Account Types are the primary grouping variable in ShulCloud. In general, most synagogues have three types of accounts: 1) members, 2) non-members, and 3) organizations (prior to ShulCloud, most synagogues characterized organizations as non-members; ShulCloud allows you to define accounts as organizations). Within each of those three major types, there are usually sub-types. We find that most synagogues using Account Types effectively have 6-18 separate account types.
Historically, most synagogues classified their accounts based on the dues relationship (amount) the family/account paid. ShulCloud recommends that Account Types be implemented using a more robust heuristic: rights, responsibilities, and relationship (communication).
Your initial list of Account Types will be generated by a data import, if there is one. We recommend that you spend some time considering what Account Types you want to use going forward. Account Types can be added later in My Lists (and accounts reclassified); though it’s a good idea to get started with ShulCloud having a general framework of Account Types that make sense for your congregation. Examples of Account Types from two synagogues are shown below.
Every account can (and must) have a single Account Type (the list of Account Types should be mutually exclusive). ShulCloud recommends:
- Account Types reflect the overall relationship that the synagogue has with the account (not just the financial/dues relationship), including the potential need to communicate with subgroups of accounts for specific purposes (use Account Billing Type to characterize the financial/dues relationship);
- The list of Account Types is sufficiently robust to allow the congregation to adequately target subgroups, but not overly granular;
- If the only difference between membership types is financial (but the rights and responsibilities are the same), different Account Types are not warranted.
- Every entity with whom the synagogue has a unique relationship (especially if there is a financial relationship) should have its own account - with an Account Type. ShulCloud recommends against using a "house" account (an account used for "random" donations or transactions).
Account Types are often driven by specific membership type descriptions in the synagogue’s by-laws, and/or by historical practices that have developed around membership types. Some synagogues have different levels of membership that include different rights/responsibilities (e.g., voting, seats or seat preferences, included sponsorships); other synagogues have need to (at least occasionally) communicate with certain subgroups, such as single (unmarried) members.
A well thought-out selection of Account Types will help facilitate sophisticated and useful filtering and data-mining capabilities with your ShulCloud data.
