Partial Record vs. Full Record

Partial record and full record settings determine what constituent data a volunteer can see and when. 

If a volunteer's role allows them to use the "Search Constituents" function, they will be shown the partial record of any listed constituents. Once a volunteer is assigned or assigns themselves to a constituent, they can see the full record.

Partial Record

The partial record is the information your volunteers can see before they are paired with an assignment. This should focus on helpful information volunteers need to make an informed decision about whether they would like to select this constituent as an assignment or not. Information such as activities, location, their spouse, etc. can help a volunteer easily identify constituents and say “yes, this is my friend Joe!” or “yes, this is indeed Sasha from my soccer team!”

Full Record

The full record is available only after a volunteer has been paired with an assignment. Once paired, a volunteer can see a constituent’s full record from the “My Assignments” page. We recommend including as much relevant information about the constituent as you can in order to give the volunteer more context and details to help frame their outreach. 

For example, you may choose not to show a constituent's giving information in the partial record to limit the number of people who see a donor's details. However, once assigned to a volunteer, this may become highly relevant information. For privacy reasons, you may preserve other sensitive data, like phone number or address, for the Full Record.

How can I see what the partial vs. full record looks like?

The quick way...

To quickly preview an example partial and the full record based on volunteer role, click "Constituent Preview" from the Administration section of your VMS dashboard. From here, select which role you would like to see a preview of the partial and full record for. This option requires Datapoints are enabled for that volunteer role.

The thorough way...

To see the partial and full record of actual constituents from a particular volunteer's perspective, you can ghost as a volunteer.

• To view a partial record, go to their "Search Constituents" page, and click on a constituent name for a constituent that they are not assigned to. 
• To view a full record, go to their "My Assignments" page, click on the dropdown arrow in a constituent's row and then "Go to full record" for that assignment. 

Privacy Protection for High-Value Donors

Limiting Giving Information Visibility

For situations where you need to protect sensitive giving information while still allowing volunteer contact:

• Configure volunteer roles so giving data only appears in the full record
• Volunteers can see basic contact information in partial records when searching
• Detailed giving history is only visible after assignment to that specific constituent
• This allows volunteers to identify constituents without seeing sensitive financial information upfront

• Use the Datapoints feature to control what financial information each role can see
• Create different permission levels for different volunteer types
• Some roles might see no giving data, others might see limited information
• Email functionality remains available regardless of data visibility settings

• Enable email functionality for volunteers even with limited data access
• Volunteers can send emails through the system without viewing giving details
• Consider using email templates that don't reference specific giving amounts
• Maintain constituent accessibility for outreach while protecting privacy

Implementation Steps

1. Assess current role permissions - Review what data each volunteer role currently sees

2. Identify sensitive constituents - Determine which donors need privacy protection

3. Configure data visibility - Adjust partial/full record settings or use Datapoints to limit information

4. Test volunteer experience - Ensure volunteers can still effectively reach out to constituents

5. Train volunteers - Explain any limitations and provide appropriate talking points

Alternative to Making Constituents Unselectable

• This approach maintains volunteer access for outreach purposes
• Protects sensitive financial information without blocking communication
• Allows for personalized outreach from classmates and peers
• Balances donor privacy with volunteer engagement needs

Common variations of this question

• How to hide giving amounts from volunteers
• Protecting donor privacy in VMS
• Limiting financial data visibility
• Anonymous giving settings for volunteers