How the Integration Works
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      3. How the Integration Works

      How our Raiser's Edge Integration Works with the Events Module

      In this article, we'll explain how you can use the Raiser's Edge Events Module and Trellis to streamline your event management and save time.

      How does the Events Module in Raiser’s Edge work?

      The Events module is the system in Raiser’s Edge that allows organizations to manage events, participants, and fees. 

      1. Events: the equivalent of a Trellis fundraiser
      2. Participant: the equivalent of a Trellis attendee.
      3. Fees: the price a participant pays, such as the cost of an event ticket, wine pull ticket, or parking pass

      For participants' contact information to appear, they must be connected to either a constituent or non-constituent record. Contact details (like name, email, and phone number) are stored in the constituent records. If a participant isn't linked to a constituent, they will be listed as a "Guest of [Purchaser Name]."

      How Does Our Integration Work with the Events Module?

      There are three different ways tickets can be assigned on Trellis:

      1. By the purchaser, during checkout
      2. By the purchaser, from their user account by going to "My Tickets"
      3. By the organization, from the check-in tool (either ahead of or at the event).

      If a purchaser doesn't assign the tickets during checkout, Trellis will assign all tickets to the purchaser by default.

      When these transactions sync into Raiser’s Edge, Trellis creates participants for each purchased ticket.

      The "Host" in Raiser's Edge

      • If the purchaser is also a ticket holder, they become the "host" of the party in Raiser's Edge.

      • If the purchaser isn't a ticket holder, Trellis will assign the first ticket holder as the "host".

      Assigned Tickets

      If tickets are assigned to the purchaser and other individuals, the integration will search for an existing constituents or non-constituents in your Raiser’s Edge account to link to the participant.

      • This process uses the same match criteria in your settings.
      • If both a constituent and a non-constituent match are found, Trellis will choose the constituent.
      • If no existing constituent record is found, Trellis will create a new constituent record for the participant.

      Please Note:

      Trellis does not have the ability to create non-constituent records - this is handled automatically by Raiser's Edge.

      • If the purchaser assigns tickets during checkout, and those guests do not match an existing constituent, Raiser's Edge will usually create a non-constituent for those guests, and that will be linked to the participant. 
      • If attendees are reassigned after checkout, Raiser's Edge will usually create full constituent records, as there is already a participant created.

      Trellis does not have control over whether a full or non-constituent record is created.

      Unassigned Tickets

      If all tickets are assigned to the purchaser, the integration will create a guest participants for the additional tickets.

      • Raiser’s Edge will automatically name the additional participants as “Guest of [Host Name]”.

      • When the ticket is later assigned in Trellis, the guest participant will be automatically updated using the same steps as under the Assigned Tickets section above.

      A Note About Partial Reassignments

      Every time an attendee is updated, the constituent match process begins again. If an attendee is only partially reassigned, this could create duplicates in your database.

      For example, John Doe buys 4 tickets and skips assigning at checkout. Later he tells the event organizer that he is bringing his colleague Martin Smith, but does not provide his email. If you update an attendee's name to Martin Smith with John Doe's email, the system will look for an existing constituent with that information. Since it will most likely not find one, it will create a new constituent.

      Later, at the event, Martin gives his email, and the event organizer updates the attendee record. This restarts the sync process. It will not match with the previously created Martin Smith constituent (since the email is now different) so a new constituent will be created.

       

      If you want to learn more about how to show fees/payments in the Events module, check out this article.

       

      Did this answer your question? If not, please reach out to the Trellis Support team via the blue chat icon or email support@trellis.org.