UND Alumni Association & Foundation
NetCommunity Grow Engagement Summary
Prepared by Karen Harant
December 15, 2016
UND Alumni Association & Foundation
NetCommunity Grow Project Summary
Table of Contents
1
2
3
4
5
INTRODUCTION AND GOALS......................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1
Purpose of this Document..................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2
Goals .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
VISUAL DESIGN ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1
VISUAL DESIGN .................................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1
Incorporate the “Action Item” List .......................................................................................................................................... 4
3.2
Prepare and Test Content and Messaging ........................................................................................................................... 4
FUNCTIONAL AREA CONFIGURATION SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 5
4.1
Roles and Security ................................................................................................................................................................ 5
4.2
Online Philanthropy............................................................................................................................................................... 7
4.3
Online Event Management ................................................................................................................................................... 8
4.4
User Login Form ................................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.5
Profile Update Form .............................................................................................................................................................. 9
4.6
Directory ............................................................................................................................................................................. 10
4.7
Email ................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
APPENDIX I: BLACKBAUD NETCOMMUNITY RESOURCES ..................................................................................................... 20
5.1
Customer Support Resources............................................................................................................................................. 20
5.2
NetCommunity Videos ........................................................................................................................................................ 21
5.3
NetCommunity Blog ............................................................................................................................................................ 22
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1
INTRODUCTION AND GOALS
Blackbaud has appreciated UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s cooperation and hospitality during this
implementation project. Our goal is to provide our customers with the most comprehensive solution possible.
We feel that with NetCommunity Grow, UND Alumni Association & Foundation will be better able to meet its
goals. The following is a brief outline of the project’s goals, tasks, and accomplishments, which the consultant
has described in more detail throughout the document.
1.1
Purpose of this Document
This Project Summary provides UND Alumni Association & Foundation with the following information:
 A summary of the work completed during the course of the project
 An outline of recommendations and action items that UND Alumni Association & Foundation should
complete
 Related help and support resources
This Project Summary serves as a record of the decisions UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the
consultant made during the implementation. UND Alumni Association & Foundation should utilize this material
as a reference for its use and public launch of NetCommunity Grow.
1.2
Goals
At the beginning of this project, Blackbaud and UND Alumni Association & Foundation identified the following
objectives for UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s NetCommunity Grow implementation:
 One of our biggest struggles is the integration between the website and RE. We know
Netcommunity will resolve these issues.
To help UND Alumni Association & Foundation achieve these goals effectively, Blackbaud proposed a project
plan using the prescriptive approach for the NetCommunity Grow solution. The following major tasks are
essential to the success of the project:
 Creating an attractive online portal providing philanthropic options and helpful tools to constituents
 Providing online event registration
 Implementing an effective email communications tool integrated with The Raiser’s Edge
 Providing guidance and best practices to UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s staff for utilizing
and preparing the NetCommunity Grow site for public launch
By the conclusion of the project, Blackbaud and UND Alumni Association & Foundation had achieved multiple
successes. Some of the key successes include:
 Successfully hosted UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s NetCommunity Grow and integrated it
with The Raiser’s Edge
 Applied design elements from the UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s website to the
NetCommunity Grow pages
 Assisted UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s staff with configuring functional areas in
Blackbaud NetCommunity, including the content management system, online forms, and email
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2
VISUAL DESIGN
Blackbaud applied basic design elements of UND
Alumni Association & Foundation’s main website to
the NetCommunity Grow site as detailed in the
Scope of Work. The following is an image of UND
Alumni Association & Foundation’s NetCommunity
Grow site as delivered by Blackbaud.
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3
RECOMMENDATIONS
The consultant provides the following recommendations to give UND Alumni Association & Foundation
guidance on launching and using the NetCommunity Grow system to help achieve the organization’s goals.
3.1
Incorporate the “Action Item” List
As UND Alumni Association & Foundation begins to launch the NetCommunity Grow site, it is critical to
properly plan, add to, and work through the list of action items that the consultant provided. In addition to
completing the action items, Blackbaud recommends additional testing. Plan to have your internal team review
and “beta test” the NetCommunity Grow site prior to extending it to your primary audience to ensure that
content and messaging fulfills UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s communication objectives.
