Good afternoon friends,
I mentioned during today's call that I had put together a series of knowledgebase articles about Plans Setup and Suggestions in our Tulsa Arts Management Consortium repository on our Freshdesk Help Desk. This is a series of 18 articles available to our member organizations, but I should emphasize that many of these "articles" are actually references from the existing Plans Documentation (with minor notes and suggestions specific to our local users). I wrote these back in October 2019, and haven't really revisited them since.
Here's the "table of contents" that I have:
To save you all from reading existing documentation, I'll copy and paste the more significant sections I wrote from scratch here:
From Plans Use Overview:
Not Just for Development At Tulsa Arts Management Consortium organizations, Plans are primarily utilized by Development departments to track efforts at more specific fundraising asks. However, many of our organizations also use Plans "off-label" to track efforts to recruit participants for Education Classes and Programs, or to cultivate Group Ticket Sales initiatives with organizations who need to be worked with in a similar fashion to major donors. Tessitura's Plans functionality is very flexible with regard to users creating custom elements for their Plans, making this a perfect opportunity to fully explore how Plans can be used even outside of fundraising. Portfolio Management Whether your organization only uses Plans for fundraising efforts or spreads the use of the functionality across every department, you will want to have guidelines in place for how many Plans each worker can be reasonably expected to manage at a given time. Plans in Tessitura require maintenance and updating in order to keep the information relevant, so asking a worker to tackle 200 Plans on their own might not be the recipe for success. That said, defining a reasonable amount of Plans for each worker to manage can result in greater successes from the effort, with a full tracking of the process which led to the securing of gifts.
Not Just for Development
At Tulsa Arts Management Consortium organizations, Plans are primarily utilized by Development departments to track efforts at more specific fundraising asks. However, many of our organizations also use Plans "off-label" to track efforts to recruit participants for Education Classes and Programs, or to cultivate Group Ticket Sales initiatives with organizations who need to be worked with in a similar fashion to major donors. Tessitura's Plans functionality is very flexible with regard to users creating custom elements for their Plans, making this a perfect opportunity to fully explore how Plans can be used even outside of fundraising.
Portfolio Management
Whether your organization only uses Plans for fundraising efforts or spreads the use of the functionality across every department, you will want to have guidelines in place for how many Plans each worker can be reasonably expected to manage at a given time. Plans in Tessitura require maintenance and updating in order to keep the information relevant, so asking a worker to tackle 200 Plans on their own might not be the recipe for success. That said, defining a reasonable amount of Plans for each worker to manage can result in greater successes from the effort, with a full tracking of the process which led to the securing of gifts.
From Plan Status:
When it comes to Plans one of, if not the most important element is the Plan Status. While there are some pre-built Plan Status values available to all Tulsa Arts Management Consortium member organizations, each organization is also able to build their own unique and control-grouped values in the System Table TR_PLAN_STATUS (provided that the appropriate user permissions have been granted at your access level). While each organization is able to structure their own Plan Status values, those who are looking for some guidance could potentially consider the following numerical progression structure and envision their Plans moving from an initial "0" step all the way through to a "5" step, tracking standard moves management structural practices. 0-Identification This is the stage where a patron has been found to be worth setting up a Plan for, whether through wealth screening, data analysis, or a word-of-mouth recommendation. When you're in this status, you're researching as much as you can about the patron to know the best approach moving forward. 1-Qualification 1x-Disqualification Stage 1 has two outcomes: either a patron "qualifies" based on your research and is worth pursuing in a Plan, or they're "disqualified" because the research doesn't show them as a good Plan candidate. If they "disqualify" out here, that's the end of the line for them. 2-Cultivation Here is where the conversation begins, where you're reaching out to the patron in various ways to "cultivate" the gift you want them to make. 3-Solicitation And here is where the conversation reaches a climax and the gift solicitation formally happens. Depending on the type of Plan, this might be the point at which a formal grant proposal is submitted instead of a face-to-face (or another type) gift ask. 4-Gift Received 4x-Declined Another split-stage here for 4; either you get the gift (or a commitment for the gift), or it's declined and that's the end of the line for the Plan. 5-Stewardship
While there are some pre-built Plan Status values available to all Tulsa Arts Management Consortium member organizations, each organization is also able to build their own unique and control-grouped values in the System Table TR_PLAN_STATUS (provided that the appropriate user permissions have been granted at your access level).
While each organization is able to structure their own Plan Status values, those who are looking for some guidance could potentially consider the following numerical progression structure and envision their Plans moving from an initial "0" step all the way through to a "5" step, tracking standard moves management structural practices.
0-Identification
1-Qualification
1x-Disqualification
2-Cultivation
3-Solicitation
4-Gift Received
4x-Declined
5-Stewardship
The last stage here is for acknowledging and thanking the donor and keeping good stewardship with them so that they're still good to go when the next Plan opportunity arises.
