Profiles in CommunitySuite store contact information for individuals, households, and organizations your foundation interacts with. Creating and editing profiles ensures accurate donor records, grantee information, and contact details for all relationship management activities. Profiles can be created manually using information your foundation has, with details added as they become available, or by importing organization data registered with Guidestar.
Who: CommunitySuite users who manage donor, grantee, vendor, or contact information.
When to Create or Edit Profiles
Create or edit profiles when:
- Recording a new donor, grantee, vendor, or contact in your system.
- Updating contact information such as addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses.
- Adding designations like fund advisor, grantee, vendor, or student to an existing profile.
- Creating household profiles to track joint giving activities for couples or families.
- Importing organization information from Guidestar to streamline profile creation for nonprofits.
- Copying existing profiles to quickly create records for household members with similar information.
Address Validation
When address verification is enabled, addresses are validated using USPS standards during profile creation or editing. This validates casing and formatting but does not correct wrong addresses. Three options are available:
- Replace with validated address (validated addresses appear in the suggested address column)
- Do not replace address; mark as validated anyway
- Do nothing
Create a Profile
There are three types of profiles: individual, household, and organization. All types of profiles use the same initial creation steps.
- Navigate to the Profiles page and click Create in the left-side menu.
- Click Create Profile for the type of profile to be created.
- Complete the applicable information, and then click Save.
- Once the profile is created, designations to make it a customer, donor, fund advisor, grantee, nonprofit, student, vendor, user, or affiliate/supporting organization can be added.
Create Individual Profile
Individual profiles store contact details for single persons. There are several fields that control how names appear across communications.
First Name and Last Name
The First and Last Name fields are required. If the individual has a Preferred Name, that can be added to the Nickname field.
- Example, if Robert Jones goes by Bob Jones, enter Bob in the Nickname field.
Additional Required Fields
Additional fields can be required by designating them in Profiles Settings.
Legal Name
Fill in the Legal Name field if the person’s legal name is different than what is entered in the profile first and last name field. This field is available in global search results, so when it is the same as the primary name, the profile will appear in the search results twice. When this is populated, the Legal Name is the name that will print on checks.
Salutation
The Salutation field is for the Dear line of a letter, and is the name that comes after "Dear" in a letter. This field is optional but strongly recommended. If this is blank, CommunitySuite will use the mailing label, then the primary name fields, for communications.
- Example: Bob or Mr. Jones.
Recognition Name
The Recognition Name field is an alternative name field for donation recognition. If a donor wants to be recognized by something other than what is captured in the primary name fields, salutation, or mailing label, enter that here. If populated, it will auto-fill into the Recognition Name on future donations from this profile.
Mailing Label
The Mailing Label field is for the outside of an envelope. This field is optional but strongly recommended. If this is blank, CommunitySuite will use the primary name fields for communications.
- Example: Mr. Robert Jones or Robert Jones.
Pronouns
In the Pronouns field, up to three words can be added, and they cannot contain numeric or special characters. Add them to the field without spaces and with a "/" separating them.
- Example: she/her/hers
Inactive
If checked, the profile and the profile's address, email, and phone will be marked inactive. The designations of vendor, student, and grantee will also be marked inactive. The inactive notification will display in the profile header. The Print Envelope option in the Addresses section of the Details tab will not display when viewing the profile record. The profile will be marked as do not mail, do not email, do not call.
Deceased
If checked, the profile and the profile's address, email, and phone will be marked Inactive in addition to Deceased. The designations of vendor, student, and grantee will also be marked inactive. This will also not allow the profile to be used when selling tickets, recording donations, or creating vouchers and grants. The profile will be marked as do not mail, do not email, do not call. An optional Deceased Date field is available to record the date the profile became deceased and must be formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, MMDDYY, MMDDYYYY, or MM/DD/YYYY.
Steward
The CommunitySuite user that will become the primary relationship manager for this profile. The user must be made a steward before they are available for selection.
Address, Emails, Phones
The address, phone, and email information entered at this stage will automatically be marked primary. CommunitySuite defaults to the primary address for communications. For addresses outside the United States and Canada, the city/state/zip fields will combine into one field labeled City State Postal. For Australian CommunitySuite clients, only enter addresses in International fields if the profile is located outside of Australia.
Example Individual Profile
Create Household Profile
Individual profiles store contact details for people that have a relationship to one another. There are several fields that control how names appear across communications.
Household
Household (name) is a required field. Recommended format for a couple with the same last name is Last, First and First. Recommended format for a couple with different last names is Last, First and Last, First. Leading with the last name allows the profile to be sorted alphabetically with individuals.
Same Last Names Example: Montgomery, Kyle and Amanda
Different Last Names Example: Jones, Robert and Keaton, Jordan
Additional Required Fields
Additional fields can be required by designating them in Profiles Settings.
Legal Name
Fill in the Legal Name field when a profile goes by something different than their actual name. This field is available in global search results, so when it is the same as the primary name, the profile will appear in the search results twice. When this is populated, this name will print on checks.
Salutation
The Salutation field is for the Dear line of a letter, and is the name that comes after "Dear" in a letter. This field is optional but strongly recommended. If this is blank, CommunitySuite will use the mailing label, then the primary name fields, for communications.
Same Last Names Example: Kyle and Amanda
Different Last Names Example: Robert and Jordan
Recognition Name
The Recognition Name field is an alternative name field for donation recognition. If a donor wants to be recognized by something other than what is captured in the primary name fields, salutation, or mailing label, enter that here. If populated, it will auto-fill into the Recognition Name on future donations from this profile.