Please refer to the Site Preparation and Action Items document that was provided to UND Alumni Association
& Foundation.
3.2
Prepare and Test Content and Messaging
Testing is a critical component in launching a successful website. It is important to review site content, test
links, and ensure that each page communicates to the constituent in a way that fits with UND Alumni
Association & Foundation’s style and standards.
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4
FUNCTIONAL AREA CONFIGURATION SUMMARY
The following summary outlines discussions about usage of the major functional areas that are part of UND
Alumni Association & Foundation’s Scope of Work.
4.1
Roles and Security
Site access and security in NetCommunity Grow is based upon roles, task groups, and security assignments.
 A role is a group of NetCommunity Grow users.
 A task group is a “bundle” of security rights that can be assigned to Roles. There are two types of
Task Groups: Organization-level Tasks Groups and Site-level Task Groups.
 A security assignment assigns a Task Group to a Role.
The following illustration demonstrates how roles, task groups, and security assignments work together in
NetCommunity Grow.
Some roles, such as content authors, will have security rights to build content and access edit-mode of
Blackbaud NetCommunity. Other roles, such as NetCommunity members, will only have rights to view certain
pages, such as My Profile and Giving History.
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant reviewed the following roles and task groups. The
following are the task groups and roles that UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant
established.
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4.1.1
Roles
4.1.1.1
Staff – Administrative Rights
The Administrative Rights role provides rights to organization and site settings within the Administration area of
Blackbaud NetCommunity.
4.1.1.2
Staff – Content Rights - Standard
The Standard Content Rights role allows access to pages, parts, templates, and the image gallery. These
rights enable the group to create, edit, and update the site, but restrict access to more advanced content areas
such as layouts and style sheets.
4.1.1.3
Staff – Content Rights – Advanced
The Advanced Content Rights role includes basic content rights plus access to more advanced content areas
such as layouts and style sheets.
4.1.1.4
Staff – Email Rights
The Email Rights role provides rights to create, edit, and send email messages from Blackbaud
NetCommunity.
4.1.1.5
NetCommunity Members
The NetCommunity Member role refers to constituents who signed up on the NetCommunity Grow site and
have been processed into The Raiser’s Edge. This role is based on a Raiser’s Edge query and does not have
any security rights associated with it. This role will be able to see the pages that require the constituent to be
linked to a Raiser’s Edge constituent record, such as the My Profile and Giving History pages.
This role is linked to the Raiser’s Edge dynamic constituent query called BBNC – NetCommunity Members,
which has the criterion of “Is NetCommunity Member = Yes.”
4.1.1.6
NetCommunity Members - Provisional
The consultant created a role of provisional member to limit what new registrants can access until they are
approved. Once they are approved (by linking their registration request to a constituent record) they will
automatically become part of the member role, which will allow them to access the pages that require the
constituent to be linked to a Raiser’s Edge constituent record, such as the My Profile and Giving History pages.
4.1.2
Supervisors
In addition to role-based security and rights, there is the ability to assign supervisor rights in Blackbaud
NetCommunity to one or more users. The Supervisor role is the only one that has access to the “Users &
Security” section of the site to assign permissions to others. It also has full access to all other tools and
features. To apply supervisor rights to a user, open a user record and mark the Supervisor checkbox.
UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined that Cindy Fuller and Chris DeMaster will have full
supervisor rights within NetCommunity Grow.
4.1.3
Task Groups
4.1.3.1
Staff – Content Rights - Standard
This task group allows content rights to pages, parts, templates, and the image gallery. These rights provide
the ability to create, edit, and update the site, but restrict access to more advanced content areas such as
layouts and style sheets.
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4.1.3.2
Staff – Content Rights – Advanced
This task group contains full content rights. This includes basic content rights plus access to layouts and style
sheets.