From Plan Type:
The Plan Type value is intended to help categorize Plans; Tessitura suggests that one way to use these is to separate out by individual donors, sponsorships, or grants. All Tulsa Arts Management Consortium members are able to either use default values for Plan Type, or to specify and build their own Plan Type values using the TR_PLAN_TYPE System Table (provided that the users have the appropriate access permissions). Along with the Tessitura suggestions above, member organizations tend to build their own Plan Types which address the following types of Plans:
The Plan Type value is intended to help categorize Plans; Tessitura suggests that one way to use these is to separate out by individual donors, sponsorships, or grants.
All Tulsa Arts Management Consortium members are able to either use default values for Plan Type, or to specify and build their own Plan Type values using the TR_PLAN_TYPE System Table (provided that the users have the appropriate access permissions).
Along with the Tessitura suggestions above, member organizations tend to build their own Plan Types which address the following types of Plans:
Current Donor
Lapsed Donor
Upgrade Donor (note: this specifically means the Plan is intended to upgrade the donor from what they might have given historically)
Donor Prospect
Planned Gift/Planned Giving Prospect
From Plan Source:
The Plan Source value is used to record why a specific Plan was started. There are some default values that are available for use by all Tulsa Arts Management Consortium organizations, but organizations are also able to specify their own unique values for this using the TR_PLAN_SOURCE System Table, provided that the user has the appropriate permissions. Some potential value options for Plan Source might include:
The Plan Source value is used to record why a specific Plan was started.
There are some default values that are available for use by all Tulsa Arts Management Consortium organizations, but organizations are also able to specify their own unique values for this using the TR_PLAN_SOURCE System Table, provided that the user has the appropriate permissions.
Some potential value options for Plan Source might include:
Annual Donor Plan created for a patron known to the organization as an annual donor.
Board Member Plan created because this patron is a Board Member.
Board Member Referral Plan created at the direction of a Board Member.
Prospect -- Self-Identified Plan created because this patron self-identified as a giving prospect.
Prospect -- Staff-Identified Plan created because this patron was identified by staff members as a giving prospect.
Research Plan created because research efforts indicated this patron should be tracked using a Plan.
Wealth Screening
Plan created because a positive wealth screening indicated that this patron should be tracked using a Plan.
From Plan Step Types:
Once a Plan is created, activity and actions taken as part of that Plan are tracked via what are called Plan Steps. Mailing a letter or making a phone call might warrant tracking via a Plan Step, for example. Steps can also record actions already taken, or to assign pending actions to workers on the Plan. Files can also be attached to Steps, such as proposal documents, and Steps can be associated with other constituent records, for those instances where perhaps another donor takes part in an activity as part of the Plan (Board Chair convening a lunch meeting, for example). Some Plan Step Type values are available by default to all Tulsa Arts Management Consortium member organizations, but it is also possible for the member organizations to specify unique, control-grouped values in the TR_STEP_TYPE System Table, provided the user has the appropriate access. The TR_STEP_TYPE table includes multiple columns for each created row. There are three values available per column: Required, Available, and Not Used. Here is a quick run-down of each column: Allow Attachments Ind Controls the ability to attach files to this Step Type. Use Note Controls the ability to use the Notes field in this Step Type. Use Associate No Controls the ability to specify a worker or patron ID number with this Step Type. Use Due Dt Controls the ability to set a due date with this Step Type. Use Completed On Dt Controls the ability to set a completed on date with this Step Type. Use Warning Days Controls the ability to set warning days with this Step Type for Reminders. Use Worker Controls the ability to set a worker with this Step Type. One thing to point out about Step Types is that you can, when creating a Step Type, also type a description of the Step without having to create a new Type value. For example, you could use the default "Face-to-Face Visit" Step Type and then manually type in "Lunch at Amelia's" as a description.
Once a Plan is created, activity and actions taken as part of that Plan are tracked via what are called Plan Steps.
Mailing a letter or making a phone call might warrant tracking via a Plan Step, for example. Steps can also record actions already taken, or to assign pending actions to workers on the Plan. Files can also be attached to Steps, such as proposal documents, and Steps can be associated with other constituent records, for those instances where perhaps another donor takes part in an activity as part of the Plan (Board Chair convening a lunch meeting, for example).
Some Plan Step Type values are available by default to all Tulsa Arts Management Consortium member organizations, but it is also possible for the member organizations to specify unique, control-grouped values in the TR_STEP_TYPE System Table, provided the user has the appropriate access.
The TR_STEP_TYPE table includes multiple columns for each created row. There are three values available per column: Required, Available, and Not Used. Here is a quick run-down of each column:
One thing to point out about Step Types is that you can, when creating a Step Type, also type a description of the Step without having to create a new Type value. For example, you could use the default "Face-to-Face Visit" Step Type and then manually type in "Lunch at Amelia's" as a description.
Hopefully, this is helpful in some way!
Thank you,
Brian