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Task Types

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Task Types

"Task Types" are used for both tasks you have not completed (the "scheduled tasks") as well as the ones you have completed ("history"). Most of the time, tasks are not scheduled. For example, because you can use the lookup "Call for Appointments", many missionaries will not actually 'schedule' a task to call contacts. The best use of a task list is for the tasks you must complete, such as appointments that are scheduled, follow-up calls you promised you would make, thank yous that you need to write, etc.

Primary Task Types ("The Big 5")

Appointment

Typically a face-to-face visit where you shared your ministry with a potential partner. Or, could be a visit with an existing partner where you shared a ministry update. This could also be a phone appointment or even an online appointment. The basic principle is that an appointment is a scheduled and intentional meeting to share your ministry with a contact.

Completed appointments are very relationally significant and do not go gray after 3 years.

Call

Any time you dial the phone to reach a contact.

If you make a call to thank a contact, use the Thank task type instead. (With TntConnect, you can record any history as a "Thank" regardless of the method you used to do the thank. But you may want to label it as a "Thank" task type anyway.)
If the call is in lieu of an appointment (for example, the contact is in another location and you cannot visit them personally), you may want to use Appointment instead.

Completed calls are very relationally significant and do not go gray after 3 years.

E-mail

Any time you send an e-mail to a contact.

If you send an e-mail to thank a contact, use the Thank task type instead.

Letter

Any time you send a personal letter to a contact. Support letters (pre-call letter, reminder letter, and support letter) have their own task type because of the nature of those letters. Also, because using the "letter" task type updates the "Last Letter" field, it is best to use the "Letter" task type only for truly personal letters.

Thank

To thank the contact for a gift, for praying, or just for being a part of your ministry team. Note: This task type implies a 'letter', but it could also be an email. Also, you can record any history as a Thank by checking the box on the Details tab.

Newsletter Task Types

Newsletter

E-Newsletter

Because newsletters can be sent by mail or by e-mail, but neither represents a very personal communication, using this task type allows you to separate your regular mass mailings from more personal communications. You can also change the view of your History to exclude these mass mailings by clicking the "Hide Mass Mailings" check box. This check box appears on both the History Tab (in the Contacts View) and on the History View.

More on Newsletters

Messaging Task Types

Facebook

Text/SMS

MailChimp

What's App

These are for your reference when logging history.

TntConnect has an integration with MailChimp, but that is outside the scope of this help manual. Read this FAQ on MailChimp.

Other Task Types

Note

If your organization supports this feature, when a donor update is logged, TntConnect will automatically record a "note" indicating the change that was made.

Because a "Note" reflects an automatic action from your organization, this type does not appear as an option when scheduling a task.

To Do

This task type identifies that you completed some action, but it may not have been directly related to the contact. Some common To Do tasks include:

Updating an address, phone number, or e-mail
Sending a brochure or some other ministry materials
Recording a change in a partner's pledge amount and/or frequency
Recording a casual encounter with a contact. For example, if you see a contact while visiting your home church. This type of interaction is not typically regarded as an "Appointment".
Recording a change in a contact's personal information, such as a spouse death, marriage, employer, etc.

Unscheduled

Visit

Still face-to-face but not as relationally significant as an Appointment, the Unscheduled Visit is a great way to record that you bumped into a partner at church, the mall, in the airport, etc.

Completed Unscheduled Appointments are very relationally significant and do not go gray after 3 years.

Unscheduled Appointments—as their name implies—cannot be "Scheduled" as a task.

Present

When a partner is truly committed to you, they often express that commitment in ways more than just financial. For example, many donors will give wedding and birthday gifts that are not monetary. Conversely, you may give gifts to your partners as an expression of gratitude—and a reflection of the fact that you just love them! The Present task type is designed to reflect these non-financial gifts.

Note that a Present task is automatically flagged as a "Thank". This is because a present gift is typically generated out of the heartfelt thankfulness we have for our partners.

Pre Call

Letter

Used to identify a letter you send to tell a contact that you will be calling. Typically this means you will be challenging the contact to give or make a decision of some kind, so this letter is designed to prepare the contact for your call.

Reminder

Letter

You may find it helpful to send a letter to a semi-annual or annual partner in advance of their gift as a gentle reminder.

Support

Letter

A Support Letter is typically sent to contacts who are already partners, but whom you are asking using a special gift appeal. Or, in other words, the primary purpose of the letter is to ask for funding.

Note that Support Letters are typically mass mailings. However, unlike newsletters, these mass mailings will not hide when the "Hide Mass Mailings" button is checked.

Read More

Read More > Tasks & History

Read More > Color Coding




Comments on this Help Topic

John Fleming wrote re: Task Types
on 11 Jan 2010 4:43 PM

Troy and Friends: this page needs to be updated to show the latest version's list of tasks, including the new NEWSLETTER option, which I am grateful was added since "Letter" was somewhat ambiguous and the other task types didn't really seem to match up to a true newsletter mailing.

Bob Mac Leod wrote re: Task Types
on 1 May 2010 1:25 AM

A new edition of TntMPD Help was posted today, with the task types updated as you suggested. There is also a topic specifically on "Mass Mailings" and the Newsletter task type.

rynetyme wrote re: Task Types
on 12 May 2014 8:05 PM

Just curious would you consider the initial contact you make through a letter that details your ministry, what you are doing, and informs the potential you will be calling to set-up an appointment to talk about support and vision a "letter" or a "support letter" under the tasks? You mentioned "letter" was for more personal use, but that "support letter" was for someone who was already on your team. Thanks for the help.

Bob Mac Leod wrote re: Task Types
on 12 May 2014 8:22 PM

rynetyme--

Good news! There is already a task type for exactly the situation you describe. A PRE-CALL LETTER is the task type for the letter you send in advance of your initial contact with a person. A SUPPORT LETTER is what is used when you are asking an existing ministry partner to give a gift of some kind (typically a special gift, and associated with a "Special Gift Appeal". A "LETTER" is any other personal communication, which typically means hand-written. This could be a 'letter', but it could also be a "Thinking of You" note card, a Sympathy card, etc.

This may be more than you asked for, but here's some more expansion on this topic...

If the 'letter' is *intended* as a Thank You, then typically the THANK task type would be used. As I see it, function always trumps form, so I use "Thank" task type for a Thank, regardless of how I completed the thank (letter, card, call, email). BUT, if the primary function is a different task type, then I choose that type and just mark it as a Thank in the Details tab. For example, if I personally visit a partner to thank him for a gift, then I record it as an APPOINTMENT, with the Thank box checked. Or if I send them a gift as a token of my appreciation for their part in my ministry, I record it as a PRESENT, with the Thank box checked. The gift was an *expression* of thanks, but the primary purpose was to send a Present. (Note the word "present" instead of a "gift"; this helps differentiate between a *gift* that a donor gives vs. a *present* implying a tangible object given to/from me.)

rynetyme wrote re: Task Types
on 12 May 2014 8:27 PM

That's perfect!! Thank you so much for the detailed response. God bless you and this ministry tool!