What Is a Constituent?

Constituent records contain vital information on your prospects, donors, and important contacts. In one easily accessible area, you can store contact information, important notes and documents, group affiliations, relationships between constituents, donation history, donor cultivation projects, and much more. These sections will help you to gain an understanding of the functionality Salsa CRM offers in recording constituent information.

Constituent Data Entry Workflow

Enter constituent data into Salsa CRM in one of three ways:

Manually key-in and save.
Convert from historical data sources during your implementation process.
Sync from external sources (like Salsa Engage).

Once constituent data is saved in the database, search for the constituent and edit the record to continually update your information. Data integrations from external sources via Advanced Import or Salsa Engage syncs also update existing information, provided the constituent can be matched to existing data via their unique ID.

NOTE: Users should not log in to the browser version of Salsa CRM as the Admin user to edit any constituent information. If everyone logs in as Admin and edits records, there would be no way to tell which specific person edited the record. For quality assurance purposes, we disable Constituent viewing and editing if the user is logged in with the Admin (constituent number=0) ID.
Any place in the app that opens a Constituent screen will still open a screen, but instead of the Constituent details, the user will see a message, "Constituent Information cannot be viewed or edited while logged in with the Admin account. Please log in with a standard user account to view or edit Constituent information."

The Constituent Dashboard

View the constituent by first searching for the constituent by name or other matching criteria. The Constituent Dashboard brings valuable information to the landing page, so campaign managers can view their engagement activities and other performance metrics at a glance.

NOTE: if the user does not have permission to view or edit an item, a warning will display.

Switch to Classic View

While this Dashboard view is preferred, you can still switch your preferences to view the classic constituent record representation:

Select the Tools > Options > Other menu.
Click the checkbox for Use the Classic Constituent Record View. This setting affects only your user settings and does not control anyone else's settings.
Uncheck that setting to return to the enhanced Constituent Dashboard view.

Primary Contact Frame

The Constituent Dashboard primary contact frame displays vital contact information. Details are listed below.

Constituent Type—Valid constituent types are Individual or Organization.
Constituent Number—The unique ID that corresponds to this Constituent record only and is never reused.
Gender—Gender values are Male, Female, and Unknown.
NOTE: Track non-binary genders by setting this value to Unknown and creating a common, constituent, or My Salsa CRM custom field.
Other Contact Info—Clicking this link expands the section and clicking again contracts the section to hide it. In this section, the following fields can be edited:
- Preferred Contact Method—Field definition is below.
- Preferred Contact Reason—Field definition is below.
- Addresses—Add and store multiple physical addresses for constituents in this area, though only one can be primary.
- Contacts—Add and store multiple phone numbers, emails, social media contacts, and or web site URL's.
Sticky Note—A persistent Note about the individual that is visible at all times on this dashboard. This Sticky Note is independent of any existing Constituent Notes found in that node, and existing Constituent Notes cannot be converted to Sticky Notes.
Primary Address—An address from the Other Contact Info section that has the Primary flag assigned to it. Only one address may have the Primary flag and should be the primary physical address for this constituent.
Primary Email—An email from the Other Contact Info section that has the Primary flag assigned to it. Only one email may have the Primary flag and should be the primary email address for this constituent. Primary Emails may not be deleted but may have the Primary value reassigned to another email address.
Preferred Contact Method—This field can help in queries to determine which constituents to consider for mailing lists, based on the method your supporters would prefer to be contacted. Some prefer to be contacted by email, while some prefer to be contacted by postal mail. Valid values are...
- Unknown
- Do not contact
- Standard Mail
- Phone
- Email
Preferred Contact Reason—This field can help in queries to determine which constituents to consider for mailing lists, based on whether the contact is for solicitations, though you are always allowed to contact supporters with donation thank-you correspondence. Valid values are...
- All correspondence
- Solicitations only
- Non-Solicitations only

NOTE: Preferred Contact Method and Preferred Contact Reason are not used to determine which email syncs to Engage or defines which email contains the primary email status.

Edit Menu

Edit and store updates to your constituent information by selecting the appropriate menu item here.

Constituent Info—Edit address and contact details.
View Update Details—View details about when this constituent was last updated:
- User Name—User that last updated this record.
- Record ID—Constituent ID for this record.
- UUID—Unique ID potentially synced with a third-party.
- Originally Stored—Date this record originally saved.
- Last Updated—Date this record was last updated.
Salsa Engage—Launch this constituent's Salsa Engage supporter record in a new browser tab.
Salutations—The Salutation Override window opens. Information entered into these fields will override Salsa CRM’s Smart variables and List As Name to use this information instead of pulling from their default sources.

In this window, enter salutations as you would like them to appear for the individual constituent. If these fields are left blank, then the constituent name will appear as it does in the Default areas of the Salutation Override window.