4.1.3.3
Staff – Email Rights
This task group allows rights to create, edit, and send email messages from Blackbaud NetCommunity.
4.1.3.4
Staff – Administrative Rights
This task group provides rights to organization settings, field options, and the sites area of Blackbaud
NetCommunity.
4.2
Online Philanthropy
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined that online philanthropy is one of the
primary focuses of the organization’s NetCommunity Grow site. This section documents how the consultant
and UND Alumni Association & Foundation configured the Blackbaud NetCommunity parts related to online
philanthropy and provides recommendations and best practices to help UND Alumni Association & Foundation
achieve its goals.
4.2.1
Donation Form
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant discussed and configured the donation form. The
following documents key configuration decisions and recommendations for future use.
1) Fund Designations – The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined that
donors would be able to select the designation when making a donation. To keep the donation
process streamlined and simple, UND Alumni Association & Foundation is aware that the dropdown
list should be limited.
2. Default Constituent Code – The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined
that the organization will not use this feature. The organization has decided they will apply a default
constituent code on a case by case basis as transactions are processed through the NetCommunity
plug-in.
2) Recurring Gifts – The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined that in
order to increase UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s recurring gift program, recurring gift
options of the 1st and 15th of the month would be offered at this time.
3) Since the Title and State tables from The Raiser’s Edge are displayed on the donation form, UND
Alumni Association & Foundation is aware that these tables should be clean and alphabetized.
4) The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined that the organization will use
the Custom Confirmation page on all donation forms. This will allow UND Alumni Association &
Foundation to adequately thank the donor and provide compelling messaging and links to invite the
donor to learn more about the organization. The consultant recommends that all donation
confirmation screens have at least two links to compelling and relevant content to continue to
engage the donor.
5) UND Alumni Association & Foundation determined that it would be valuable to have additional
donation forms for other areas and purposes. When creating another donation form, the consultant
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recommends making a copy of the donation form that Blackbaud delivered and configured as part
of this implementation. UND Alumni Association & Foundation can edit the new form to fit its needs.
6) Email Acknowledgement letter – The consultant recommends that donation acknowledgement
emails should also have links to relevant content to continue to engage the donor.
4.2.2
Payment Part
The Payment part allows constituents to submit multiple transactions and pay for them all at once via a
“shopping cart.”
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant reviewed the payment part and the organization is
aware they can use this in conjunction with the donation forms to allow donors to give to multiple funds and
have it come into RE as individual gifts versus split gifts.
4.2.3
Transaction Manager (Giving History)
The transaction manager part enables users to view a listing of their Raiser’s Edge gift transactions. The
transactions can be limited with various filters that enable UND Alumni Association & Foundation to control the
transaction information available to users. The organization will create a Raiser’s Edge gift query that the
transaction manager will be linked to before launching this part.
Only constituents who have registered and been processed can see their giving history. As a result, the
consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation configured the security of the transaction manager page
so the page cannot be seen by the “Everyone” and “Provisional Member” roles.
4.3
Online Event Management
This section documents how the consultant assisted UND Alumni Association & Foundation with configuring
the NetCommunity Grow features related to event management. It also includes recommendations and best
practices to help UND Alumni Association & Foundation achieve its goals.
4.3.1
Event Registration Form
The consultant and UND Alumni
Association & Foundation discussed and
configured the event registration part. The
consultant and UND Alumni Association &
Foundation built and configured the NC
Setup Event and The Go Show 2016
event to accept online registrations.
When creating additional event
registration forms, Blackbaud
recommends making a copy of the event
registration part that the consultant
delivered and configured as part of this
implementation and then editing the
copied form to fit the new event.
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UND Alumni Association & Foundation needs to create events in The Raiser’s Edge prior to building the
following form or forms. Each event record in The Raiser’s Edge must have the following fields completed:
 Event Name
 Date
 Units and Pricing (at least one Unit [ticket] must be entered on the Event Record Prices tab)
 The pricing must be established with unit, gift amount, and receipt amount
 If you are having a free event, set gift and receipt amounts to zero
The following fields are optional, but surface online:
 Time
 Location
 Capacity
 Event Description
Note — The constituent registering online will have the registration linked to a constituent record and have a participant record created
in The Raiser’s Edge. Guests of the registrant will have participant records created in RE:Event.
