What are "Primary Contacts"?

In Mission Pillars we use the "Family" feature to group contacts into households. Families can have their "Primary Contact" and other members. People that are not in any family are also considered as primary contacts.

How do I export a list of "Primary Contacts"?

You will be able to export a list of all primary contacts by following these steps:

1. Locate "Contacts" on the left-menu inside your Mission Pillars account.
2. Click on the "Show Filters" button.
3. Click on "Primary Contacts" and tick the option "Primary Contacts Only"
4. Click on the "Actions" dropdown on the top right cornet and select "Excel" or "CSV".

This will pull a list of:

1. Contacts that are "Primary Contact" in their families.
2. Contacts that are not in a family.

If you want you can save this list and use this in your email or print communications.

Why is this useful?

In case you want to send a mass mailout to your donors and don't want to include donors from the same household. Using this filter will ensure that you get only one person per household.

Can I add the family/household name in the export?

Yes, you can do that by clicking on the "Manage Columns" button and selecting the fields that you need. Here are some that might be useful in this case:

• Preferred Name - This is an alternate name you can give to your donors. If this field is empty it will default to first name and last name.
• Family Name - The name of the family/household of your donor. This will be empty if they are not in any family.
• Family Envelope Name - An alternate name for the family/household.
• Merged Name - This is a field that is equal to one of the above fields in this order of priority: Family Envelope Name, Family Name, Preferred Name, First Name + Last Name