The Raiser's Edge database, managed by University Advancement Operations, is the main system that stores church and pastor data. It is also the source for all email and mail lists for communications being sent to churches or pastors. Below are some of the guidelines we use in pulling lists for these communications and in storing relevant data.

Postal Mailings

Postal mailings are sent to 3 primary types of addresses:

Church addresses, including the primary church contact person as the addressee
Churches with no pastor connected, addressed simply to the church address
Pastors' home addresses

Primary Church Contacts

Each church that we have pastor information for will have one pastor that is designated as the primary contact person. We only send one mailing per church address, regardless of how many pastors are connected to the church, and this mailing will always be addressed to the church's primary contact person. We can customize who this primary contact person is for each church, but by default we assign the contact person by prioritizing using the following pastor types:

1. Senior Pastor
2. Associate Pastor
3. Campus Pastor (if a church has multiple locations)
4. College Pastor
5. Youth Pastor
6. Interim Pastor

For example, a postcard might be addressed as follows:

Trinity Lutheran Church
Peter Johnson
123 Main Street
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Sending Mailings to Both Organizations and Individuals

Since we only send one mailing to the church address but each church may have multiple pastors, we also send a mailing to each associated pastor for whom we have a home address. For example, if a church has a senior pastor, a youth pastor, and an associate pastor in the database, the church will receive one mailing addressed to the senior pastor (primary contact person) and each of the three pastors will also receive the mailing at their home address. If desired, the pastor types that receive the mailing at their homes can be tailored for each mailing (details below).

Churches without a Pastor Connected

There are a number of churches in the database that we have no pastor information for. These churches will still be pulled into mailings; communications will be addressed simply to the church, since we don't have the name of an individual to include.

Emails

Due to the way Bethel's email system functions, emails can only be sent to individuals and not to general organization or church records. If a specific group of churches is being targeted with a communication, the email will be sent to each individual pastor that we have an email address for. Like with postal mailings, when sending email communications we can customize the pastor types who should receive the email.

Church Categories

A list can be limited by church category if desired. The categories that we track are BGC churches and Evangelical churches, but we also have additional churches in the database that don't fall into either of those categories. If neither of these options are selected, all churches that we have in Raiser's Edge will be included.

Pastor/Staff Position Types

The desired pastor/staff types for each communication can be customized. However, this doesn't affect the primary contact person that is designated for the church addresses. Mailings sent to the church will still be addressed to the designated contact person, regardless of their position at the church. If sending an invitation to a youth event, for example, we could choose to send emails and mailings to personal addresses of only the youth pastors, but the mailing sent to the church will still be addressed to the senior pastor.

Here are all of the pastor/staff positions that we track in the database:

Senior Pastor
Associate Pastor
Campus Pastor (if a church has multiple locations)
College Pastor
Youth Pastor
Interim Pastor
Music Director
Church Administrator