The Lists feature is a powerful query and reporting tool which provides a way to view the information about Constituents and financials within your database.
Lists can be used to provide the basis for promotional campaigns, sending data to Mailchimp and DotDigital, Trigger conditions, AutoTagging, and more.
Whilst Lists are powerful tools on their own, you may find that to answer the question you have, you may need to build some further stages in, for example:
Tagging constituents in a List first so that they can be included or excluded from another List
Or perhaps it may be that you need to combine Lists - by downloading data from your List(s) and then using the power of Excel to perhaps do some matching or referencing.
Requirements
Standard Users need to be granted permission by an Administrator to be able to access and update Lists.
Users with Viewer access will need to be granted permission by an Administrator to be able to view Lists.
List Types
The Lists within Donorfy cover the following areas:
Constituent data | Financial data | Timeline data | Other |
Members List | Soft Credit List |
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| Membership List |
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Custom List Views - these are only available for Professional Own Azure accounts |
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Constituent List | Transaction List (ALL / Payment or Allocation) | Activity List | Campaign List |
Constituent Tag List | Recurring Payment Instruction List | Gift Aid Declaration List | Fundraising Page List |
Connection List | Opportunity List |
| Change Log List |
Recurring Payment Beneficiaries List | Opportunity Pledges List |
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Features
A List is broken down into four building blocks, these are:
Details section
Tag - this is your List Category Tags List Tags.
Show in Menu - opt to display your List within the Constituent Menu
You will find this option below the List Tags field. When selected it means that the list will be visible as a sub-menu item under the Constituents link in the left-hand navigation area (click the plus button to reveal them)
With the Show in Menu option, you can also assign users to it so only they are permitted to see it.
Lock - You can also lock a List so that it can not be accidentally altered. The default is off, but if you toggle the switch to Yes and Save & Preview it will now lock the List and prevent any changes to it:
Filter Section
Include Archived? - You can opt to include any archived constituents in the result set - toggle the option to Yes. The next time you click on Save List and Fetch Results the data set will now include these constituents.
If you would like to limit the type of archived constituents to a certain reason or reasons, then you will need to add the ArchivedReason field to your List Filters accordingly.
Include constituents with ANY of these Channel settings - (Constituent List only) use this option to quickly ensure that the Constituents within your List have the appropriate Channels without building the criteria into the List Filters.
To use the function click into the Channels box and select one or more of the settings as required.
AND ANY of these Purpose settings - (Constituent List only) like the Channels option above, you can select the various permissions. Only those Constituents matching those Purposes will be included in your List results.
To use the function click into the Purposes box and select one or more of the settings as required.
The relationship between the Channels and Purposes settings is AND so if you select from both Channels and Purposes both conditions will need to be met.
Include Constituents where ... - this section is where you add the various condition filters to help answer your question. It is logic query based.
A filter query is built up of four main fields:
AND/OR -
Use the AND function to determine if all the outcomes are True based on your comparisons.
Use the OR function if only one condition needs to be True based on your comparisons.
Field - the field in Donorfy you would like to use.
Comparison - the options to compare values.
Equals, Not Equals, Less than, Less than or equal to, Greater than, Greater than or equal to, Starts with, Does Not Start with, Contains, Does not Contain, Between, Not Between and Starts with are some of the comparison operator names to compare any two types of similar type of values based on our requirement.
Depending on the List being used there may be other comparison options that can be used.
Value - this is the item from the field being used as a lookup for your question.
Some filter queries may need to be enclosed by Brackets to ensure that the correct data is returned.
The below example is where I would like to see all non-archived overseas Constituents where I have an email opt-in and are interested in Appeals.
Columns Section
Within this section, you can select the various fields that you would like to include in your data outputs.
Column selection: Scroll the list of fields or type in the search box and when you have found the field you are looking for and click the tick box. The column will then be added to the Selected Columns section.
Custom Fields: Where you would like to select custom fields, these will be named Text1, Number1, Yes/No1, etc. rather than the name that was assigned to them within settings. This is because at this point, the List does not know which item will be returned and, therefore, the names of the custom fields for that item.