Mailing Label
The Mailing Label field is for the outside of an envelope. This field is optional but strongly recommended. If this is blank, CommunitySuite will use the primary name fields for communications. For a household with a blank mailing label, this could read Dear Jones, Robert and Betty.
Same Last Names Example: Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery
Different Last Names Example: Robert Jones and Jordan Keaton
Inactive
If checked, the profile and the profile's address, email, and phone will be marked inactive. The designations of vendor, student, and grantee will also be marked inactive. The inactive notification will display in the profile header. The Print Envelope option in the Addresses section of the Details tab will not display when viewing the profile record. The profile will be marked as do not mail, do not email, do not call.
Deceased
If checked, the profile and the profile's address, email, and phone will be marked Inactive in addition to Deceased. The designations of vendor, student, and grantee will also be marked inactive. This will also not allow the profile to be used when selling tickets, recording donations, or creating vouchers and grants. The profile will be marked as do not mail, do not email, do not call. An optional Deceased Date field is available to record the date the profile became deceased and must be formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, MMDDYY, MMDDYYYY, or MM/DD/YYYY. Deceased and Divorced Profiles includes more information.
Steward
The CommunitySuite user that will become the primary relationship manager for this profile. The user must be made a steward before they are available for selection.
Address, Emails, Phones
The address, phone, and email information entered at this stage will automatically be marked primary. CommunitySuite defaults to the primary address for communications. For addresses outside the United States and Canada, the city/state/zip fields will combine into one field labeled City State Postal. For Australian CommunitySuite clients, only enter addresses in International fields if the profile is located outside of Australia.
Example Household Profile
Create Organization Profile
Organization profiles store contact details for organizations. There are several fields that control how names appear across communications.
Organization
The Organization (name) field is required. If the organization has a different acknowledgement and legal name, enter the acknowledgement name here.
Additional Required Fields
Additional fields can be required by designating them in Profiles Settings.
Contact
The Contact fields are for the primary contact person at the organization. When these fields are filled out this will populate in the mailing address and in letter templates.
Contact Title
The Contact Title field is where you enter to role of the contact person.
- Example: Executive Director
Legal Name
Fill in the Legal Name field when a profile goes by something different than the actual name. For example, if an organization has updated its name with a Doing Business As alias (DBA), but has kept its original name in IRS and state business filings and that's the name that needs to print on the check. This field is available in global search results, so when it is the same as the primary name, the profile will appear in the search results twice. When this is populated, this name will print on checks.
Salutation
The Salutation field is for the Dear line of a letter, and is the name that comes after "Dear" in a letter. This field is optional but strongly recommended. If this is blank, CommunitySuite will use the mailing label, then the primary name fields, for communications.
- Example: Mr. Culver
Recognition Name
The Recognition Name field is an alternative field for donation recognition. If a donor wants to be recognized by something other than what is captured in the primary name fields, salutation, or mailing label, enter that here. If populated, it will auto-fill into the Recognition Name on future donations from this profile.
Mailing Label
The Mailing Label field is for the outside of an envelope. This field is optional but strongly recommended. If this is blank, CommunitySuite will use the primary name fields for communications.
- Example: Boys and Girls Club of America
Inactive
If checked, the profile and the profile's address, email, and phone will be marked inactive. The designations of vendor, student, and grantee will also be marked inactive. The inactive notification will display in the profile header. The Print Envelope option in the Addresses section of the Details tab will not display when viewing the profile record. The profile will be marked as do not mail, do not email, do not call.
Deceased
If checked, the profile and the profile's address, email, and phone will be marked Inactive in addition to Deceased. The designations of vendor, student, and grantee will also be marked inactive. This will also not allow the profile to be used when selling tickets, recording donations, or creating vouchers and grants. The profile will be marked as do not mail, do not email, do not call. An optional Deceased Date field is available to record the date the profile became deceased and must be formatted like YYYY-MM-DD, MMDDYY, MMDDYYYY, or MM/DD/YYYY.
Steward
The CommunitySuite user that will become the primary relationship manager for this profile. The user must be made a steward before they are available for selection.
Address, Emails, Phones
The address, phone, and email information entered at this stage will automatically be marked primary. CommunitySuite defaults to the primary address for communications. For addresses outside the United States and Canada, the city/state/zip fields will combine into one field labeled City State Postal. For Australian CommunitySuite clients, only enter addresses in International fields if the profile is located outside of Australia.
Example Organization Profile
Edit a Profile
To update contact information or other profile details, edit the profile record from the Details tab.
- Navigate to the profile to be edited.
- In the Details tab, locate the Details section, and then click Edit.
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Make the necessary edits, and then click Save.
- If the country of the address needs to be edited, the address must be deleted and reentered.
Create a Profile from Guidestar Search
Clients that have Guidestar enabled can create a profile from Guidestar search results.
- Navigate to the Profiles page and click Create in the left-side menu.
- Click Search Guidestar in the left-side menu.
- Enter the Nonprofit Name, and then click Search Guidestar.
- Click [create profile] next to the appropriate search result.
Copy a Profile
An existing profile that has a lot of the same information as another profile, such as a spouse, can be copied to create another profile record. Copying the profile copies most contact information and name fields but does not duplicate any transactions or profile designations.
- Navigate to the profile to be copied.
- In the Details tab, locate the Details section and click Copy.
- The new profile record will display.
- In the Details tab, locate the Details section and click Edit.
- Make any necessary edits, and then click Save.
Copy Household Member's Information to Household Profile
Addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of household members can be copied to the household profile without having to edit the profile.
- Navigate to the household profile for which the member's information will be added.
- Click the Relationships tab.
- Locate the Household Member section, and then click Copy HH Members Addr/Phone/Email.