What Is Advanced Search and How Do I Use It?

Advanced Search allows you to create and run detailed and specific searches on many various points of data in your database. The results you receive via Advanced Search will be record based. This means when using this search method, you are searching for entities (individuals and organizations.) If you are looking for specific transaction searches, the Financial Reports will handle those needs.

There are two parts to Advanced Search: (1) searching for entities and (2) using your search results.

(1) Searching for Entities

Advanced Search has three different modes for searching: Power Mode, Contribution Filters, and Other Favorites. Contribution Filters and Other Favorites allow for the quick and easy searching of common fields. Power Mode provides the full system functionality.

Power Mode

The Add Rule section is where you select the criteria that determines your search results.

In the Area dropdown, you’ll choose from all the various areas of an entity’s record to search within. For example: Addresses, Flags, Contributions or Key Stats.

The Field dropdown allows you to choose related options to the Area. If you chose Addresses, for example, your Field dropdown will contain options such as Line 1 and Zip Code.

The Relationship menu is how you will further determine the exact data point you are searching on. Depending on your choice for Field, this will contain options such as Is, Contains, Is Later Than, and so on.

The Value field is where you will either type in the specific data point or choose from a list of data points provided.

Once you have created your line of query, click the Add Rule button to add it to the Search Criteria section. The Add as Exclusion button will direct the system to not include any entities found with the criteria selected.

After you click to add the rule, you’ll see new buttons appear: New Search Group and Add Compound Rule. These are advanced features that are not needed for basic results.

On the far left of the rule is an Edit button. Clicking this pulls the rule back into the Add Rule section to make changes. On the far right of the rule is a red X, which will remove the rule entirely from the Search Criteria section.

Contribution Filters

This mode allows you to search entities based solely on contribution information.

When using this mode, you have the option of determining how the system searches for contribution information within a record. These are Total Contributions, Most Recent Contribution, and Any Contribution. You can also narrow down search results based on Date Range, Amount Range, and Election.

When you’ve chosen or entered all the criteria, you’ll again have the buttons described above to add the rule to the Search Criteria section.

Other Favorites

This mode is used for other Address and Flag related results.

This mode allows you to select from various Address and Flag related data points. For example, you can determine your results based on City, County, Zip Code, and even State. Use the Flags field to locate entities that have specific flags.

When you’ve chosen or entered all the criteria, you’ll again have the buttons described above to add the rule to the Search Criteria section.

(2) Using Your Search Results

You have a variety of options to use your results, including displaying, exporting, and doing bulk data updates, most of which are found on the Exports & Actions menu.

Run Search: This will generate the search results directly on the screen.
Excel: Custom Export: This is where you can select any Custom Export spreadsheet formats you’ve created.
Call Sheets: This will generate PDF pages of the results and will include basic contribution and contact info.
Copy To Another Account: If you manage multiple accounts, this will copy the entities, including their contact information, and add them to the account of your choice.
Excel: Basic Contact Information: Provides a spreadsheet with entity contact information only.
Excel Donor Summary: Provides donor specific information.
Excel Detailed Fundraising Export: Provides the majority of the donor information and additional fundraising details.
Excel: Detailed Fundraising Export by Household: This is the same as above, but it will group records linked with the spouse relationship together.
Set Communications: This allows you to apply a communication to the records found in your results.
Set Flags: This allows you to select a flag to apply to all the records in your results.
Set Followup Reminders: This option allows you to create a reminder to contact the entity on a later or specific date.
Set Pledges/Targets: This will let you create and set a Pledge or Target for the results of your search.
Start Drip Campaign: This will allow you to begin an email Drip Campaign with the entities in your search results, as well as allow AI to update the campaign for you.
View Records: This opens up the record’s details page, starting with the first result. You will have an option at the bottom left and right of the entity records to flip through the records displayed.
Save & Run Search: This will give you the ability to save the search criteria in case it is a report you will run frequently, as well as generate the results directly on the screen.

Other Actions

Saved Searches is where you can find all the searches you’ve saved and also manage them to remove or update the name of the saved search.

Manage Custom Exports allows you to update and create Custom Exports you would like to use to export only the details you want.

Advanced Search Recipes

Here are step-by-step instructions you can use to generate some of the more common searches: