Building lists of constituents

Why use a list?

An LGL list lets you pull together a set of constituent records that it is not possible to compile in any other way. Lists are a powerful tool because there’s almost no limit to what constituents you can add to them and how you can use them.

Once you save your list, it becomes available as a search criteria in almost every tab and work area where you can create an advanced search. This means that if you want to send a mailing to a specific subset of your constituent base, create a report on them, invite them to an event, add them as a segment to an appeal, or any number of other things, you can do so by first building the list and then searching on it to create your mailing, report, appeal segment, etc.

Lists can also be great to work with because it’s easy to use a list in combination with groups and other categorizations in a search. Lists can also, in some cases, eliminate the need to create a complex search query in the first place.

For example, while most queries can be handled with some type of advanced search, there are times when it's useful to create a list that encapsulates a particular query. With List Manager, you can add the constituents in any search and then refine it from there, selecting and deselecting constituents in bulk or one at a time. After that, your list can be used as a starting point for any query.

For instance, let's say we have a saved search that returns any constituent who gave at least $250 total in one of the last three fiscal years:

Say we want to find everyone who does not meet these criteria. While we could reformulate this query to do that, it might be even easier to do the following:

Create a dynamic list from this query
Run another query to exclude the list you just created

Build and save a new list

Taking the example above, we can run that query and then click the Select 41 button (the number will vary based on the number of results in the search):

Next we can click on the Save selected button to create a new list:

...and then give the list a name and save it:

Watch this brief video to learn how to add and save constituents to a list:

Use a list in another search

Now we can use this list in another search, helping us find every constituent who hasn't given $250 during one of the past 3 fiscal years:

Adding and editing the constituents that are in a list

You can manage who is in a list (and take other actions) via the List Manager area in the Constituents tab. Navigate to List Manager, and then click on the name of the list to make edits to the constituents in that list.

On the Summary tab, you will be able to make bulk additions or exclusions using constituent searches or individually add and remove constituents.

The Constituents tab will also allow you to view all of the constituents in your list and add to or remove them as needed.

Combining lists

The easiest way to combine two lists is to create a third list. Run a search in the Constituents tab where you find all constituents that are included in two (or more) lists. In the example below, we are searching for everyone (232 people total) who is in either of the lists "Active volunteers" or "250+ in last 3 years". We can then click the Select 232 button to select them all and save them into a new list (by clicking the Save selected button that appears).

Managing lists

It is possible to categorize and sort your lists by list type. This gives you the ability to mark lists as "favorite" and lets you organize your lists into different groupings and in that way can give you better access to them. Below are the available options for categorizing and sorting lists.

Adding list type

Go to Settings > Menu items > Other menu items > List types, and add the list types that you want to use:

Edit your list to add the list type:

Then save your change.

Filtering by list type

Now you can filter on the list type:

Filtering by list creator

It is also possible to filter by the name of the list's creator:

Making a list "favorite"

To make a list "favorite", click the star next to the Actions button for that list:

Sorting "favorites" to the top

When you assign the "favorite" status to lists, they will automatically sort to the top of your lists within the List Manager page in alphabetical order:

Dashboard widget showing "favorite lists"

There is a widget available on the Dashboard that will show your favorite lists. This is a great way to get one-click access to key sets of constituents, right from the first page you see in LGL when you log in.