Setting Up Your Contact Database Information

The Contacts module helps you organize your contact database with the information you need to run your nonprofit effectively.

This article explains how to customize these information fields to fit your needs:

• Default fields
• Creating Custom Fields Categories
• Creating Custom Fields
• Field types
• Setting field visibility
• Printing a profile card

You can store information in your Contacts module for everyone connected to your nonprofit: board members, members, donors, volunteers, partners, and more.

Anyone who joins or donates to your nonprofit through a Campaign is added automatically.

All actions described in this article are performed from the settings center, accessible via Settings > Contacts:

and more specifically here:

Default fields

By default, the platform collects the following information for each contact:

• last name
• first name
• photo
• date of birth
• gender
• email address
• phone number
• mailing address

These fields can be included whenever a new profile is created. First and last name are required; all other fields are optional unless you decide otherwise.

For the Gender and Date of Birth fields, you can choose whether to use them or not. If you disable them, they will no longer appear on your Campaigns.

Creating Custom Fields Categories

If you need to collect a large number of fields, or fields that apply only to certain contacts, creating Custom Fields Categories is a great way to stay organized.

These are groups of fields that structure the profile card.

By default, when you create your first field, an "Additional Information" category is created automatically. You can rename this category and create additional ones as needed.

For example, you could organize your profile card into 3 main categories:

• General information;
• Additional information;
• Volunteer information (collected from volunteers only).

This keeps your contacts' profiles clean and well-organized:

If needed, you can restrict a category to a specific Group as explained in this article. The fields in that category will then only be shown to members of that Group.

Creating Custom Fields

Creating fields

Once your Custom Fields Categories are set up, you can add your own fields to them.

To keep search performance optimized, the total number of autocomplete free-value, text, and email fields is limited to 53. That said, this still gives you plenty of flexibility.

Choosing a field type

A window opens where you can enter a field name and select the field type. This lets you tailor each field precisely to the kind of data you're collecting.

For example, using a Free value field instead of a Date field allows entries like "January 1, 2012", "01/01/2012", or "1/1/12" — making it impossible to keep your data clean and consistent.

Similarly, choosing an Email or Phone number field type ensures that entries match the expected format.

Field types are explained below.

Fields displayed at re-registration

When a contact re-registers through a Campaign or ticketing form, only fields that haven't already been filled in are shown — keeping the process short and simple.

If a previously entered field needs to be updated (e.g., a change of mailing address), this can be done directly from the contact's profile card.

If editing the information from the profile card isn't an option, you can create a new field for each piece of information you need to collect. Since it will be empty, it will be shown during sign-up.

We recommend deleting and recreating the relevant fields at the end of each sign-up period. You can also create one field per period (e.g., "certificate 2018" and "certificate 2019").

Field types

Text field

The text field is the most basic option: it stores free-form text in a contact's profile (with no restrictions on character types — numbers, letters, punctuation, etc.). We recommend using this field type for short entries; for longer content, use a text block field instead.

Text block field

The text block field shares the same characteristics as the text field, but is optimized for longer content. It features a larger, expandable input area for easier entry.

This field can hold up to approximately 60,000 plain-text characters.

Autocomplete free-value field

This field type works similarly to a standard text field, with one key difference: the platform stores all values previously entered for that field. When someone types in it, any matching existing values are suggested as autocomplete options.

Numeric field

This field stores numeric values only. It's ideal for any quantitative data you need to track (weight in lbs, height in inches, number of donations, etc.).

From your Contacts module, you can run optimized searches on numeric values, like this:

Multiple-choice field

This field presents a list of predefined values, from which the member can select one or more options.

For example, if you create a "favorite sport" field, you might add the following values: tennis, soccer, rugby, etc. Registrants can only choose from these options.

To do this, select Multiple choice from the list and add your options. If you have a long list of values, you can import them from a spreadsheet. Enter the values in a single column, then paste them into the designated field.

Once this field is created, you can search your Contacts module for people who match all selected values, at least one of the selected values, or none of the selected values.

Dropdown field

This field works like the multiple-choice field, except that only one option can be selected. Using the same example (favorite sport), the answer must be a single choice (tennis, soccer, or rugby).

Date field

This field lets you store dates in MM/DD/YYYY format; time cannot be stored. Once the date field is created, you can search using the following conditions:

File upload field

This field lets you store documents uploaded by registrants, such as a parental consent form. These can then be bulk exported if needed.

Other field types

You can also create fields of type Email, Phone number, or Website URL.

Setting field visibility

When creating or editing a field, you can decide for each one whether it will be visible and/or editable by the registrant, or by administrators only.

Printing a profile card

There is no built-in print option in the platform. However, if you'd like a printed copy, simply press Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac) and select "Print."

It's a simple workaround to get the information on paper.