It is a sad reality that Ministry Partners die. And in the aftermath, it is important to care for the family members who are left behind well. Making a few small administrative adjustments in Partner Essentials can be a loving way to avoid awkward and painful mishaps like misaddressed envelopes and continued newsletter mailings.
In the instance of a Ministry Partner death, the best place to start in partner Essentials is that individual, family, or couple’s contact page. Here you will be able to make the following changes:
- Mark a person as “Deceased”
- Add a Task as a reminder to reach out to your Ministry Partner’s family
- Partner Essentials now automatically updates the following fields once you have marked a person “Deceased.” You may want to confirm the accuracy of these changes before sending out your next prayer letter:
- The Greeting used in Exports
- The Envelope Name Line
- The Contact Name (if applicable)
To Mark a Person as Deceased
Step 1: The “Contact Details” tab within A Contact’s Page lists each individual associated with that Contact. When a person dies, scroll to that individual and click the pencil icon next to their name to edit and make changes.
Step 2: When you select the pencil icon, a box will pop-up where you can make and “Save” the needed changes:
- Select “Details” tab.
- Click to check the box for "Deceased".
- Click “Save”. This change will automatically mark this person (NOT every person in the Contact) “Opt Out of Newsletter.”
Step 3: Check to make sure the change was applied. The below screenshot is how the change will appear after you mark a person “Deceased.”
NOTE: This action can be undone if the change was made in-error, but you will need to go to the “Contact Details” tab, click the click the pencil icon next to their name, then unmark BOTH “Opt Out of Newsletter” and “Deceased” to note this individual as living and opt them back IN to receiving Newsletters.
Add a Task as a reminder to reach out to your Ministry Partner’s family
The death of a loved one is a very significant event and a key time to show care to a Ministry Partner and/or their family members. Remembering to call, email, talk to in-person, send a letter, etc. is important to do and worth recording.
One way to do this in Partner Essentials is using Add Task (or Log Task). Add Task and Log Task can both be found near the top right corner of a contact’s page.
When you select “Add Task” a pop-up box will appear. Entering “Task Name”, “Action”, “Due Date”, then “Save” will add this Task to the Contact’s Page “Tasks” tab as well as the “Tasks” tab in the Partner Essentials Top Navigation menu.
Confirm the Accuracy of the Automated Changes:
The “Contact Details” tab within A Contact’s Page gives additional contact information such as their communications preferences. An oversight here could be an honest mistake, but acutely painful reminder of loss to a grieving ministry partner.
Some changes happen through automation, but we advise reviewing your contact record.
Note and verify the changes made in these specific areas:
- Contact Name is what you regularly see in your Contacts list in Partner Essentials. Changing this is more for your own benefit so you are not regularly seeing the name of a person who has passed away.
- Greeting (used in Export) is the set greeting for this contact that Partner Essentials uses for Exports for Newsletters, etc.
- Envelope Name Line is the first line in an address label for this contact.
Original:
Updated:
- Primary person can be updated in the People tab of the contact.
NOTE: You will need to manually update your Email (i.e. MailChimp) and/or Physical Newsletter lists (i.e. ChalkLine or PrayerLetters.com) information within A Contact’s Page in Partner Essentials and within the respective applications if the application syncing with Partner Essentials is not turned on.