Understanding System Contact Fields
Contact records in DonorDock include standard system fields designed to store common information about individuals, households, and organizations. These fields help keep contact data consistent and make it easier to search, filter, report on, and communicate with your contacts.
Not every organization tracks the same information. If you need to store information that does not fit into one of DonorDock's standard contact fields, you can create Custom Fields to capture information specific to your organization's needs.
Below is an overview of the standard contact fields available in DonorDock and how each field is used.
Contact Types and Stages
Type
Each contact record has one of three contact types:
Individual: Used for an individual person.
Household: Used to represent a family or household. Individuals can be connected to a Household while maintaining their own independent contact records, gifts, and activities.
Organization: Used for businesses, foundations, nonprofits, or other organizations. Individual contacts can also be connected to Organization records through their employer information.
Stage
A contact can have one of three stages: Prospect, Donor, or Lapsed.
Stages can be set during an import or updated automatically by DonorDock based on the contact's giving history:
Prospect: A contact with no recorded transactions in DonorDock.
Donor: A contact with a recorded transaction within the last 24 months.
Lapsed: A contact who previously gave but has not recorded a transaction within the last 24 months.
You can also manually change a contact's stage from the options menu on the contact's profile.
Basic Information
For Household and Organization records, the name, email, and phone fields in this section can be used to identify the primary contact for that record.
Contact Field | Description / Usage |
|---|---|
First Name | First name of the contact. |
Last Name | Last name of the contact. |
Primary Email Address | The contact's primary email address. This is the email address used when sending emails to the contact. |
Secondary Email Address | An additional email address for the contact. This address does not receive emails. |
Mobile Phone | Mobile phone number for the contact. This is the phone number used when sending texts through DonorDock. |
Main Phone | Primary or general phone number for the contact. Informational only. Is not used for texting communications. |
Owner | The team member responsible for managing the relationship with this contact. A contact can have one Owner at a time. |
Contact and Communication Information
Contact Field | Description / Usage |
Date of Birth | Stores the contact's birthday. This field can be used for birthday reporting and Action Board birthday nudges. |
Deceased | Indicates that the contact is deceased. Deceased contacts are automatically excluded from contact reports unless you choose to include deceased contacts in the report. |
Title | The contact's title, such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., or another preferred title. |
Middle Name | The contact's middle name, if applicable. |
Former Name | A previous name used by the contact. |
Suffix | The contact's suffix, such as Jr., Sr., II, or III. |
Nickname | A preferred nickname for the contact. |
Salutation | The contact's preferred salutation for communications. |
Do Not Solicit | Indicates that the contact has requested not to be solicited. Contacts marked Do Not Solicit are excluded from contact reports by default unless you choose to include them. This field is intended to assist with filtering and list management. It does not automatically prevent marketing emails from being sent. A contact must be unsubscribed from marketing emails for DonorDock to prevent those emails from being delivered. |
Business Phone | The contact's work or business phone number. |
Fax | Fax number for the contact, if applicable. |
Facebook Username | Username associated with the contact's Facebook account. |
Instagram Username | Username associated with the contact's Instagram account. |
LinkedIn Username | Username associated with the contact's LinkedIn account. |
Twitter Username | Username associated with the contact's Twitter account. |
Website | Website associated with the contact. |
Family
Family fields allow you to store information about a contact's household and spouse.
Keep in mind that storing spouse information within an Individual record is different from creating a separate Individual contact record for the spouse. If both people need their own giving history, activities, communication history, or other contact information tracked independently, each person should have their own Individual contact record.
Contact Field | Description / Usage |
Household | Connects the Individual to an existing Household record in DonorDock. |
Household Role | Identifies the role the contact has within the Household. |
Spouse First Name | First name of the contact's spouse. |
Spouse Last Name | Last name of the contact's spouse. |
Spouse Former Name | Former name of the contact's spouse, if applicable. |
Spouse Email | Email address for the contact's spouse. When marketing emails are sent to the contact's Primary Email Address, the spouse email can also be CC'd. |
Spouse Mobile Phone | Mobile phone number for the contact's spouse. |
Spouse Business Phone | Business phone number for the contact's spouse. |
Spouse Date of Birth | Date of birth for the contact's spouse. |
Spouse Deceased | Indicates that the contact's spouse is deceased. |
Spouse Separated | Indicates that the contact and spouse are currently separated. |
Number of Children | Number of children associated with the contact and spouse. |
Address Information
DonorDock provides fields for both a primary and secondary address.
Contact Field | Description / Usage |
Addressee | Specifies how the contact should be addressed on mailed communications. |
Address Line 1 | First line of the contact's primary mailing address. |
Address Line 2 | Second line of the contact's primary mailing address. |
Address Line 3 | Third line of the contact's primary mailing address. |
City | City for the contact's primary address. |
State | State or province for the contact's primary address. |
Postal Code | ZIP or postal code for the contact's primary address. |
County | County associated with the contact's primary address. |
Country | Country associated with the contact's primary address. |
Bad Address | Indicates that the primary address is known or believed to be invalid or no longer usable. |
Address 2 Line 1 | First line of the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 Line 2 | Second line of the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 Line 3 | Third line of the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 City | City for the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 State | State or province for the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 Postal Code | ZIP or postal code for the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 County | County associated with the contact's secondary address. |
Address 2 Country | Country associated with the contact's secondary address. |
Employment
Employment fields allow Individual contacts to be connected to Organization records in DonorDock.
Contact Field | Description / Usage |
Employer | Connects the Individual to an existing Organization record in DonorDock. |
Job Title | The contact's job title or position with their employer. |
Connecting an Individual to an Organization through the Employer field creates a relationship between the records while allowing each record to maintain its own information, gifts, and activities.
Other Contact Fields
Contact Field | Description / Usage |
Account Number | Stores an account, constituent, member, or other identifying number associated with the contact. |
Affiliation | Stores an affiliation associated with the contact. Alphanumeric field only for text information. Does not connect to another record. |
Description | General description or additional information about the contact. Maximum 1,500 characters. |
Special Circumstances | Stores special circumstances or additional information your team should be aware of regarding the contact. Maximum 1,500 characters. |
When to Use Custom Fields
The standard contact fields are intended to cover information commonly tracked by nonprofit organizations. However, your organization may need to track information that does not have a corresponding system field.
In those situations, you can create a Custom Field.
For example, you might create custom fields to track information such as:
Membership level
Alumni graduation year
Preferred volunteer role
Constituent ID from another system
Committee membership
Program participation
Referral source
Whenever possible, use an existing DonorDock system field for information that fits its intended purpose. This helps keep your data consistent and ensures information is available to system features that rely on those fields. Use Custom Fields when the information you need to track is unique to your organization or does not have an appropriate standard field.