - the Source code indicates how this name was acquired, for example from someone responding to a direct mail piece or from a list of friends supplied by a board member. This information can be used to track the best source of new prospects. The list of Source codes is created in the Admin tab.
      3. Solicitor - if you wish to assign someone as the primary solicitor for this household, select the solicitor from the list. Solicitors and teams are set up in the Admin tab.
      4. Do Not Solicit - if this household should not be included in solicitations, check the Do Not Solicit box.
      5. Do Not Mail - if this household should not receive any mailings, check this box.
      6. Do Not Phone - if this household should not receive any phone calls, check this box.
      7. Do Not Email - if this household should not receive any email, check this box.
      8. Web Site - if this household has a website, you can add it here.
      9. Mailing Method - indicate if the household prefers to hear from you by email or by regular mail.
      10. Notes - the notes box provides unlimited space to enter comments about this household.
      11. Alert - whatever you type in the alert box appears in red at the top of the Household attributes on the Bio Profile.
      12. Tags - tags can be used to categorize the household in many ways. You define your own set of household tags on the Admin Tab.
  3. Click on Save and Next to go to Step 3

Step 3 - Add Addresses

You can add any number of addresses to a household. For each address, you add not just the address, but you indicate which names in the household the address belongs to, whether the address is not valid at certain times of the year, and whether the address is preferred for certain types of mailings.

  1. Click on Add Address to add an address to the household.
    1. After you have added all of the addresses, click on Save and Next to go to Step 4.

Step 4 - Add Phones

You can add any number of phone numbers to a household. For each phone, but you indicate the type of phone number, whom in the household the phone belongs to, whether it is ok to call the number, and which phone number is preferred.

  1. Click on Add Phone to add a phone to the household.
    1. After you have added all of the phones, click on Save and Next to go to Step 5.

Step 5 - Add Email

You can add any number of email addresses to a household. For each email, you indicate whom in the household the email belongs to, whether it is ok to contact the person using that email address, and which email is preferred.

  1. Click on Add Email to add an email address to the household.
    1. After you have added all of the email addresses, click on Save and Close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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