---
title: "Step 5: Establish Relationships"
slug: "step-5-establish-relationships"
description: "Define and import relationship types to accurately represent connections between records in Slate."
tags: ["Advancement"]
updated: 2026-03-23T23:24:03Z
published: 2026-03-23T23:24:03Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.technolutions.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Step 5: Establish Relationships

[Relationships](/v1/docs/relationships) can exist that span the primary advancement datasets. For example, a person may be related to another person - but they may also be related to a donor-advised fund that lives within the *Companies and Foundations* dataset.

As a critical component to how Slate handles [soft crediting](/v1/docs/soft-credits), establishing relationships ahead of legacy gift imports is critical for a smooth transition of historical gift information into Slate. These relationships can be established through an [import process](/v1/docs/importing-and-exporting-data-relationships).