Set Engagement Policies
Goal: Decide how your affiliate uses giving levels, capacity ratings, acknowledgment preferences, and solicitation flags so the data you collect on donors actually drives stewardship behavior.
What these settings mean
Each donor in Ayuna carries a small set of structured attributes that shape how the rest of the system treats them:
- Donor Type — Individual, Corporate, Foundation, or Government. Drives how reports segment giving (corporate vs. individual revenue) and which acknowledgment template gets used.
- Giving Level — Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Legacy. Calculated automatically from lifetime giving but can be overridden manually.
- Capacity Rating — Low, Medium, High, Major. Internal assessment of capacity to give. Drives major-gift cultivation lists. Not visible to the donor.
- Preferred Acknowledgment — Public, Private, or Anonymous. Determines whether the donor's name appears in donor walls, annual reports, or honor-roll lists.
- Do Not Solicit — A flag that excludes the donor from fundraising appeals and campaigns.
Recommended giving level thresholds
The default tier breakpoints, applied automatically by Ayuna based on lifetime giving:
| Level | Lifetime giving |
|---|---|
| Bronze | Up to $999 |
| Silver | $1,000 – $4,999 |
| Gold | $5,000 – $9,999 |
| Platinum | $10,000 – $24,999 |
| Legacy | $25,000+ |
These get applied automatically as gifts come in. Override manually in two cases:
- A donor whose lifetime giving doesn't reflect their actual standing (e.g., a major bequest expected, board member, founder)
- An organization donor where you want to recognize cumulative employee giving alongside corporate gifts
When to use Capacity Rating
Capacity is a forward-looking estimate of what someone could give if asked well. It's distinct from giving level (what they have given). Set it during cultivation conversations:
- Low — limited disposable income or signal that this person is at their giving ceiling
- Medium — could give more if engaged
- High — clear potential for a 5-figure annual gift
- Major — major-gift candidate; six figures or more in play
The major-gift officer's prospect list is built by filtering on Capacity Rating = High or Major, sorted by recency of contact. Without the rating, that list doesn't exist.
Acknowledgment preferences in practice
Donors choose how they want to be recognized — capture it accurately, then honor it consistently:
- Public — name in honor rolls, donor walls, annual reports
- Private — recognized internally but not in public materials
- Anonymous — neither public nor named internally beyond required disclosures
Run an audit on your donor wall annually against this field. The fastest way to lose a donor is to publish them as "anonymous" by mistake.
Do Not Solicit
This is the strongest flag. Apply it when:
- A donor has explicitly asked to stop receiving fundraising appeals
- A donor passed away and the family hasn't requested ongoing communication
- A board member or staff member who shouldn't be on appeal lists for ethics reasons
Communications, segments, and bulk-send filters all respect this flag automatically.
Editing on the donor profile
All five attributes are edited from the Edit Person dialog on a donor's profile (/people/:personId), under the "Donor Settings" section. Changes are visible immediately on the donor's profile header.
Auditing
Periodically (quarterly is good cadence):
- Spot-check capacity ratings — are they current?
- Confirm Do Not Solicit donors haven't been contacted by mistake
- Confirm public/anonymous preferences are honored in your latest annual report