Fundraising: Configuration: Ask Array
- This tutorial will cover how to configure ask arrays for use in fundraising/donations.
- Ask Arrays are suggested donation amounts that are presented to the donor when they are making an online donation and presented to the user in the Gift Amount section of the Add/Edit Gift screen.
- The ask array is tied to the Fund. When you select the Fund on Add Gift (or when setting up your donation page or an e-Appeal), the ask amounts/levels populate. In general, the configuration steps are to first configure your ask array (ask levels) and then configure the fund and select the ask array on the add/edit fund screen (see our tutorial on configuring funds for more information).
- Ask Arrays can either be Fixed (set amount determined by the user/all users presented with the same ask amounts) or Dynamic (ask amounts are dynamically calculated "on the fly" to the giving history of each donor) (Please Note: past giving history calculations are only done on direct donations the donor has given themselves/where the donor is listed as the primary donor; past giving history is not calculated on soft credit donations).
- An example of a Fixed ask array is one where all donors are asked for the same amounts such as $25, $50, or $75. This is most often used with something like sponsorships, where the ask levels are fixed/set by you and all donors are given the same menu of donation amount options.
- An example of a dynamic array is pictured below. You will see that the exact same fund has been selected in both examples. However, the ask amounts change based on the donor selected because the ask amounts are calculated dynamically based on each contact's past giving history. Dynamic ask arrays are very powerful, because you don't have to create different funds to present different ask amounts to your donors; instead, they system does all the work for you.
- You must have at least one Ask Array configured (Ask Array is a required configuration/field when setting up Funds, and Fund is a required field when recording donations). By default, your system comes with a default Standard (simple) Fixed Ask Array that you can use out of the box or that you can edit/customize. You can also create additional Ask Arrays.
- Generally, you will create a new Ask Array when you have a set of donations that have different Ask Amounts (for instance, your general donations might have ask amounts of $25, $50, $100, and $250 and your event sponsorships might have ask amounts of $250, $500, $750, and $1000 in which case, you would need two different ask arrays) or donations that have different tax deductibility amounts/rules.
- To configure Ask Arrays, start by clicking on Fundraising on the main menu to open the fundraising sub-menu and then click Ask Arrays under the Configurations heading.
- This will take you to the Ask Array index page, where you will see a list of your previously configured/existing ask arrays.
- To edit or delete an existing ask array, select Edit or Delete from the drop down to the right of the ask array. You cannot delete any Ask Arrays that are in use (attached to a fund or is being used on a donation page).
- To create a new Ask Array, click on the Add New Ask Array button in the bottom right.
- In the resulting screen, start by specifying if you would like to create a Standard (basic) or Advanced ask array. Standard and Advanced ask arrays have all the same functionality except for two additional features in Advanced ask arrays: a) the ability to segment your donors into categories based on total amount previously donated, and b) the ability to specify "this gift provides" information (e.g. "this gift provides food and shelter to 3 homeless kittens for one week"). If you don't need either of these features, then a Standard array should be adequate.
- If creating a Standard Ask Array:
- Specify a unique code for this ask array and a descriptive name in the Code and Description fields respectively. Indicate the Culture (currency) to be used if you have multi-currency processing turned on.
- Next, specify if this will be a default ask array. If this is the default ask array, it is the one that will be assigned to new funds by default. It is also the ask array that will be used to populate the Next Ask Amount field on the contact search results screen.
- Next, in the Ask Details field, specify if you would like to create Fixed or Dynamic ask amounts. Please Note: if you select dynamic, you can still create fixed ask amounts. In a dynamic array, you can combine fixed and dynamic amounts. In a fixed array, you can only have fixed amounts.
- If creating fixed ask amounts, give your ask amount(s) a description (this text will display to donors online as well as appear on the Add Gift screen), an amount, and a tax deductability amount.
- The tax deductible amount can be set to a % of the donation (e.g. 100% of the donation amount) or a fixed amount. For instance, if donors receive a special commemorative mug valued at $5 in exchange for their donation, then we would set the tax deductible amount as a fixed value that is the donation amount minus $5 for each of our levels, such as pictured here.
- Then click the blue Add button. Continuing adding rows/donation ask amounts as needed (your ask array can have a single ask amount or multiple ask amounts. It is entirely up to you/your needs).
- Click the blue Save button in the lower right when you are done adding all of your ask levels.
- If you want to create Dynamic ask amounts (as part of a Standard/basic ask array), after sliding the selector to Dynamic ask amounts, you will configure your ask amounts in the lower portion of the window.
- Start by giving your first ask amount a Description/name (can be the amount you're asking for if it's a fixed ask amount (such as $25) or a descriptive name such as "Bronze Level" or "Supporter" etc.).