You can also add information into the Spouse fields to configure how the salutation should look if the constituent has a spouse or significant other. As long as any of the available spouse Relation values are used (spouse, significant other, husband, wife, domestic partner, etc.), you may select the Copy Overrides to Spouse checkbox, and any information in the Spouse Fields will copy over to the spouse record.
Photo—The Photo pop-up window displays.
Copy—Copy this constituent to a new record.
Merge—Merge this constituent with another record.
Delete—Delete this constituent record.

NOTE: If you are using both Salsa Engage and CRM, this does not delete the supporter record from Engage. You will need to go into Engage first to delete that respective record. If you delete the CRM constituent record without deleting the Engage record first, the record will simply repopulate in CRM when the daily record sync completes.
Data Sync—Display the data source that syncs to Salsa CRM.

Constituent Status Indicators and Quick Links

See your constituent's engagement and donation activity at a glance. Find links designed to provide quick actions relating to this constituent.

These status indicators quickly tell you the following information about your constituents:

Synced with Engage—Identify whether this constituent is synced with Salsa Engage.
- —Synced
- —Not synced
Smart Giving Level—If a constituent is synced with Engage and meets the criteria of a potential mid-level or major gift prospect, this status displays along with the icon. If the constituent does not meet the criteria, this value does not display. The following values define the giving criteria:
- Potential Mid-Level Donor—There is a good chance they have the capacity and propensity to make a gift of $400 or greater.
- Potential Major Donor—There is a good chance they have the capacity and propensity to make a gift of $1,000 or greater.
Total Giving—See a sum of this constituent's total lifetime donations (all donations, no filtering, no time filters).
- —Given
- —Not Given
Year to Date Giving—See a sum of total giving for this constituent from January 1 to today's date (place your mouse over this field to see last year's year-to-date giving as of this date):
- —Current giving at or greater than amount previously given at this point last year
- —Current giving below amount previously given at this point last year
Total Soft Credits—See a sum of this constituent's total lifetime soft credit on someone else's donation (all donations, no filtering, no time filters).
- —Total Credit
- —No Soft Credit
Last Personal Contact—This shows the date of the most recent Cultivation touch, or any Note with a Note Purpose that contains "email", "phone", or "meeting".
- —Contacted within 90 Days
- —No personal contact in last 90 days
Last Activity—This field shows any Activity and how long ago that was, for example, "X Days ago" and that Activity Type in bold:
- —Activity within last 90 days
- —No activity within the last 90 days

Quick Links

These links represent frequent actions you may want to take regarding this constituent record:

Add Donation—Add a new donation directly to Salsa CRM for this particular constituent. This donation will not sync to Salsa Engage.
Update Groups—Select this menu item to add this constituent to a specific group or groups.
Add Task—Add a Task for yourself that relates to this constituent
Add to an Email Blast—Add this particular constituent to a Salsa Engage Email Blast or create a new Blast to add them to.
Send Personal Email—Send this particular constituent a personal email. Only constituents with a valid, primary email address may be contacted in this manner. NOTE: All messages you send to your constituents should be in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Salsa CRM does not automatically add Unsubscribe options to your email.
Send Letter—Generate a personal Form Letter addressed to this constituent.

Dashboard Widgets

Four widgets provide extended giving reports and data capture tools. Where there is no data to be displayed, you will see a notification that no data is present. For example, "This Constituent has not donated to your organization yet."

Display Settings

Each user can separately store display preferences that define which widgets are displayed and in what order they are displayed. Click the Display Settings button to the right to reorder the widgets that display in the Constituent Dashboard or turn off any widgets you don't want to see.

Drag the icons in the Order column to re-order the dashboard sections. Uncheck boxes in the Display column to remove that widget from display on all constituent records. (They are easy to reactivate later if you wish.)

Giving Widget

View your constituent's recent giving history and overall giving profile using this Giving widget. This widget contains two filters and three reports.

NOTE: This widget includes only donation records for which the constituent was inserted into the primary Donor field of the donation record; it does not include any donation records in which the donor was listed in the Co-Donor or a Soft Credit fields on a donation.

Giving Filters

Above the reports, the Timeframe filter allows you to choose between calculations for the calendar year starting January 1 or a fiscal year (if defined in the General Configuration screen). If the fiscal year is different from a calendar year, and Default to Fiscal Year in Performance Dashboard and Constituent Giving Widget is checked on the General configuration screen, the Timeframe filter defaults to fiscal year.

To the right of the Timeframe filter, the Pledge Revenue filter counts either Pledge Payments (if "Received") or the full value of the Pledge (if "Committed").

Giving Summary

This report shows the last 10 years of total annual giving in a line graph.

Each point in the graph also indicates if any of the conditions apply to that year's giving:

New—The first year any gift was given.
Lapsed—No gift was given this year.
Returned—Same exact gift total given as previous year.
Recaptured—A gift was given in a year after a lapsed year.
Upgraded—A higher amount was given in a year than the previous year.
Downgraded—A lower amount was given in a year than the previous year.

