If a constituent is recently deceased, update Bloomerang CRM:
Mark the constituent as "deceased." To do this, go to the constituent's profile and click Edit, change the constituent's Status to Deceased, and click Save.
Review any open pledges or recurring donation schedules. You might have to write off a pledge or add an end date to a recurring donation.
If the constituent was a member of a household:
Update the rest of the household salutations (Informal, Formal, and Recognition names) so that they correctly address the living members. Feel free to ask living members how they would prefer to be addressed moving forward.
If the deceased constituent was the head of household, designate a new head of household. Best practice is to designate the member with the closest relationship with your organization.
If a household member with a deceased spouse remarries, you can either remove the deceased member from the household or add a custom relationship like Deceased Spouse, Widow, or Widower.
Note: Do not merge deceased individuals into living relatives. Maintaining separate records ensures accurate historical giving data, proper tax receipts, and complete donor journey tracking for both individuals.
This approach allows you to honor the deceased donor's legacy while continuing to engage appropriately with the surviving household member.
4. Make sure that your emails and letters are set up to filter out inactive and deceased constituents. Emails and letters filter out these constituents by default, but these automatic exclusions can be disabled manually.
5. If you enabled NCOA updates in Bloomerang CRM, constituents might be marked "deceased" automatically. However, depending on the input data and the data available from the source, not every record might be updated. For more information, read Individual & Household Deceased0 Records on the TrueGivers website.
If you use Journey Automation, and you mark a constituent as deceased, that constituent automatically exits any automations they are within.