- Next, if you would like the system to dynamically calculate the ask amount individually for each donor (based on the donor's past giving history), select the Gift Amount/method the system should use for calculating the ask amount (all amounts are calculated based on lifetime giving/all donations made): the donor's average amount donated, first gift amount (the amount they donated the first time they ever donated to you), High Amount (the largest amount they ever donated to you), Last Gift Amount (the amount of their most recent donation), most common gift amount (the amount they have most often donated to you), or Olympic average (the average with the highest and lowest amounts thrown out/not included). If you would like to enter a fixed (non-calculated) amount, leave the Gift Amount field blank/do not select anything here.
- Next, if you would like to take the amount in step #3 and add an additional amount to it (e.g. take the average gift amount and add 10%), select an Operator. This is not required. This is only if you want to add a bit more more on top of the calculated amount (e.g. for stretch goals). If you are entering a fixed ask amount, leave the operator field blank.
- If you select an Operator, enter an amount in the Value field. This is the amount you with to add, subtract, multiply, or divide the calculated amount by. For instance, if we would like to take the donor's average amount donated (lifetime) and add $10 to it, we would select + in the Operator field and 10 (dollars) in the Value field. If we wish to take the donor's past average and add 15% to it, we would set the operator to multiply (x) and in the value field at 1.15 (multiply the average gift amount by 1.15 (115%) which will calculate 15% and then add it to the base amount (for example, if the average donation is $10, 15% of ten dollars is $1.50. Multiplying $10 by 1.15 gives us $11.50, which equals $10 + $1.50).
- If you would like to create a fixed ask amount, enter the amount of the level/ask in the Value field (without setting the gift amount and operator fields above).
- You can combine fixed and dynamically calculated amounts in the same ask array. For instance, we might have an ask array where the three ask levels are $10 (fixed), the donor's average gift amount (across all past gifts), and the donor's past average gift amount plus $25.
- In the Rounding field, specify if you would like to round the calculated/dynamic ask amount to the nearest whole number (for instance, the previous example, instead of asking for $11.50, we might want the system to round up to the nearest dollar, in which case the ask amount would be presented as $12 instead of $11.50). You can specify that the system Round Up, Round Down, or the Nearest number (system will round up if the calculated amount is between 5.1 and 10 and will round down if the value is between 0 and 5). This field is optional. If you don't mind if donation ask amounts have change/pennies/are not whole dollar amounts, leave this field blank.
- If you select a rounding amount, the Nearest field will display. Specify the amount of rounding you wish the system to do. If you want the system to round to the nearest dollar, indicate 1 (e.g. "$12.50 would be rounded to $12.00 or $13.00 depending on if you've specified the system should round up or down). If you want the system to round to the nearest $5, specify 5 (e.g. $12.50 would be rounded up to $15 or rounded down to $10; $119 would be rounded up to $120 or down to $115). If you would like the system to round to the nearest $100, specify 100 (e.g. $12.50 would be rounded down to $0 or rounded up to $100; $350 would be rounded down to $300 or up to $400).
- In the Minimum and/or Maximum fields, you can display a minimum donation ask amount and/or a maximum donation ask amount. For example, you could specify that the minimum donation at this ask/giving level is $10. This means that for any donor whose calculated ask amount at this giving level is less than $10, the donor will be asked for $10 instead. Similarly, if you set a maximum ask amount, any calculated amount above the maximum will be capped at the maximum (for example, if we set a maximum ask at this level of $100, and Sally Smith's average gift amount is $150, this ask level will ask her for $100 instead of her calculated amount, because her calculated amount is above the maximum). These fields are optional. If you don't want to set a maximum or minimum, you can leave these fields blank.
- In the Tax Deductible Value section, specify the percent or amount of the donation that is tax deductible. See step #14.5 above for more details (step #5 of configure standard ask array).
- If you want to add another ask amount/level, click the Add button to the right of the most recently configured ask level. It is not necessary to have more than one ask/giving level (for example, in a "buy a brick" campaign, where you sell inscribed bricks for a walkway for a fixed price/all bricks cost the same amount, you would only have one ask level (the cost of the bricks). On the other hand, for a general appeal, you might want to offer your donors a range of options - a low cost donation, a mid-range priced donation, and a high end/stretch goal amount).
- Follow the steps above to configure any additional ask levels. You can delete an ask level by clicking the trash can icon in the upper right of the ask level.
- Ask Amount #2 and above will have additional options on the Gift Amount field to reference the other ask levels. This will allow you to take the amount calculated in Ask Level X and add on to it. For example, here, we have set Ask Level 1 to a calculated total that takes the donor's average gift amount (from past giving) and adds $5. In Ask Level 2, we've asked the system to take the value calculated in Ask Level #1 and add $25 to that (we could have also simply set it to Average Gift + $30 to get the same result).
