Creating Activities in Bulk and Importing Activities
Creating Activities in Bulk and Importing Activities
When the same Activity needs to be created for multiple contacts, DonorDock provides tools for creating Activities in bulk through Reports or importing Activity records from a spreadsheet. These options can save time when you are working with a larger group of contacts or bringing historical engagement data into DonorDock.
Bulk Activity creation and Activity imports serve slightly different purposes. Reports are useful when you want to create new Activities for contacts already in DonorDock, while imports are especially helpful for bringing in historical or externally maintained Activity data.
Create Activities in Bulk from Reports
Activities can be created in bulk from any Report type in DonorDock. This gives you flexibility to first build a report containing the records you want to work with, then create a new Activity for the contacts represented in those results.
For example, you might run an Activity Report showing recently completed meetings and then create follow-up Tasks for those same contacts. You could also run a Gift Report for recent donors and create Phone Call Activities for stewardship outreach.
To create Activities in bulk:
Navigate to Reports.
Run a standard Report or create a custom Report.
Apply filters as needed to identify the records and contacts you want to work with.
Review the results to confirm the correct contacts are included.
Click Add in the upper-right corner.
Select Add Activity.
Choose the Activity type you want to create.
Complete the available fields, including dates, assignment, status, Campaign, Appeal, notes, or other Activity-specific information.
Click Create and Save.
DonorDock will create the Activity for the contacts represented in the Report results. Once created, those Activities can be reviewed and managed individually just like Activities created directly from a Contact record or through Quick Add.
Send a Bulk Email from a Report
Reports can also be used to begin a bulk email communication for the contacts included in the report results. Instead of creating an individual Email Activity for each contact through the Add Activity option, the Send Emails action creates a bulk email draft under Outreach and prepares the recipient list for you.
To create a bulk email from a Report:
Navigate to Reports.
Run a standard Report or create a custom Report.
Apply any filters needed to identify the contacts who should receive the email.
Click Send Emails in the upper-right corner.
DonorDock will begin creating a temporary Marketing List from the Report results.
You will be redirected to a new bulk email draft under Outreach.
Build your email by loading an existing Marketing Email Template or creating the content directly in the draft.
Review the recipients, subject line, content, and email settings.
Send a test email if needed.
Send the email immediately or schedule it for a future date and time.
Why Create a Bulk Email from a Report?
You can also create a bulk email directly from Outreach > Emails, so using a Report is not required. The Report workflow is especially useful when the audience for the email is based on specific reporting criteria, and you do not need to maintain that group as a permanent Marketing List.
When you create the email from a Report, DonorDock creates a temporary Marketing List specifically for that draft. This allows you to build a one-time audience without needing to create and later remove a separate Marketing List.
If you already have a Marketing List prepared for the communication, it may be simpler to create the email directly from Outreach.
Print Letters in Bulk from a Report
Reports can also be used to generate letters for multiple contacts at once. This is useful for Stewardship communications, or other printed correspondence that uses the same Template across a group of contacts.
Navigate to Reports.
Run a Contact Report containing the contacts who should receive the letter.
Click Letters in the upper-right corner.
Select Print.
Choose the Marketing Template you want to use.
Click Print Letters.
The file format of the generated letters depends on how the selected Template was created. Templates built in the DonorDock Editor generate a PDF, while uploaded Microsoft Word Templates generate a Word document.
This gives you the option to use a print-ready PDF or a Word document that can be edited further before printing.
Log Letter Activities in Bulk
If you want to record that letters were created or sent outside of DonorDock, you can create Letter Activities through the standard bulk Activity workflow instead of using the Print option.
Run the Report containing the applicable contacts.
Click Add.
Select Add Activity.
Choose Letter as the Activity type.
Enter the Activity details.
Click Create and Save.
This records a Letter Activity for the contacts in the Report but does not generate a letter from a Template.
Save Reports for Future Bulk Activity Work
If you expect to work with the same criteria again, saving the Report can make future bulk Activity creation much faster. Instead of rebuilding the filters each time, you can return to the saved Report, refresh the results, and create the next set of Activities from the updated list.
This can be useful for recurring workflows such as donor stewardship, volunteer follow-up, event outreach, fundraising follow-up, or Task assignment. Use Save or Save As when working with a custom Report to preserve the Report setup for future use.
Import Activity Data
The Import tool can be used to bring Activity records into DonorDock from another system or spreadsheet. This is particularly useful during a data migration or when your organization has historical engagement records that should become part of a contact's Activity history.
Both Complete and Incomplete Activities may be imported. Depending on the data available in your source file, you can also map additional Activity details so the imported records contain more of the original context.
Activity types that may be imported include:
Log Email
Log Text Message
Letter
Phone Call
Meeting
Task
Event Attendance
Volunteer
Ask
Required Information for an Activity Import
At minimum, each imported Activity must include enough information for DonorDock to determine what the Activity is, when it occurred or is scheduled, and which contact it belongs to.
The required information includes:
Activity Type
Activity Date
Activity State, such as Complete or Incomplete
Subject
Enough information to identify the contact associated with the Activity
Contact-identifying information may include an Account Number, Email Address, or another supported matching field. Additional Activity fields can also be mapped when that information is available in the source file.
Imported Emails and Text Messages
Importing an Email or Text Message Activity creates a historical Activity record only. It does not send an email or text message to the contact.
This distinction is important when migrating communication history from another system. For example, if your previous CRM shows that a donor received an email last year, you can import that Email Activity so it appears in the donor's history without sending a new message.
Complete and Incomplete Imported Activities
The Activity State in your import determines whether the Activity is treated as something that has already occurred or something that still needs to be completed.
Use Complete for historical Activities such as a meeting that already occurred, a phone call that was completed, a letter that was sent, past Event Attendance, or previously completed Volunteer work.
Use Incomplete for Activities that should remain open for future follow-up. Once imported, those Activities can be managed alongside Activities created directly in DonorDock.
After Activities Are Created or Imported
Bulk-created and imported Activities become part of the associated contact's Activity history. They can then be reviewed through the same areas used for individually created Activities, including Contact timelines, Activity Reports, Campaigns, Appeals, and applicable Boards.
Depending on the Activity type and the information included, an Activity may also appear on the ActionBoard, a Project Board, or an AskBoard.