Below the graph, you can see the following giving milestones:

Total Lifetime Giving—The sum of total dollars given ever.
Total Years Given—A count of the total number of years this constituent has given.
Consecutive Years Given—The number of years this constituent has given back-to-back for all time. Any year where the donor donated and did donate the year prior or the year after would be counted as consecutive. Any year where the donor donated, but did not donate the year prior or the year after, would not be counted as consecutive.
First Gift—The date, the amount, and the fund for the first gift recorded for this constituent. Pledge payment income is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Received. The pledge total as of the pledge date is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Committed.
Last Gift—The date, the amount, and the fund for the last gift recorded for this constituent. Pledge payment income is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Received. The pledge total as of the pledge date is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Committed.
Greatest Gift—The date, the amount, and the fund for the largest gift recorded for this constituent. Pledge payment income is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Received. The pledge total as of the pledge date is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Committed.
Average Gift Size—The average gift recorded for this constituent. Pledge payment income is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Received. The pledge total as of the pledge date is added to donations when the Pledge Revenue filter is set to Committed.

Current Giving Status

This report contains information about whether this constituent is currently giving on a recurring basis, if they are currently fulfilling a pledge, or if they have given this current calendar year.

Recurring Donor
- Recurring Donor—Yes or No.
- Next Installment—Amount Due and Due Date (N/A if none exists).
Pledges
- Unpaid Pledges—Dollar amount of total pledges recorded. Someone who has never pledged would show $0.00.
- Next Installment—Amount Due and Due Date (N/A if none exists).
Year To Date Status
- Category
  1. Current Donor—Has donated this year.
  2. LYBUNT—Just like the report definition, this constituent donated last year, but has not yet donated this year.
  3. SYBUNT—Just like the report definition, this constituent donated in a previous year, but not last year nor this year.
- Previous Year Giving YTD—Total amount this constituent gave in the last calendar year in which they gave.
- Current Giving YTD—Total amount this constituent has given in this current calendar year-to-date, along with a percentage that compares to the previous year giving.

Recent Giving History

This report shows a list of 10 most recent donations in tabular format. Clicking on a donation will take you to the Donation record. The "GO TO ALL GIVING" button at the bottom right links to the Donations node.

Recent Giving is displayed in columns, in Descending order by Received Date:

Received Date
Amount (Dollars)
Type (Donation, Recurring Payment, Pledge Payment, etc.)
Fund
Campaign
Appeal

Activities Widget

This widget shows a graphical timeline of the previous 10 activities in which this constituent participated, in descending date order. Activity types may originate in Salsa CRM or in Salsa Engage. Activities in the timeline are color-coded, based on type of activity:

Green—Donations
Blue—Sign-Ups, Facebook Lead Ads
Light Blue—Ticketed Events, P2P Events
Red—Targeted Actions, Regulation Comments, Petitions
Yellow—General

Filter on Activity Type above the timeline, and the last 10 activities of that Activity Type are displayed on the timeline. Activity Types to filter:

Sign Up [Forms]
Online Donation (originating in Salsa Engage)
Offline Donation (originating in Salsa CRM)
Offline Event (originating in Salsa CRM, not an Engage Ticketed Event)
Ticketed Event (originating in Salsa Engage, not a CRM Event)
Facebook Lead Ad
General
Peer-to-Peer
Petition
Targeted Letter
Regulation Comment

In each timeline entry, the activity displays online vs. offline activity, details of the activity, and submission date. Under each timeline entry, the number of days indicates how long it was from the previous activity to that activity. If the "days" value is greater than 90 days, the days elapsed is shown in red. If less than 90 days, the days elapsed is shown in green.

Clicking anywhere on the timeline entry will open the Salsa Engage form results tab or the Salsa CRM page to which the activity corresponds in a new browser tab.

Custom Field Widget

This section contains All Constituent Custom Fields and Common Custom fields marked for display in the Constituent Dashboard. The custom field sections are expandable and collapsible by clicking the blue arrows in the section headers. The Save button saves all fields in the widget simultaneously.

NOTE: My Salsa CRM fields are only visible in the My Salsa CRM node because they can have separate user permissions to view them.

If no common custom fields are marked for display, a message is displayed as in the image above. For example, No Common Custom Fields are selected for display.

The button to the right labeled Go To All Common Custom Fields quickly links to the Custom node on the left side of the screen.

A new configuration flag for Custom Fields (Custom or Constituent) allows both display and entry/save ability on the widget as opposed to only being viewable on the Custom tab.

Cultivation Widget

The purpose of this widget is to give an at-a-glance view of the active cultivations assigned to this Constituent.

Process—Name of Cultivation, such as Major Gift Prospect.
Phase—Current Cultivation step, such as In-Person Meeting.
Status—Why the constituent is in the current phase, such as Awaiting Confirmation.
Next Phase Action Date—Due date of the Next Action to take for this phase.
Target End Date—Due date of the entire process for this constituent.

For frequently asked questions about the Constituent Dashboard, please click here.