User guide
Introduction
fr&c’s giftsearch is a database of donations and donors to Australian nonprofits, all of them reported in the public domain, compiled by Fundraising Research & Consulting’s staff.
These notes are intended to help you run productive searches in giftsearch.
NB see the foot of these search tips for full details on running Boolean searches
Running some basic searches
Generally the full search option gives you more flexibility than Quick Search.
In the full search screen, make sure you choose in ‘Search method’ whether you want to return records which meet ALL your criteria, or ANY of your criteria.
The database is fully searchable on any field, and any combination of these fields. Users can search by name or partial name, for example, or put together a search combining recipient type (“Arts/Culture”) with amount (“More than $1000”) and geography (location of recipient).
The search engine allows searches on a full name, or on partial name. In the “Donor Full Name” enter all or part of the name of the person you are searching for. (For example, to find donors whose surname is Smith or Smithson or Blacksmith, search for “smith”.)
Exporting data
When you have found the information you want, you can download it direct to an Excel spreadsheet – look for the button at the foot of the search results.
NB there is an export limit of 1,000 records per search.
Please note that the donation values in the database are in text format so won't sort by value while you're in the online search - you can sort your results by value once you've exported them to an Excel file
Running more complex searches – some examples of searches combining different criteria
In the full search screen, make sure you choose in ‘Search method’ whether you want to return records which meet ALL your criteria, or ANY of your criteria.
Find donations by cause:
You can search on any cause, or “Activity Type” of charitable activity. So, for example, a search on “Environment/Conservation” will find all the donations in giftsearch that have been made to environmental organisations.
If you want to find recipient organisations which meet either or both of two classifications, use the second recipient activity search box as well as the first one. Don’t forget to set ‘search method’ as appropriate.
Find donations to a specific charity:
In the Search form, click on “Recipient Name” in the search box and enter the name of the charity, or any part of its name. Click Search. You can also use Boolean search to look for more than one key word.
Build lists of prospects who have given to nonprofits in a defined geographic area:
In the full search screen, chose the “Recipient Postcode” search box. Enter the postcode for an area that interests you. For example, “2000” will find all the recipient organisations in the Sydney CBD.
Choosing the “postcode starts with” option and entering “20” will find all recipient organisations whose postcodes begin with “20..”, so it will find Sydney CBD and also the wider Sydney area covered by those postcodes.
Note that the search is for the recipient organisation, not the donor.
Check your donor’s other philanthropic interests:
You have a supporter or donor and want to find out her other donations and affiliations.
In the Quick Search box, click on “Surname” in the search box and enter your supporter’s surname. Click Search. Or, in the full search screen, enter your supporter’s name in the “Donor Full Name” search box and click Search.
Boolean Search Guide
Boolean searching in a field, is a type of built-in search feature allowing users to further refine their search results, by combining keywords, (search terms), with operators such as the plus symbol “+” (which means AND), and the minus symbol “-“ ( which means NOT).
Certain fields on the main search page in the database have this “Boolean search” option, and we’ve put together some useful tips with examples which will help you get started.
Note: The Boolean search is great at narrowing down your search results, and focusing on only those records that meet specific criteria. It also comes in handy when condensing your results so that they can be exported to spreadsheet - within the record limit allowed.
Convention for using the Boolean Search
NB there is always a space between elements in the Boolean search eg +smith[space]+jones
1. “+” is equivalent to AND - e.g. "+smith +jones"
- This returns only records where jones and smith appear in the same field.
2. “-“ is equivalent to NOT - e.g. "+smith -jones"
- This returns every record where smith appears but not any records where both smith and jones appear in the same field.
3. ““ [i.e. no symbol in front of any text] is equivalent to OR – e.g. "smith jones"
- This returns all records where any smith or any jones appear in the field. i.e. ALL records with either smith or jones in the field.
4. “*” an asterisk at the end of a string – acts as a wildcard. - e.g. "+golds*"
- This returns all records like Goldsmith, Goldsbrough, etc. ….
- It can only be used at the end of a search term
Further Tips
- Remember to first select “Boolean search” from the pull-down option box, prior to entering your search terms and running the search.
- You must leave a space between each of your search terms….e.g. "+smith<space>+jones", or "+smith<space>-jones" or "smith<space>jones"
- You can enter several search terms in one search…
- The search strings are not case-sensitive – therefore keep it quick and simple and always use lower case in your searches.
- Lastly a “Boolean search” is a little less forgiving, and a bit stricter than a “Contains” search……A “Boolean search” will only find exact occurrences of the text you enter…..Therefore a Boolean search for “+smith” will only return records containing “smith” ……i.e. no Goldsmith and no Smithey etc.
Boolean searches can really help when it comes to finding the data you require….but you need to be aware of the rules and conventions when searching. They are not always the easiest of searches to get to grips with…..so if you are new to Boolean and a little unsure about the syntax, then make sure to contact us and we will help you as best we can.
Some notes on specific points about the data and about accessing the website
1. If your browser of choice is Internet Explorer, you may need to make a small adjustment to your settings to allow access to our site: there is no security issue, it's just that IE doesn't like the fact that our site is redirected from another URL. If you use Firefox or Chrome, congratulations.
For IE users if you find you can't access the site, please try this:
1. In Explorer, go to Tools, then Internet Options, then Privacy.
2. Click on Sites.
3. Type in www.frcgiftsearch.net.au and click 'Allow'
4. Type in www.frc.factaryphi.com and click 'Allow'
5. Click 'OK'
6. In Tools / Internet Options / Privacy, setting should be 'Medium'
7. In Tools / Internet Options / Security, setting should be 'Medium High'
If that doesn't work call or email us.
2. Donation values: Please note that the donation values in the database are in text format so won't sort by value while you're in the online search - you can sort your results by value once you've exported them to an Excel file. SEARCH ON VALUES REQUIRES THAT YOU ENTER THE VALUE WITH NO $ SIGN AND NO COMMAS.
3. The 'year' field: Some organisations whose data we have included don't specify the year a donation applies to. Where a donation appears in the annual report for a specific year or is otherwise reasonably attributable to a particular year, we have put that year in the database in the 'year' field. Where that is not the case, for example where a general 'honour roll' is listed with no donation dates, the date in the 'year' field is the year it appeared on the website or annual report, and you will find a note in the 'notes on donation' field which gives further details where those are available
Any questions which aren’t answered here?
Contact us via the FR&C website, or email us at [email protected], or call us on +61 2 8006 1524
Giftsearch is hosted for FR&C by Factary, providers of prospect research services in the UK and Europe and the Factary Phi UK donations database