Setting up the Lookup Tables

Setting up your Lookup Tables

Once you have completed defining your event you are ready to begin setting up @EASE to integrate with your plan.  The first step is to set up the necessary Lookup Table entries.

We will start at the beginning:

1.  The Gala Committee  ... We suggest using a Membership value identifying the fiscal year the event takes place.  Will the Committee members have titles?  If yes, titles will need to be added to the Lookup Tables.  Example:

2020 Gala Committee is a membership.

The remaining descriptions identify the Title of each committee member

            Gala Chairperson

            Sponsorship Chair

            Ticket Sales Chair

            Auction Chair

            Communications Chair

            Event Chair

            Volunteer Chair

2.  Identifying Potential Sponsors and Auction Donors ... We suggest you use Qualities to identify these two categories.

            Potential Sponsor

            Potential Auction Donor

3.  Building your invitation list.  During the year members of your Board and staff will have met people who they think would enjoy your event.  There's nothing more unproductive than using your memory to try and recall who you have met that you would now like to recall.  We suggest you use a Quality to identify those individuals you would like to recall to invite.

            Invite to Gala

4.  Campaign Type, Campaign Code and the Receipt Breakout Codes or Fund will help you to define all the elements of your event.  Each of these has its own Lookup Table. 

You might use GA for the Campaign Type. Please remember, consistency in naming conventions enables comparative reporting. The promotional name of the Gala can reside in the thank you message or your planning notes, but the Campaign Type is always just GA.

   The Campaign Codes can be fairly standard.  We have to include GL Breakout codes to work in concert with the Codes.

TCK     Ticket sales                             GalaTicket

SPS     Sponsors                                 Gala Spnsr

DON    Donations                                GalaDonate

AUC    Auction item donors                Gala Auctn

PRZ     Prize item donors                    Gala Prize

SLS     Silent auction sales                 Gala Silnt

LIV       Live auction sales                   Gala Live

REV    Revenue items                        GalaRevenu

VOL     Volunteers                               n/a

There may be other elements of your event.  Take the time to evaluate what you are doing and how you want it organized.  A good rule is to always start at the end of the event and look at how you want the information reported.  This will help determine how you set up the elements of your event.

5.  Payment Method table is used to record how gifts are received.  We recommend that a special payment method be created to account for Complimentary transactions (Comp is usually satisfactory) like table and ticket sales for sponsors.  Special guests, speakers may use a Guest designation for payment.

            Comp and    Guest

A suggested GalaComp breakout or fund to complete a Complimentary or Guest ticket/table cannot hurt the concept of full disclosure which creates less confusion for accounting.

6.  Campaign Expenses are entered in the Campaign Expense Lookup Table.  We suggest all expenses be recorded in the Sponsorship Campaign's Profile under the Expense tab. 

Consider the sequence of the expense code for reporting. You might consider some form of prefixing to create order to your values. 

At the end of the event, these categories can be updated to reflect the actual costs. The Expense Report in Project format will display revenue and expenses. 

In events run from year to year, the previous years' expenses provide a budget for the current activity.

  • Printing  
    • Tickets
    • Event Materials
    • Event Program
  • Advertising      
    • Newspaper
    • Radio
  • Postage
  • Food and Beverage
  • Licenses
  • Gratuities
  • Audio Visual
  • Entertainment
  • Flowers
  • Favours

7.  Volunteer jobs are recorded in the Campaign Events Lookup Table

  • Mailing
  • Auction Preparation
  • Promotion
  • Event Requirements
  • After Event Activities

8.  Auction Item Categories ... the auction item categories are entered in the Mailing List table.  They can be entered at the time the auction items are recorded in the Receipt window. For greater accuracy, using the Mailing List table is preferred.

  • Music & Theatre Tickets
  • Fine Dining
  • Coffee Houses and Delis
  • Clothing
  • Great Golf Stuff
  • Artwork
  • Weekends Away
  • Spa Packages

9.  Sponsorship Levels are recorded in the Mailing List table

  • Platinum Sponsor
  • Gold Sponsor
  • Silver Sponsor
  • Bronze Sponsor

Once all the codes have been entered to the Lookup Tables you are ready to begin. If you run a gala from year to year, only minor modifications may be required. Well planned the first time benefits all future events.