Frequently asked questions
About the product
Section titled “About the product”Does Relae replace my CRM? It can, and it does not have to. Relae reads an existing CRM as another channel and exports back to it in that CRM’s import format, so you can keep the CRM as your system of record. Organizations with no CRM use Relae as the record itself.
Will it email my donors? No. It drafts notes for you to edit and send from your own email. Nothing goes out on your behalf.
Does it predict who will give? No. Rankings come from what your data shows: giving history, recency, the ratings you set. There is no propensity model, and no claim to know something your records do not.
Does it sync back to my CRM automatically? No, by design. Data comes back out through an export you run, in the format your CRM imports. See exporting everything.
Getting started
Section titled “Getting started”How messy can my data be? Messy is the normal starting point. Relae proposes a reading for each column and asks about what it cannot place rather than guessing.
How far back should I import? As far as you have. Lifetime giving is what makes a pattern legible, and a two-year window hides most of it. See import your giving history.
What if the import goes wrong? Check your totals against a number you already believe before building on top of it. If an import lands wrong, ask us before you start correcting records by hand.
How long does setup take? Around four hours spread across a week. See your first week.
Data and privacy
Section titled “Data and privacy”Where is my data stored? In Canada, isolated to your organization at the database level. See where your data lives.
Does AI see my donors’ names? No. Identifiers are removed before a note is read, and restored only inside your workspace. See how AI reads your notes.
Are my notes used to train AI? No.
Does anything leave Canada? Research on individual prospects sends a name and public identifying context to services in the United States. It is off until an admin turns it on, and it never sends giving history, amounts, ratings, tags or notes.
Do you sell donor data? No. Relae does not sell, license or broker individual donor records or profiles.
Can I get my data out? At any time, in full, at no charge.
Receipting
Section titled “Receipting”Can Relae issue receipts? Yes, once your charity has confirmed its details and enabled issuance. Receipts are designed to contain the elements the Income Tax Act and CRA guidance prescribe. See configure receipts.
Who is responsible if a receipt is wrong? Your charity is the issuer of record and is responsible for the determinations behind each receipt. Relae’s validations are aids to your compliance process. The tax receipting terms set this out.
What about gala tickets? Those carry an advantage, so the receiptable amount is less than the amount paid. You determine what the advantage is worth and Relae computes the eligible amount from it.
Does Relae send the receipts? No. It generates them and you send them.
Running it
Section titled “Running it”How much time does it take weekly? About ten minutes reconciling, plus whatever time you spend on the conversations it suggests.
How many people can use it? As many as you need, each with a role. Most workspaces have one or two.
Can my board see it? A read-only campaign view shows progress with no donor records and needs no account. Board members can also be given viewer accounts. See who can see what.
Can I use it for several organizations? Yes, as separate workspaces with no shared donor data. See working across client organizations.
Still stuck
Section titled “Still stuck”If the answer is not here, ask us directly. These docs get better when someone tells us what was missing.