We Are, in Fact, Down With P2P
The holidays are a time to celebrate connections with our friends and family, so what better time to roll out some new features designed to help track the success of fundraising from friends and family networks?
Why, none, I tell ya!
So this release includes a big pile of peer to peer giving features, all wrapped and waiting for you under the tree.
To track peer to peer activity, you can link a Contact with a Campaign Segment. When creating or editing a Segment, you'll be able to search for a Contact and select them as the Fundraiser for that Segment.
Then, any gifts received with that Segment Code will be attributed to that Contact as the fundraiser. You'll see a new tab when viewing Contact giving that displays peer-to-peer, or influenced, gifts.
And on the same screen, you can even view all of the peer to peer Segments associated with that Contact, or click to add a new one.
You'll have the option to select an existing Segment or even create a new Segment, right from the Contact record.
And did we stop there?
Obviously not! (Because why else would we ask you that question?)
We've also added a new peer to peer giving Contact widget, to put fundraising details right at your fingertips. You can also query for Gifts based on the Fundraiser, and even see fundraising statistics in a Contact query, like "Raised Life to Date Giving."
Want to learn more? Well then jingle on over and feast your eyes on this support article.
Gift Ask Pipeline Redux
A long, long time ago (or so it seems), way back in September 2020, we introduced the first wave of new major donor features. Since then, we've had a great opportunity to speak with many of you, and now we're excited to roll out several new Gift Ask Pipeline features based directly on user feedback.
For starters, now you'll be able to collapse the filters on the left of the screen to see more of the Gift Ask data you're really focused on.
Each Gift Ask "card" you see will also have a link to "see more," which you can click to...well, to see...more.
In the expanded card view, you'll see the primary and secondary Individuals for the Contact, their Life to Date Giving (including passthrough gifts!), Last Gift Amount, and even tasks assigned to the Gift Ask owner. You'll also see a counter for "Days in Status," allowing you to measure the velocity of Gift Asks. (Starting today, you may notice that many asks don't list a value for Days in Status. Since this is a new value, the counter will only begin tracking once you update the status of a particular Gift Ask.)
You can even set a threshold for the Days in Status counter, so that when asks get "stuck," you'll see a visual indicator like the red line in the screenshot above.
And last but not least, we are no longer going to require math just to get an overview of your Gift Ask Pipeline (unless you're super into math, in which case, you do you). We've added the overall weighted and actual pipeline totals to the top of the screen, so you can see them at a glance.
Oh! And what's this? Looks like there was one more present hidden in Santa's bag!
Some of you have asked about creating Gift Asks in bulk to really begin taking advantage of all the pipeline features. And just like the big guy in the red suit, we always try to answer as many requests as we can. So we've added the ability to import Gift Asks in bulk, right from the pipeline screen, so you can easily get your gift officers all set up to manage their solicitations in Virtuous.
Just click on the Actions drop down on the Gift Ask Pipeline screen to get started. You can download the import template and use that to format your file, then import your Gift Asks, and you're all set!
If you're curious to learn more about the Gift Ask Pipeline, we're happy to oblige. Just take a sleigh ride on over to this support article.
Deck the Halls With All of Your Tasks...
Sorry if now you're "fa-la-la-ing" in your head.
Ah, who are we kidding?
We're not sorry at all!
And in fact, you should be singing, because we've got another round of new task features. In this release, you'll finally be able to...
Drumroll, please... 🥁
You'll be able to bulk dismiss and bulk reassign tasks!
*cheering ensues*
Just look for the Actions drop-down on the All Tasks tab of the Tasks screen.
We know this is a feature many of you have requested, and we're glad it's finally here! (Psst! Not all users will have permission to bulk reassign tasks. Check with your internal Virtuous administrator to be sure.)
Also, since the Kanban board is working so well for managing Gift Asks, we've added the same style board to view Tasks!
Now you can see your tasks laid out by status and even update statuses just by dragging-and-dropping. To access the board, just click on the "Task Board" tab in the upper left corner when viewing the Tasks screen.
As with the Gift Ask Pipeline, the Task Board has a set of default filters that are set each time you load the screen.
Of course, you can add or remove additional filter criteria while viewing the board.
Go check out the new view on the tasks screen right now!
Segments, Front and Center
In this release, we've given the Campaigns screen a bit of a face-lift. Now, you'll see tabs at the top of the screen, allowing you to view all of your Campaigns or see a list of all Segments, across all Campaigns.
Wait, what?
Yup. ALL Segments.
You'll even have the ability to filter and export a list of Segments. This should make it easier to review past Segment Codes to ensure any new Segment Codes are unique.
We've also made it easier to archive or delete Campaigns and Campaign Communications. When editing, you'll see buttons to Archive or to Delete, and the Delete option will only be active if a particular Campaign or Communication can be deleted.
Ah, but what do you do if you have an itchy archive finger?
Well, you can view the list or Archived Campaigns or the list of Archived Communications to unarchive them again!
...And the Rest
As with every release, this month's update also includes a number of other fixes, tweaks, minor modifications, and assorted nudges. Among this month's assorted fixes:
- In other Campaign feature updates, we've added the ability to select specific export fields for your csv download after running segmentation. Because sometimes, less IS more.
- We've refined our financial score to provide more accurate guidance on your best financial targets. We'd tell you more, but hey, the Colonel doesn't share his list of 11 herbs and spices, now does he?
- Since the majority of Gift Asks are Fixed asks, we've made a slight change: Gift Asks will now to default to Fixed instead of Recurring type when creating a new ask. So if you're creating a Fixed ask, we saved you a click! (We love efficiency, don't you?)
- Several clients reported that users without Admin permissions were not able to access the Receipting tool. Seeing as how Admins have a lot of other things to manage, we decided to fix that bug so other users can chip in with receipting.
- Like any good lounge act, we pride ourselves on taking requests. And since so many of you asked for it, we've added the ability to edits Event Invitations directly from the Events tab on a Contact record. Unlike a good lounge act, we don't expect tips, we just do this because we care.
- Also in the "you asked, we listened" category, you'll now have the ability to see and edit the Contact Name for Households in the Gift & Contact Import tool. Contact Name is still not required for Households — we'll create that for you — but now you'll have even more control. Don't let the dizzying new freedom go to your head!
- It was brought to our attention that Event Custom Fields were not available to export from a Event query. This seemed less than sporting, so we've added those export fields for you now.
- And hey, while we're just rapping about the query tool, we've added some new operators for date values. Specifically, in addition to the "Before" and "After" operators, you'll now have the option to use "On or Before" or "On or After." Think of these just like "Less than or Equal to" and "Greater Than or Equal to," except for relative dates. (Or don't. Who are we, the Thought Police?)
- Email previews were not displaying the latest email changes (and sometimes might not display content at all). We've made some very technical adjustments and smacked the code around a bit, so email preview images should be displaying properly now.
- Ever wished you could create multiple email lists all at once? Well, call me a genie, because your wish is granted! On the Email Lists screen, you'll see the option to import email lists. Just remember: each organization has a maximum of 25 emails lists available, so use them wisely!
- Occasionally, the Email Sync feature may stop working, especially if there has been a change to your email account. Now you'll receive an email notification if your email sync stops for any reason, with a prompt to reauthorize your connection. No more missed Contact Notes!
And that's the list! As always, if you have any questions about these or other features, feel free to contact our team using the support widget in Virtuous, or drop us a line at support@virtuoussoftware.com.