UND Alumni Association & Foundation may add multiple events to a single event registration form, but these
events will need to share a single fund.
4.3.2
Event Calendar
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant reviewed the event calendar. The event calendar is
an independent, interactive calendar that is not linked with event registration forms or The Raiser’s Edge. UND
Alumni Association & Foundation is aware that they can use the event calendar to communicate various
events in the organization. Events that have online event registration forms should have links to register from
the specific event calendar entry.
4.4
User Login Form
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation reviewed and configured the user login part.
Constituents who register for the site will be taken to the new user confirmation page. Return users, upon
logging in, will be taken to the return user landing page.
4.5
Profile Update Form
The profile form part allows logged-in constituents who have been processed in The Raiser’s Edge to update
information that is currently stored in The Raiser’s Edge. The main purpose of this feature is to receive updated
profile information and email addresses for UND Alumni Association & Foundation to use for targeted
communications.
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant reviewed the fields available on the profile update
form.
Only constituents who have registered and been processed can see and update their profile. As a result, the
consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation configured the security of the profile update page so the
page cannot be seen by the “Everyone” and “Provisional Member” roles.
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4.6
Directory
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant configured the directory and directory profile display.
Constituents included in The Raiser’s Edge query named “All Alumni” are currently included in the directory.
Only users who are part of the Alumni Role can access these pages.
Security is setup so that the page is visible to all users. Only users logged in as Alumni members will be able to
see the directory. If you are not logged in, you will see a login or registration form. This configuration is setup in
a Targeted Content part for the users and roles seen below.
It is recommended that the UND Alumni Association & Foundation team test these forms and parts to make
sure the user experience, workflow and content is appropriate for each audience and role.
4.6.1
Privacy Options
From a privacy perspective, the consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation discussed and
configured field options for the directory (Administration>Field Options) so that only the following fields are
Public by default:
 Title
 State
 First name
 Class of
 Last name
 Organization
 Suffix
 Position
 Maiden name
 Profession
 City
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation updated the profile form to allow constituents to
adjust the privacy settings for specific information.
4.7
Email
UND Alumni Association & Foundation and the consultant reviewed the email feature within Blackbaud
NetCommunity. The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation reviewed lists, templates, and
messages. The designer created three templates for the organization: an appeal template, a newsletter
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template, and a general template. The following are the consultant’s recommendations for sending email
messages through Blackbaud NetCommunity.
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation identified the Raiser’s Edge phone type of “Email”
as the primary email address and the email address that the organization will use when sending messages
from NetCommunity Grow.
4.7.1
Lists
The consultant recommends creating email lists that are based on dynamic Raiser’s Edge queries. When
creating a list, select a data source of “Constituents.” The benefits of using query-based lists include:
 Users can include numerous Raiser’s Edge merge fields in the email to personalize the message
 The system stores email open, click-through, and conversion information on the NetCommunity tab
of Raiser’s Edge constituent records
 Email lists automatically update with the most current recipients because they are based on
dynamic Raiser’s Edge queries
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation created a test List called “Internal Test List for
Emails.” The organization should use this list to test email prior to sending out the final message. UND Alumni
Association & Foundation can add staff members directly to this list as needed. This list is not linked to a
Raiser’s Edge query. To add recipients, open the list, select View>Edit List, and then select New Recipient.
4.7.2
Templates and Messages
Users create messages by starting from a template, which saves development time and increases consistency
of email communications. When creating templates and messages, UND Alumni Association & Foundation
should consider the following recommendations.




From Address: Blackbaud recommends using a consistent, general email address as the “From
Address.” For example, [email protected]. Blackbaud recommends that you select an email
address that is checked frequently.