- When you have finished adding all of your ask levels to your Standard Dynamic array, click the blue Save button in the lower right hand corner.
- Specify a unique code for this ask array and a descriptive name in the Code and Description fields respectively. Indicate the Culture (currency) to be used if you have multi-currency processing turned on.
- If configuring an Advanced Ask Array:
- Select Advanced Array in the Standard versus Advanced array slider.
- Once you select to create an Advanced array and save the information on Tab #1, you cannot undo/go back to creating a Standard array. If you mistakenly start an Advanced array and wish to go back to a Standard array, you will need to delete your draft array and start a new array.
- Configuring an Advanced Array is a two step process.
- On Tab 1: Ask Array Information, start by giving the array a Code and a Description. These are required fields.
- Next, in the Ranges Based On field specify what method the ask array will use to calculate which range/category each donor will fall into (that is, if you want donors who have previously given between $0 and $100 (bucket/tier #1) to be asked to give $100, and donors who have previously given between $101 and $250 to be asked to give $200 (bucket/tier #2), and donors who have previously given between $251 and $500 to be asked to give $450 (bucket/tier #3), how do you want the system to determine which bucket/tier of past giving each donor falls into?). See step 14.x of configuring a standard ask array for definitions of the items in this drop down list.
- If the value of the donor's past giving history should be rounded (for the purposes of determining which bucket/tier they fall into), specify the rounding method using the Apply Rounding drop-down. See step 14.x of configuring a standard ask array for definitions of the items in this drop down.
- If you use the Nearest option, you will need to specify the interval that will be rounded to in the To Nearest field (nearest $5 would round $26.32 to $25, nearest $10 would round $26.32 to $30, etc.).
- Next, if you have multi-currency processing turned on, select the currency that this ask array is intended for from the Culture drop down.
- If this Ask Array will be used on first-time donors/those with no donation/giving history, then select the Acquisition box. Selecting Acquisition will make it so you can only configure fixed asked amounts in the giving levels (as the donors have no past giving history, a dynamic array would not work for new/first-time donors since the dynamic array amounts would be based on the donor's past giving history). If this is an acquisition array (for first time donors) and you don't need the "the gift provides" field of an Advanced Array, it's recommended that you use a Standard Fixed Ask Array instead of an Advanced Array.
- Select the Is Default Ask box if you want this Ask Array to be the default Ask Array used for all Donations made to Funds that don't have their own Ask Array configured and to be assigned to new funds by default. The default ask is also the one that populates the Next Ask amount field on the contact search results screen.
- When you have configured the Ask Array information, click on Save (to save and exit) or Save & Proceed (to continue to the next tab of configuring the ask array) at the bottom right of the screen.
- On the next tab, you will configure your donor buckets/tiers to segment your donors into different tiers based on the amount of their past giving and then to configure ask amounts/giving levels for each segment/tier. For example, you might want to present donors who have previously given between $0 and $100 (lifetime) three giving options of $50, $100, and "other" (write in amount), while donors who have given between $101 and $500 might be given three giving options of $250, $500, and "other" (if you want to use fixed ask amounts). Or you might want to present donors who have previously given between $0 and $100 three giving level options of their largest previous donation, their largest previous donation plus 5%, and their largest previous donation plus 10%, while donors who have previously given between $101 and $500 might get asked for their largest donation, their largest donation plus 15%, and their largest donation plus 20% (since these donors have a larger capacity to given, you might want to ask them for a larger % in the "stretch goal" donations).
- It is not necessary to segment your donors into more than one range/tier of past giving. However, if all of your donors are going to be in the same tier/category, then you should use a Standard Ask Array instead of an Advanced Ask Array. The only reason to use an Advanced Ask Array in which all donors are in the same category/tier is to use the "This Gift Provides" function, which is only available in Advanced Ask Arrays. If you are using neither the multiple donor segments/tiers function nor the The Gift Provides function, we recommend using a Standard Ask Array instead of an Advanced Ask Array.
- Ranges/donor segments are created on the left hand side of the screen. Ranges are defined by indicating the START/lower end of the range (e.g. a range of $100 would be the tier/segment for donors who have donated $100 or more). By default, the system will start with a $0 range (for donors who have donated $0 or more - that is for ALL donors).
- To create new range increments enter a value in the dialogue box under Range and click the Add button (this step is optional. If you want everyone to be presented with the same ask amounts, skip this step). Remember that each value you add here is the FLOOR of that range (and by default the ceiling in the previous range). In the second screen shot below, we have created two ranges $0 and $100. This means that the first tier is donors who have previously donated $0-$99 and the second tier is donors who have previously given $100 or more. You can add as many tiers as you like.
