HubSpot for Nonprofits

quantum
Member

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

Hi,

 

I'm reposting this question as I haven't yet received an answer.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi,

 

@nicolebrenner this is the second half of my questions from my earlier post that you asked me to post separately.

 

I am currently evaluating HubSpot for suitability with our non-profit group. Within our non-profit, we have donors and event participants (an individual could also be both a donor and participant). Donation amounts and funds raised through events differ from person to person. For example, one person may donate $50 whereas another person may donate $100. One event participant may raise $1000 and another may raise $1750. Typically we would have an excel spreadsheet that shows how much an individual donated or how much they raised for a particular event.

 

1. What is the best way to track revenue associated with participation (e.g. participated in X event and raised X amount) and donations, keeping in mind that there may be multiple amounts raised/donated (e.g. they participated in X event and raised X $, and then participated in Y event and raised Y $, and then they donated Z $)?

Example:

To provide a little further clarification, here's an example:

Joe raised $500 through the Egg Toss on Nov 5, 2016

Joe raised $200 through the Hip Hop Dance on Dec 16, 2016

Joe donated $100 on Jan 1, 2017

Joe donated $50 on Jan 5, 2017 

Mike raised $800 through the Hip Hop Dance on Dec 16, 2016 (same event as above but different amount raised)

Mike donated $25 on Jan 1, 2017 (same donation date as above, but different amount)

 

2. Is there a way to tally the total amount of funds raised and/or amounts donated over an individual's lifespan? So if they made 5 donations and participated in 2 events, is there a way that I could see how much it was in total?

 

Right now when I've tried out the "Deals" section, it seems like the "amount" is attached to the "deal" and can't be customized to the individual. Does that mean that I would need to create a new deal for every person?

 

Thanks!

 
1 Accepted solution
MayPascaud
Solution
HubSpot Alumni
HubSpot Alumni

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

@quantum indeed, this is definitely a limitation to your process, if there are going to be multiple instances of the same donation for one contact.

 

Because there is no calculation capability in HubSpot (neither for Contacts nor Deals), there wouldn't really be a way to add each donation amount on top of the other. The best that you could achieve, as you mentioned, would be to have a multi-line of text property and append a new amount to the old one, adding a comma in between each amount.

 

Though the date of each donation wouldn't be immediately visible in the contact record, you would be able to see the date at which each donation for one specific category was made by looking at the property history. Indeed, HubSpot keeps a record of each time that the value for a property is modified; in this case, the property is modified each time a new donation is made. So you would see the various dates for each donation in the property's history, like so:

 

property history.png

I recognize that this isn't the perfect solution to your scenario; however, this workaround would allow you to have all of the necessary information in one place. Let me know if you have any questions for me.

 

Best,

May

 

View solution in original post

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5 Replies 5
janet2
Member

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

i have a suggestion that many people can shout and take out all their feeling about something but dont care keep thinking life is too short make it sweet try to make the best out of it

 

0 Upvotes
MayPascaud
HubSpot Alumni
HubSpot Alumni

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

Hi @quantum, thank you for reaching out.

 

I actually think that deals would not be the best way to keep track of the money that is raised in this manner, because deals have fixed amounts which cannot be personalized accoording to its associated contact. I actually think that using contact properties would be more effective in this particular use case. 

 

You could create custom contact properties for each event, of the single-line of text type, in order to track the amount donated by each contact for each event. You could also have a custom property for "amount donated." This article outlines how to create custom properties, and how to group them together (and also gives some useful suggestions for other properties a non-profit might make use of). You will be able to see the dates at which each of the donations were made by looking at the "last modified date" for the property in question.

 

On your second question, however, HubSpot is not able to make calculations for contact properties. Therefore, if you wanted to add up all of the donations or money raised by a given contact, you would need to export the values for these properties and make the calculations in Excel. However, this would still be easier than using Deals to keep track of this data. 

 

Let me know if this is helpful, and whether you have any questions on the above!

 

May

0 Upvotes
quantum
Member

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

Thanks @MayPascaud. This was very helpful. Using the contact properties was my first thought as well, but wasn't quite sure how best to do it. I think I have a better idea now. 

 

My only question is in regards to tracking multiple donations. If we are provided with an excel list of donations on a regular basis, how could I upload those lists and record those donations without overwriting any previous donation? If I make a custom field that says "Donation Amount" and upload a list, I understand it would record the amount there. But when I go to upload the next report, that amount would get written over unless I place a semicolon in front of the amount in advance of uploading. But if I do that, I would just have a series of donation amounts in the one field and would lose the dates of the previous donations (as the "date modified" would only reference the most recent donation). Am I missing something?

 

Thanks!

0 Upvotes
tdp
Member

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

Hi, there. I have the very same situation and question that you posted a few years ago re: tracking donations. What approach did you finally take? Thanks for any advice/wisdom you can share! We're a small nonprofit without an IT admin, so I really can use all the help I can get!

0 Upvotes
MayPascaud
Solution
HubSpot Alumni
HubSpot Alumni

Using Deals for Non-Profits

SOLVE

@quantum indeed, this is definitely a limitation to your process, if there are going to be multiple instances of the same donation for one contact.

 

Because there is no calculation capability in HubSpot (neither for Contacts nor Deals), there wouldn't really be a way to add each donation amount on top of the other. The best that you could achieve, as you mentioned, would be to have a multi-line of text property and append a new amount to the old one, adding a comma in between each amount.

 

Though the date of each donation wouldn't be immediately visible in the contact record, you would be able to see the date at which each donation for one specific category was made by looking at the property history. Indeed, HubSpot keeps a record of each time that the value for a property is modified; in this case, the property is modified each time a new donation is made. So you would see the various dates for each donation in the property's history, like so:

 

property history.png

I recognize that this isn't the perfect solution to your scenario; however, this workaround would allow you to have all of the necessary information in one place. Let me know if you have any questions for me.

 

Best,

May

 

0 Upvotes