From Name: Blackbaud also recommends that UND Alumni Association & Foundation uses its
name as the “From Name” because constituents are more likely to know the name of your
organization than a specific person’s name. Since mobile devices also only display the first 15-25
characters of a subject line, using your organization as the “From Name” will allow you to create
more concise subject lines.
It is best practice not to change the “From Address” and “From Name” frequently, so you will build
on your reputation as an email sender.
Reply Address: If your “From Address” email account is not checked frequently, Blackbaud
recommends that UND Alumni Association & Foundation sets the “Reply Address” to a real email
address that a real person checks. This will ensure that message recipients who may wish to
engage with the organization by just pressing their reply button will not have their messages lost in
the ether.
Note — When a user replies to an email asking to opt out, you must honor that request. Blackbaud recommends that you mark the
“Request No Email” checkbox on the Bio 1 tab of their Raiser’s Edge constituent record.
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4.7.3
Email Design Best Practices
Maximizing the effectiveness of your email marketing includes understanding and leveraging the latest
strategies and best practices. These guidelines will help you increase deliverability while maximizing the look
of your NetCommunity Grow email communications.
4.7.3.1
Overall Email Design












4.7.3.2
Email should be no wider than 640 pixels
Consider how your email will look with images disabled. Many email clients disable images by
default
It is important to make sure your recipient can still see the important information
Keep important information and calls-to-action at the top of the email, often the first 400px, so this
content displays in the reading pane
Use of animated gifs, flash, videos, iframes, forms, javascript, AJAX are not recommended
Always use inline styling when formatting emails
Avoid large blocks of text. Instead, include a couple sentences to create a teaser and have a “read
more” or “learn more” link that links back to a landing page for full content
Use a consistent “From” name to build your sender reputation
Include UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s address, and links to your privacy policy and
unsubscribe page
Validate your code. Empty and unclosed tags can cause spacing and layout issues
Table-based designs are recommended. DIV-based designs should be avoided since they do not
function consistently across email clients
It is vital to test your email with different email clients (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Comcast, for
example) to assess any rendering differences. We recommend including these email clients in your
email test List when testing messages.
Text



4.7.3.3
Avoid using symbols, such as dollar signs and exclamation points, in email content and subject
lines
Do not use fonts larger than 24px
Do not use more than two fonts
Images


4.7.3.4
When including images, consider image size. Smaller images yield shorter load times and email
size
All images should include alt tags for accessibility
Links


4.7.3.5
Avoid using excessively long links. Two or three words is ideal.
Use text rather than image links as some email clients block images
Resources


4.7.3.6
W3C Markup Validation Service: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS Support in Email Clients: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/
Spam Compliance and Email Reputation


How to build your email reputation:
http://www.blackbaud.com/kb/index?page=content&id=BB492788
How to prevent email from being viewed as SPAM when sending global emails or eblasts:
http://www.blackbaud.com/kb/index?page=content&id=BB56224
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4.7.4
Email Workflow
The following workflow is the recommended means of sending an email message from NetCommunity Grow.
Start
Create a New
List, or use an
Existing List?
Existing
New
Create a New
Template, or use an
Existing one?
Create a New List
Existing
New
Review the Message
Results
Send the Final
Message
Yes
Create a New
Template
Create a New
Message
Is the Message
Ready to be Sent to
the Recipients?
Send a Test Message
No
Edit and Refine the
Message
End
4.7.5
Email Preferences Form
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation discussed and configured the email preferences
part. Constituents who opt-out from an email message that is sent from a list with a source of ‘Constituents’ will
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have the “Requests no Email” checkbox marked on the Bio 1 tab of their constituent record in The Raiser’s
Edge.
4.7.6
Email Reports
Email Revenue Summary and Email Activity reports are available in the Admin folder of Site Explorer. These
reports provide high-level views of email communication effectiveness. Users can find message-specific
reporting in the specific Messages after they are sent.
