Overview
The Donor base is a query base in Slate that provides a unified view of donors across multiple record types. It allows a query to return both individual people and organizational donors, such as companies and foundations, in the same result set.
This is helpful because gifts in Slate can be associated with either a person record or a company/foundation record. When a report needs to include both types of donors, the Donor base gives users a single way to identify the donor without building separate logic for each record type.
What Records Are Included
The Donor base includes:
- Person records
- Companies and Foundations records
- Other giving-capable dataset records, if configured in the database
In practical terms, the Donor base is useful when the reporting question needs to include both individual and organizational donors.
When to Use the Donor Base
Use the Donor base when you need a single, consistent donor identity across both people and companies/foundations.
Common examples include:
- Showing the donor name for gifts from both individuals and organizations
- Reporting on tribute or occasion gifts where the donor may be a person or a company/foundation
- Starting with a list of donors and joining to gifts
- Exporting a shared donor identifier across multiple donor types
- Identifying whether a donor is an individual or an organizational record
The Donor base is not always required.
If the query only needs information about person donors, join directly to Person. If the query only needs information about companies or foundations, join directly to Company and Foundation.
How Gifts Connect to Donors
From the Gifts base, Slate provides separate joins to Person, Company and Foundation, and Donor.
Use the join that matches the reporting need:
| Reporting Need | Recommended Join |
|---|---|
| Gift information for person donors only | Gifts → Person |
| Gift information for company/foundation donors only | Gifts → Company and Foundation |
| Gift information for both people and companies/foundations in one result set | Gifts → Donor |
The Donor join is most useful when the query needs one donor name or ID column that works across both people and companies/foundations.
For example, if a query starts from Gifts and joins only to Person, gifts from company/foundation donors will not return a value in the person name export. If the query joins only to Company and Foundation, gifts from person donors will not return a value in the organization name export. Joining from Gifts to Donor avoids that issue by providing a unified donor identity.
Donor Exports
The Donor base includes standard exports that work across donor types.
| Export | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The donor’s display name. This coalesces the person name and company/foundation name into one value. |
| Key/ID | The record's easily visible ID. This coalesces the donor's Slate ID and company/foundation's key into one value. |
| GUID | The Slate record identifier for the donor, whether the donor is a person or dataset record. |
| Scope | The donor record type, such as person or dataset. This can be useful when identifying whether a row represents an individual or organizational donor. |
Because the Donor base spans multiple record types, it only includes fields that can be shared or coalesced across those types. For record-type-specific details, join onward from Donor to Person or Company and Foundation.
Using Donor from a Gifts Query
A common use case is starting from Gifts and joining to Donor to show the donor name for every gift.
Example:
- Start a query from the Gifts base.
- Join from Gifts to Donor.
- Export fields such as:
- Donor: Name
- Donor: Key/ID
- Donor: Scope
- Gift: Amount
- Gift: Date
- Gift: Fund
This approach allows the query to show one donor name column for both person gifts and company/foundation gifts.
Using Donor with Tribute or Occasion Gifts
The Donor base is also helpful when reporting on tribute or occasion gifts.
For example, if a query needs to show gifts made in honor or memory of someone, the donor associated with the gift may be either a person or an organization. Joining to Donor allows the query to display the donor name and identifier consistently across both types.
Example:
- Start from Gifts.
- Filter to gifts with an occasion or tribute value, such as “In Honor Of” or “In Memory Of.”
- Join from Gifts to Donor.
- Export the donor name, donor identifier, gift details, and tribute/occasion fields.
Starting from the Donor Base
The Donor base can also be used as the starting base for a query. When selecting a query base, Donor appears in the Related category.
Starting from Donor is useful when the question begins with “who are the donors?” rather than “what gifts exist?”
For example, to report on all donors and their giving:
- Start from the Donor base.
- Join from Donor to Gifts.
- Export fields such as:
- Donor: Name
- Donor: Key/ID
- Donor: Scope
- Gift: Amount
- Gift: Date
- Gift: Fund
This allows the query to report across both individual and organizational donors from the start.
Joining from Donor to Person or Company and Foundation
The Donor base provides shared donor information, but it does not replace the Person or Company and Foundation bases.
When additional details are needed, join from Donor to the appropriate base:
| Need | Join |
|---|---|
| Person-specific fields, such as class year, degree information, job details, or entity data | Donor → Person |
| Company/foundation-specific fields | Donor → Company and Foundation |
These joins are specific to the donor type. A donor that is a company/foundation will not have person-specific values, and a donor that is a person will not have company/foundation-specific values.
For example, if a query starts from Gifts, joins to Donor, and then joins from Donor to Person, the Person fields will be populated only for person donors. For company/foundation donors, those fields will be blank.
Common Query Patterns
| Reporting Need | Recommended Approach |
|---|---|
| Show donor name for gifts from both people and companies/foundations | Gifts → Donor |
| Show the donor record type for each gift | Gifts → Donor, then export Donor: Scope |
| Show gifts from person donors with person-specific fields | Gifts → Person |
| Show gifts from company/foundation donors with organization-specific fields | Gifts → Company and Foundation |
| Report on all donors and their gifts | Start from Donor → Gifts |
| List all donors to a specific fund across both record types | Start from Donor → Gifts, then filter by Fund |
| Show tribute or occasion gifts with a unified donor name | Gifts → Donor |
| Add person-specific fields after using Donor | Donor → Person |
| Add company/foundation-specific fields after using Donor | Donor → Company and Foundation |
Common Questions
Do I have to use the Donor base to see who made a gift?
No. From the Gifts base, you can join directly to Person or directly to Company and Foundation.
Use the Donor base when the query needs to include both donor types in a single result set or when you want one donor name or identifier column that works for both.
What does the Donor Name export show?
The Donor Name export shows the display name of the donor. It coalesces the person name and company/foundation name into a single value, so the same export works across both record types.
What does the Scope export show?
The Scope export identifies the donor record type. This can be helpful when a query includes both individual and organizational donors and you want to sort, filter, or group results by donor type.
What does the GUID export show?
The GUID export returns the Slate record identifier for the donor, regardless of whether the donor is a person or a dataset record.
If I start from Donor and join to Gifts, will I get both person and company/foundation donors?
Yes. The Donor base includes both donor types, so joining from Donor to Gifts can return gifts associated with either people or companies/foundations.
What happens if I join from Donor to Person and the donor is a company or foundation?
The row can still appear in the query, but the Person-specific fields will be blank because the donor does not have a matching person record.
Can I filter a Donor query to only one type of donor?
Yes. You can use the Donor: Scope to filter the query to a specific donor type. You can also use joins to Person or Company and Foundation when the query needs to focus on one type of donor.
Summary
The Donor base is designed for queries that need to work across both individual and organizational donors. It provides shared donor exports, such as Name, Key/ID, GUID, and Scope, so users can identify donors consistently without building separate query logic for people and companies/foundations.
Use the Donor base when you need a unified donor identity. Use the Person or Company and Foundation bases when you need record-type-specific details.