Within the Select Columns section, you can order the fields as you wish using the drag-and-drop feature.
📌Note:
Previously, columns persisted in the user's web browser storage, whereas now, they are persisted within the List Definition itself. This means that if a user changes the Columns in the List, they are changed for everyone, not just themselves.
Therefore, if multiple users want a List with different columns or columns in a different order, more than one List will be needed.
Results Section
Save List and Fetch Results - Saves your List settings (details, filters, columns) and refreshes your List results.
When a large list is being prepared in the job queue, you can navigate elsewhere in Donorfy to do any other task you may need to do. When you are ready you can open the List again and if it's finished its compiling of data there will be an option to view the data - loading the data will then display the dataset it found.
The data returned for your List will be saved for 7 days and can be accessed without rerunning the List. Click on the View Results button.
Once a List has been saved and the data results are returned, they will be displayed in the output Data output area.
📌Note:
The Description column will always be presented within the Data output area. This is to prevent null results data being returned.
You can select the number of records to view and alter the screen view too.
If you need additional fields, would like to remove any or alter the positioning you will need to action this in the Columns section.
Actions Bar
At the top of the output area is the Actions bar which includes a number of icons. These perform various functions:
Cloud: provides the ability to download the List to Excel.
Luggage tags: Tagging option - Tags can be added or removed from Constituent Timelines.
Printer: creates PDF Report that can also be summarised. When using this option it may not be possible to display all of your data fields within the boundaries of an A4 page.
Box - allows for Constituent Profiles to be Archived
Monkey - i.e. MailChimp is only available on a Constituent List.
Where there is a blue hyperlink - you can click through to the record within the same browser tab. Or, right-click and open in a new browser tab (which is the better option).
Quick Start Guide
Before creating a List, start by identifying the question you want to answer. This helps you choose the correct List Type and filters.
Examples include:
A list of people tagged as volunteers- Constituent List.
A list of donations from Trusts - Transaction List.
A list of open major gift asks- Opportunities List.
Create a New List
Once you know the type of List you need, you can create it in Donorfy.
Click Add at the top of the Donorfy screen.
From the Lists section, select the required List Type, such as Constituent List.
Enter a clear and meaningful name in the description field.
Click Add to create the List.
Your List opens showing the sections: Details, Filters, Columns, and Results.
From here, you can begin adding filters to answer your question.
Check List Status
Large or complex Lists may take time to compile.
Click the description link Click here for status.
If the List is still processing, a message confirms this.
Once complete, the List becomes available for viewing and download.
Download a List
All Lists can be downloaded for reporting, mailings, or further analysis.
Use the column selector to choose which columns to include.
Click Download.
Click Prepare Download to generate the file.
Files usually download to your device’s default Downloads folder.
A record of each download is also stored under Home, then My Downloads.
Constituent Lists include additional data based on preferred contact details.
Manage Your Lists
You can organise, reuse, or remove Lists as your needs change:
Categorise Lists with Tags
Lists can be tagged for easier organisation and retrieval.
Create List Tags.
Assign Tags to your Lists.
Use Tags to search and filter Lists later.
📌 Note: This is especially helpful when you have many Lists.
Delete a List
Remove Lists you no longer need.
Open the List.
Click Manage.
Select Delete List and confirm.
Lists must be deleted one at a time.
Copy a List
Copying a List is useful when creating a similar List with only minor changes.
Open the List you want to copy.
Click Manage, then select Copy List.
Confirm by clicking Yes.
Rename the new List and adjust filters as required.
Click Save & Update Preview Results.
This saves time when working with complex filters.
Visualise List Data
Donorfy includes built-in data visualisation tools, so you do not need to export data to Excel for basic analysis.
Visualisation options include:
Pie Chart.
Line Graph.
Bar Chart.
Value.
Summary calculations include:
Sum.
Count.
Average.
Highest.
Lowest.
To access visualisation:
Open your List.
Click the Visualisation tab.
Visualisations update automatically based on current List results.
Donorfy Academy
The Donorfy Academy features a learning course for Lists - enrol here.