The Email Activity Report and Email Revenue Summary Report pages are not publicly facing; only the Content
Author and Site Administrator roles can see them.
4.7.7
Gift Transaction Processing
The consultant and UND Alumni Association & Foundation reviewed NetCommunity Grow transaction
processing in The Raiser’s Edge. Processing NetCommunity Grow transactions is similar to offline gift
processing protocol, but with the efficiencies of “guiding” the data instead of re-keying the data.
The following are the transaction processing steps reviewed during the implementation for your reference.
1) Create a batch in The Raiser’s Edge or remember the number of an existing uncommitted Batch in
The Raiser’s Edge where the Blackbaud NetCommunity gifts should go. This will usually mimic the
first step in offline gift processing.
Note — The required NetCommunity Grow fields link to the batch automatically. For example, the various NetCommunity Grow gift
attributes will automatically add to any batch selected.
2) Open the Blackbaud NetCommunity page in The Raiser’s Edge.
3) Select Donations.
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4) On the menu bar, select Tools>Transactions Options.
5) Select “Add Records to an existing batch or create a new batch with this number” and enter an
existing batch number (or click the binoculars icon to search for an existing, uncommitted batch).
Click OK. All transactions for this processing session will now default into this selected batch.
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Note — If you exit the Transaction interface at any time and return to process transactions, you will need to select the Batch again
(steps 4 and 5).
Note — Choosing the other two options is not recommended. While they both are able to create a Batch automatically, they both
require that you go through the steps 4 and 5 after processing the first transaction or you will keep creating new batches, each
with one gift in them. In other words, the new Batch that is automatically created will not become the default Batch for the
second and subsequent transactions. Choosing “Add records to an Existing Batch…” limits the risk and simplifies the process.
6) Select a specific donation transaction by clicking on it. Press F7 to search for the constituent in The
Raiser’s Edge. Match the donation to a new or existing constituent record.
Note — The checkboxes are only used for identifying transactions to be bulk processed or exported, so they are not used in standard
processing.
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Note — 1. The Batch number appears at the bottom-left of the window. This indicates where processed gifts will currently go.
Note — 2. The Linked Constituent information displays if either the constituent is auto-matched or if the constituent was logged into
Blackbaud NetCommunity when they made the transaction. Auto-matching criteria can be found under Tools>Global Options.
Note — 3. You have the ability to assign a default on a constituent code on the donation form (and event and membership forms).
Keep in mind that it applies the code to both new and existing Constituent records. There is a means of defaulting a
constituent code for just new constituent records coming into The Raiser’s Edge from Blackbaud NetCommunity. This option is
in Tools>Global Options. Blackbaud recommends this so you can track new constituents derived from the website.
Note — 4. The Fund will auto-link based on the designation chosen by the donor or the default for the donation form.
7) Update the constituent’s information as needed and click Save and Close.
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8) If you chose not to process information in specific fields as shown in step 7, then select “Yes” when
prompted to reject any remaining updates.
9) Select “Process Transaction” to add this donation to the Batch.
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Note — Users will be prompted to match any outstanding transaction information such as:
- Tribute, if it is Tribute Gift
- Fund, if the online form allows the donor to type in a designation
- Organization, if the giving on behalf of a company option is offered on the form and selected by the donor
- Matching Gift, if the option is offered on the form and selected by the donor
10) Upon completion, the spinning globe appears with the message that a new Batch is being created,
even when the transaction is being placed in an existing Batch. Ignore the message and know that
a new Batch is not being created for each transaction, assuming you have followed these
instructions.
Note — The next message appears stating that the Batch was created (even if the processed transaction was placed into an existing
Batch). It also offers to open the Batch. Select “No,” unless you have completed the transactions or want to check the Batch
for some reason.
11) Repeat steps 6-10 until all transactions have been processed.
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5
APPENDIX I: BLACKBAUD NETCOMMUNITY RESOURCES
Blackbaud’s goal is to provide our customers with the most efficient and comprehensive support in the
industry. This allows our customers to maximize their utilization of our software to meet their organization’s
mission.
