There are a variety of reasons why customers want to store data this way, and the best way to manage each is a little different, rather than jumping to a historical solution for other databases.
Contents:
Common reasons for wanting joint records
Common reasons for wanting households
We strongly recommend to never store joint records in Beacon. It goes against our ethos of storing data as close to reality as possible, and leads to lots of data complications. We’ve found almost NO customers who have been happy with joint records where they’ve used them in previous systems.
We recommend to avoid tracking households unless it’s absolutely essential; it adds complexity, increases time and effort to maintain, and is rarely required. It’s always important to ask “Why?” when a charity asks how to do households in Beacon, as it’s usually for one of the reasons below which won’t actually need you to track households.
Don’t do joint records in Beacon. Just… don’t. Each person should be a Person record.
Single contact for direct mail / single letter for multiple people
Solution: Primary contact checkbox + Custom salutation field
Group spouses together for their contributions even if they weren’t the payer
Solution: Soft credit the spouse on related payments as Fundraiser
Gift Aid is from one person, relationship is with the other
Solution: Gift Aid declaration and donations linked to donor, Soft credit the spouse on related payments as Fundraiser, mark other person as Primary contact checkbox + Custom salutation field