Welcome to The Fund-Raiser's Assistant.  This guided tou
r will give you an overview of its features.  After read
ing the screen explanations that will appear in this box
, press one of 3 keys.  "C"(without quotes) continues th
e tour, "Q" quits the tour and "H" hides this box in cas
e it is obscuring a relevant part of the screen below.
This i
s the
introd
uctory
scree
n.
Option 2 - Record MO
NEY RECEIVED lets yo
u record who gave ho
w much, when and in
response to what act
ivity/program.
Here, we enter the event or p
roject which generated this c
ontribution.  Using 10 charac
ters or less, we might descri
be an auction and its date us
ing the format auct_0907.
Since this is the first time I've recorded contr
ibutions from the auction, auct_0907 isn't in my
activity dictionary. If I had mistyped an exist
ing activity, this would catch my error and I co
uld type in a different code. But it's not an er
ror and I want to add it to the dictionary
Here we have the opportunity
to assign a description to ou
r event.  This description wi
ll appear in reports and make
them more understandable to
the non computer users.
Individual activities are usually
part of a larger campaign, perha
ps for an endowment, a building p
roject, a political campaign or s
ome other specific purpose.  Here
we describe that larger goal.
Just as the event
was new and need
ed to be added to
the dictionary,
so the campaign i
s also new.
Here again,
we can giv
e an expand
ed descript
ion for the
reports.
The Fund-Raiser's Assistant lets you keep track of con
tributions for a number of different organizations.  E
ach organization is considered a "client" and each cam
paign needs to be assigned to a client as it is added.
If you are only keeping track of contributions for on
e client, you would always enter the same code here.
This client
is also ne
w and needs
to be adde
d to the di
ctionary.
Enter th
e date y
ou recei
ved the
contribu
tion.
Enter the name of
the person who gav
e the money.  Inst
ead of a person, y
ou can also enter
a company name.
We'll a
dd Alic
e Thoma
s to ou
r datab
ase.
Here we ente
r a spouse,
home address
information
and telepho
ne numbers.
Alice a
nd her
spouse
Bud for
m a cou
ple.
The Fund-Raiser's Assistant contains 2 complete sets
of addresses, one for the home and the other for th
e business. Mail sent to the home may be sent to the
couple, while mail sent to the office may be sent o
nly to Alice.  The Fund-Raiser's Assistant generates
both forms, but they can be modified as desired.
Option 5-Use ADJ
ECTIVES lets us
describe Alice a
nd Bud in any wa
y that is meanin
gful to us.
Since Alice is i
nterested in sma
ll business issu
es, we'll create
an adjective to
indicate that.
This is the fi
rst time we've
used this adj
ective, so we'
ll add it to t
he dictionary
A lo
nger
des
crip
tion
.
We can use as many adjectives
as we like to describe people.
When we're finished, we just
leave the adjective blank.  (
We can always come back later
and add or modify adjectives)
Option 2 - E
dit Business
Address let
s us enter b
usiness info
rmation.
We could
enter w
hatever
informat
ion we w
anted.
We could record a variety of
information about Alice and B
ud by selecting from these op
tions.  When we are finished,
we select option 0 - Save Al
ice and Bud Thomas as is
Now that we have added them to our database, we
enter the amount of their contribution, the ch
eck number and if it is an in-kind contribution
.  We could also change basic information about
them(this would return us to the menu we just
left with its information recording options)
Now we v
erify th
is infor
mation i
s correc
t.
Now it's time to record
the next contribution.
The last activity is
the default. Since it's
correct, we'll just pr
ess the enter key
We en
ter t
he ne
xt co
ntrib
utor
We'll
add
him t
o our
data
base
We can
add spo
use and
home i
nformat
ion
Because there is no spouse, The Fund
-Raiser's Assistant generated identi
cal home and work salutations and ma
iling names.  Because I know he work
s in a formal office, I changed his
work mailing name to start with Mr.
Option 5 -
Use adjec
tives lets
me descri
be Bob Fra
nklin.
I know he's also inte
rested in small busin
ess.  Since that adje
ctive is already in t
he dictionary, I won'
t have to add it.
He's al
so inte
rested
in fami
ly issu
es.
add fa
mily t
adject
ives.
Finis
hed w
ith t
he ad
jecti
ves.
We could keep ad
ding information
.  When done, we
select option 0
- save Bob Fran
klin as is.
Enter the amoun
t, check number
and in-kind in
formation. We w
on't change bas
ic information
It'
s c
orr
ect
Now I want to
record money
received fro
m a mailing w
e send out on
July 15
I'll ad
d mail_
0715 to
the di
ctionar
y
A des
cript
ion f
or th
e rep
orts
It's for the
building fund
and I mistak
enly think th
e code for th
at is "bldg"
I know it's in the
dictionary, so I
won't add it.  I'l
l choose option 3
and see what codes
are available.
I'll lo
ok at t
hem alp
habetic
ally by
code.
Oh, the code is "building",
not bldg.  Now, all my contr
ibutions will be assigned to
the one and only one code,
instead of being split betwe
en "building" and "bldg"
This contribution w
as from the Thomase
s, but I don't reme
mber their first na
me.  I'll leave the
first name blank.
I'll choose op
tion 1 because
this is the r
ight people. I
recognize the
ir address.
Enter the amount, check numb
er and in-kind information.
There is a note on the check
saying they have a new phon
e number, so I'll choose to
change basic information.
I'll choo
se option
7 to cha
nge their
phone nu
mbers.
Make th
e chang
e to th
e phone
number
s
Save t
hem wi
th the
new i
nforma
Yes,
thi
s is
cor
rect
I've recorded
all the contri
butions I have
, so I'll leav
e the activity
code blank
I could stop now, in which
case the contributions I'
ve entered would not yet b
e part of the people's per
manent file.  But I'll cho
ose option 2 and continue
Now I can check the in
formation I've entered
before I make it a pe
rmanent part of my dat
abase.  I'll look at i
t on the screen.
I'll compare eac
h of my checks a
gainst this info
rmation to make
sure everything
is correct.
Everything is correct,
so I'll choose to upd
ate the contribution h
istories.  If there we
re any errors, I could
correct them now.
Here the contributions
are grouped together
by activity. This list
s the monies I recorde
d in this session from
the silent auction.
Here are t
he contrib
utions rec
orded toda
y from the
mailing
Option 3 REPORTS abo
ut fund-raising acti
vities lets us see h
ow we're doing raisi
ng money for our var
ious projects.
Let's s
ee how
the Sil
ent Auc
tion di
d.
I'll jus
t enter
part of
the acti
vity cod
e.
The Fund-R
aiser's As
sistant fi
nds the pr
oper activ
ity.
Let's v
iew the
report
on the
screen
This includes all contr
ibutions, no matter whe
n entered. Since we onl
y have the two from our
previous session, they
're all that appears.
We'll f
inish t
he repo
rts abo
ut acti
vities