5.1
Customer Support Resources
Case Central: Create a case by selecting Case Central from the Support menu. (If you do not have a website
login, contact your organization’s site administrator.) We automatically prioritize each case by creation time
and severity and queue it for routing to the next available analyst.
Phone: 800.468.8996 (Please listen to the options carefully as we occasionally change them based on
customer needs.)
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Support Hours
Support is available 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Thursday and 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET on
Fridays, excluding holidays. Extended support hours are provided for NetCommunity Mission Critical or Down
issues.
24/7 NetCommunity Mission Critical Support
We provide 24/7 beeper support for the following types of issues:
 Unable to send email messages or newsletters that are time sensitive and are not delivered within
eight hours
 Unable to process critical transactions
 Cosmetic issues that alter business processes enough to prevent them from being completed
 Unable to access primary page(s) for live events or the home page due to errors or slow
performance of 20 or more seconds
 Customer experiencing data loss without a workaround
Which Product Support Team to Contact
NetCommunity Support: Blackbaud NetCommunity product functionality or Blackbaud NetCommunity data in
The Raiser’s Edge.
Raiser’s Edge Support: Raiser’s Edge product functionality unrelated to Blackbaud NetCommunity.
What is within the Scope of Customer Support
 Assist with “how to” questions on general functions of Blackbaud NetCommunity, such as how to
create a new part, template, or layout.
 Troubleshoot and escalate programmatic issues such as bugs and outages to Product
Development and Hosting Services.
 Record suggestions by customers for new functionality in Knowledgebase for review by Product
Development for future releases.
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Contacting Support
When you contact Support, we will ask a variety of questions to determine what your issue is and how best to
solve it. If you are reporting an error, we will be able to resolve it quicker if you can provide the following
information:
 Ensure you are on the latest version of Blackbaud NetCommunity available on the Downloads
page.
 To find out what version you are on, run the testconfig program located in the Blackbaud
NetCommunity directory.
 e.g. http://MyServer/NetCommunity/testconfig.aspx
 URL for your Blackbaud NetCommunity website
 What was the exact error message?
 What steps were you taking when this happened?
 Can you reproduce the error on other machines / with other user names / with other network logins?
 What has changed since the last time you tried this?
 Do you have access to the server / administrative rights in the software?
 You are our greatest asset when troubleshooting problems. Please be at the computer where the
problem is occurring when you contact us and describe your issue in as much detail as possible.
Additional Support Resources:
Find Answers
Stay Current
Contact Us
Search Knowledgebase or
browse FAQs
Download software updates
and patches.
Review How-to
Documentation
Review system
requirements
Call Support
Join the Blackbaud
Community
Subscribe to alerts, blogs,
and software update notifications
Chat with Support
5.2
Manage Cases in Case
Central
NetCommunity Videos
Blackbaud NetCommunity 101
Basic Navigation and General Features 3:04
With this video, you will learn the basics of how to navigate the
content management system for your website. You will also
learn how to use the menu bar to access various features to
create and manage your website.
Administration
Email Process Overview 5:14
This video provides an overview of the email message process.
It briefly describes how to create a list, template, message, and
email report in your website management tool.
301 Redirects 2:49
Multiple Sites Management 4:02
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Email
Email Message Overview 4:03
Email Process Overview 5:14
Create Email Lists 3:11
Create Email Template 4:58
Email Statistics 4:14
Web Page Content
Add Content to a Web Page 2:14
Define Web Page Properties 2:14
Create Targeted Content Parts 5:50
Add a Page to a Menu 2:56
Transaction Manager Overview 3:49
Suggested Content Overview 2:45
Users & Security
Security Overview - Part 2 2:32
Security Overview - Part 1 4:54
Integration
Process Individual Signup Requests in The Raiser's Edge 4:18
General Tips & Tricks
How to Set Your Screen Resolution 1:16
5.3
NetCommunity Blog
Keep up to date on NetCommunity Features as well as Tips and Tricks by subscribing to our blog.
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/15
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