- The system will determine which range/tier each donor falls into based on the computational method selected in Tab #1. For example, if you set three ranges - $0, $150, and $500 (e.g. "$0 - $149, $150-$499, and $500+) and on Tab #1 you set the computation method as Average, then the system will determine which tier each donor goes into based on their average gift amount (computed based on all previous donations). If you selected Highest Gift, then the system will compute which category each donor goes into based on their largest donation ever made (lifetime). Etc.
- To delete a range increment, check the box to the left of that increment and click on the Trashcan (delete) button to the top right of the range section.
- After creating your ranges, you will then create the ask amounts for each range. To do so, click on that range increment on the left to select it (you will know which range you have selected in the From Amount field in the right hand panel. Here, we have selected our $100 range (for those who have donated $100 or more).
- To configure ask levels for a range, start by clicking either the + or the Add button in the Ask Details section. From here, the steps are the same as for a Standard Dynamic Array with a couple of additional options (see configure standard ask array steps 14.9 - 14.21 above for more information on the various options/settings here).
- You can configure as many ask levels per range/tier as you like and as many donor tiers/ranges as you like. You could have two donor tiers (for example, donors who donated $0-$499 and donors who have donated $500 or more) and one tier could have one ask amount and the other tier seven ask amounts. It's entirely up to you how you configure your ranges and your giving levels.
- When configuring your ask levels, start by selecting a Function from the drop down. Fixed is used for finite/set amounts that you specify in the Gift Amount field. Calculated is a dynamic ask amount, computed "on the fly" based on the donor's past giving history (see steps 14.9 - 14.21 of configure Standard Dynamic Array above). Text is a "type your own amount" donation option; specify the text that will appear to the donor (such as "Enter an amount" or "Other Amount").
- For all three functions/type of ask amounts, the This Gift Provides check-box allows for a second calculation, which can be used to show the benefit a gift will provide to potential recipients as a result of the donor's contribution (for example, "this gift will provide food and shelter to 1 kitten for a week" or "this gift provides $95 worth of building materials to our affordable homes program"). This field is optional.
- For the This Gift Provides area, you can select whether to enter a Fixed Amount (the same amount regardless of donation amount), a Text Description of what the donation provides, or a Calculated Amount which will calculate the value of the donor's gift based on the formula you provide (such as 95% of the donation amount is used in direct services/direct benefits to your clients/constituents).
- For every donor/donation range you can specific multiple asks. Click the + or the Add button to continue adding ask levels for this donor range/tier. This is optional. You can create an ask array with no ranges (everyone gets asked to give the same amount) and only one ask that is a text field/"type the amount you want to give" field (in which case, we recommend using a Standard Fixed array instead of an Advanced array). Or you can create a very complicated ask array with multiple ranges and multiple asks per range. It's entirely up to you how simple or complicated to make the ask array.
For example:
Donors who previously gave $0 - $99 might be asked to give a flat amount of $25, their last/most recent gift amount, their highest past gift amount, and their highest gift amount + 30% (stretch ask) (4 donation amount options)
Donors who previously gave $100-$249 might be asked to give $250 and/or their most recent donation amount + $100 (2 donation amount options)
Donors who previously gave $250+ might be asked to give $300, $500, $1,000 or their highest past donation amount + $250 (4 donation amount options)
- When you have finished configuring the ask levels for a range, click the blue Save button in the lower right to save the ask levels for that range/tier BEFORE moving to a different range/tier.
- When you have finished configuring all of your ranges and ask levels, click the Save button and then use the Back button/blue reverse arrow in the lower left to return to the Ask Array index screen.
- Select Advanced Array in the Standard versus Advanced array slider.
- To use the Ask Array you have configured, either set it as the default ask array or attach it to a specific Fund by going to Main Menu: Fundraising: Configurations: Funds.
- Edit an existing Fund or create a new one. Under Set Ask Amount, select the Ask Array you have previously configured from the drop down list OR click the Add New Ask Array button to create a new ask array from scratch (you will be taken to the create new ask array screen). Be sure to save any changes to your fund before clicking the Add New Ask Array button, as you will lose any unsaved changes once you leave the create/edit fund screen.
OR
- After selecting an Ask Array from the list, you will be given additional options, including the ability to Edit the ask array from here (clicking Edit will take you to the Edit Ask Array screen. Be sure to save any edits to your Fund before clicking the edit ask array button as you will lose any unsaved changes to your fund when you leave the edit fund screen).
- The Sample Ask button will allow you to preview the ask amounts in the array.
- Now, when a donation is made to the Fund that has your ask array, your suggested ask amounts will show in the Gift Amount area of the add/edit donation page. These suggested ask amounts will also be shown to donors making donations online via WordPress Plug-In, Morweb, or Pages.
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