Help -- Training -- Explanations -- Hints

This is the HELP TEXT narrative for "Using the Alphabetic Look-Up & Contributor Filter" on the Contributions Queue screen. This will provide information about how to use the Alphabetic Name Look-Up function and post to a donor by name, if you are not using the Envelope Look-Up method.

The Donor Name is entered in Section 1 of this screen, where donation transactions are added; and can be updated in Section 2 of this screen where the queued items are displayed.

** Note: Please be sure to read the Special Feature at the bottom of this HELP TEXT narrative.

Section 1 -- Adding New Donations:

As you begin the process of entering or posting a donation, first you have to establish or assign WHO gave the contribution. You do this in one of two ways: by Envelope Number, or by Donor Name.

1. By Envelope Number:
A complete description of how to enter by Envelope Number is available as a HELP TEXT narrative. Click the [Help ?] button on this Comprehensive Help screen labeled "Using the Envelope Number & Envelope Lookup" to see this important information.

2. By Donor Name:
If you are not using envelope numbers but you know the name of the person, click in the "Donor Name" box and follow these easy steps:

1) Type at least the first three letters of the First Name or Last Name of the person.

2) After typing three letters (or more), a new window with a list of names will open. Displayed in the new window will be all the possible names matching the letters you typed. Of course, the person has to be one of the contact records in your MemberLink database. If this person has never been entered, please add them your system and then you can post their donations.

3) You can select a name at this point, or continue typing more letters. If you continue typing additional letters such as a fourth letter, a fifth letter, and so forth, the list of people's names will get smaller as it adjusts for the potential to match the letters you have entered in the box.

4) At some point during typing letters into the "Donor Name" box, you will stop entering letters and select a name from the list displayed. You select a name by clicking on it. This will be the person you want as the donor of the contribution you are posting. After you select the person, the entry box will show their name as the current entry.

** Note: Before you do anything else with this donation, you must have a valid donor name selected. That will be either someone already defined in your contact records, or the system-generated "Anonymous Giver" (see explanation in Envelope Number area). If you enter other data first, then come back to select or change the Donor Name, the other data will be lost (blanked out) when you go through the process of selecting a valid Donor Name.

Section 2 -- Review & Update Queued Donations:

The "queue" area of the screen is just below the "add" area of the screen. Each queued transaction is listed as a row on the screen.

The donations are listed here so that you can review them, and make corrections if necessary.

At the beginning of each queued transaction, there is a "red X" box. If you click that box, the entire transaction will be deleted.

The Donor Name is displayed in the box labeled, "Donor". You can change the Donor Name shown, by just clicking inside the "Donor" box and making whatever change you want.

Special Feature -- Filter By Contributors:

"Filter by Contributors" feature allows you to shrink the list of people presented to you in the Alphabetic Name Look-Up function. The [Filter by Contributors] toggle button is just on the left side of the screen just above the Add a donation transaction area. It is a toggle button that you can click to switch back-and-forth between a filtered list of choices and a full list of choices.

The default display will show all contact records (people) in your system database. A filtered list will show only the names of those who have previously been a contribution donor. Therefore, a filtered list will be smaller and you will be able to find the person you are looking for more quickly.

** Example: Let's say you have 300 contact records of people but only 120 of them have previously been identified as a donor. Click the [Filter by Contributors] toggle button, and now only 120 names will be available to display when you click the "Donor Name" box and start entering First Name or Last Name letters. Scrolling down the list to find the correct donor name will take less time, since there are 120 choices at the start instead of 300 choices.

Often you will have fewer donors than contact records. This will occur for a variety of reasons. In one case, you may have individuals or families that just do not give or give anonymously. In another case, the donations for a family may always be given by the Husband or Wife, never by the children. In that case, the filter will show the two adult names but there would be no need to show the children's names and complicate the choices. Using this filter cuts down on the number of possible choices, thus speeding the process of posting contributions.

After you have clicked the [Filter by Contributors] toggle button, the label will change and it will be a [Filter by All] toggle button. This means the current view is filtered, and if you want to see the view of all possible donors, you have to click the button and toggle back to the full view.

** Note: If you are posting a transaction for a first-time donor, obviously their name will not appear in a filtered list of prior donors. You can toggle back to the full list to find and select that name. After you have completed posting one transaction to a person, their name will always appear in the filtered list.

"CAA Product Help" from CAA Ministries at Support@CAAsoftware.com or 404-551-4230