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Manage Households

Goal: Link people who belong together — a married couple, a family — into a household, so you can see their combined giving and address them as one unit.

What a household is​

A household groups two or more people (constituents) who live together. Each member keeps their own record, history, and gifts; the household adds a layer on top:

  • A shared household name ("The Alvarez Household") and greetings for addressing the whole family.
  • A combined giving view — every member's donations rolled up in one place.
  • A single primary contact who represents the household.

A person can belong to one household at a time. If someone moves out (or a couple separates), remove them from the household — their membership is kept as history, and they're free to join another household.

Find households​

Open Constituents and switch the People | Organizations | Households toggle. The list shows each household with its members, primary contact, combined giving, and status. Search matches the household name or any current member's name. Export downloads the current list as a CSV.

Create a household​

Three ways to start one:

  1. From the Households list — click New Household, then search and add each member.
  2. From the People list — select two or more people with the checkboxes, then click Create Household in the actions bar. The selected people are pre-filled.
  3. From a person's profile — if they're not in a household yet, the Household card on their Overview tab offers Add to household.

For each member, pick their relationship (Head of Household, Spouse, Partner, Child, …). One member is the primary contact — the first person you add gets it by default, and you can move it with Make primary.

Household names and greetings​

Omnivo names the household for you from its members:

  • One surname → "The Alvarez Household"; two surnames → "Alvarez-Smith Household".
  • A formal greeting ("Roberto and Lucy Alvarez") and an informal greeting ("Roberto and Lucy") are generated alongside. Children aren't included in greetings.

The name and greetings update automatically when members change. If you type your own (at creation or via Edit), yours is kept and auto-updating stops — the household shows a Custom name/greetings badge, and a Regenerate button switches back to automatic.

Manage members​

On the household page's Members tab you can:

  • Add a member — search for the person, pick their relationship, optionally make them primary contact. Someone who already belongs to another household can't be added until they leave it (the error tells you which household they're in).
  • Change a relationship — use the dropdown on the member's row.
  • Move the primary contact — click Make primary on another member; the old primary is demoted automatically.
  • Remove a member — the membership becomes history (shown under Former members) rather than being erased, and if they were the primary contact, the longest-standing remaining member takes over. A former member can rejoin later.

Combined giving​

The household page leads with Members, Combined Giving, Donations, and Last Gift tiles. Combined giving sums every current member's donations — it's a recognition view of the family's generosity; each gift stays credited to the person who gave it.

Notes​

The Notes tab is a running log for the household as a whole ("prefers evening calls", "renovating — pause mail until June"). Notes about an individual still belong on that person's record.

Dissolve or reactivate​

Dissolve (on the household page) deactivates the household and releases all members — use it when a household splits up. The record is kept for history and can be Reactivated later, after which you re-add the members who still belong.