The consent module was added to RE7 with version 7.96 patch 8. If you have not heard about this new module then do check out Blackbaud's information. It was introduced to allow EU organisations and organisations targeting EU citizens to comply with GDPR laws. However it is generally felt that it is of use to the whole community.

The new consent records steer the appearance of solicit codes. This means that while a constituent can have many consent records, the solicit codes will be a current reflection of the constituent's preferences.

How does Chimpegration work with consent records and solicit codes?

At the time of writing there are two places where Chimpegration works with consent records;

  1. Manage Campaigns
  2. Synchronisation

Synchronisation is by far the more complex of the two processes so the majority of the remainder of this article will cover how that works but we will nevertheless explain how campaign management works too.

Manage Campaigns

In the same way that you are able to add an action or an attribute in the manage campaigns module, you are also able to add a consent record. If a subscriber unsubscribes from your list you can create a consent record opt out with channel set to "Email", category could be set to, for example, "Newsletter", source "MailChimp" (or Chimpegration!) and the date as the current date.

Chimpegration also gives you the option to match on existing consent records so that you are not creating duplicates. However unless it is almost identical you may want to track the consent in order to have a full record of the subscriber's opt out.


Synchronisation (or even Synchronization if you are that way inclined) offers a lot more flexibility.

Chimpegration synchronises MailChimp groups to consent records. We have retained the existing ability to sync with solicit codes but bear in mind going forward it may not be possible for a regular user to delete solicit codes unless it is done through the addition of consent records. (At the current time of writing and of patch 8 it does not appear to be enforced. It appears as though you can add and remove solicit codes independently of consent records).

We envisage two types of MailChimp groups as shown below:

The first group type is for one type of consent. The options correspond exactly to the response and can be mapped in that way.

The second group type covers multiple consent types. A tick would correspond to one type of response e.g. opt in and a lack of tick corresponds to the opposite response e.g. opt out. In this type there is no scope for a no response option.

On the groups tab of the sync process, there is now an option when handling groups to use consent records as shown below:

On pressing the configure button you are presented with configuration which is described below. There are two grids; one describing how consent records are created in RE and the other describing how group items are selected on MailChimp:

From MailChimp to Raiser's Edge.

This table allows you to configure how consent records should be added. In the examples above when the social media group item is present on the subscriber record then a consent record with the channel set as "Social", category as "Facebook" and a response of "Opt-In" is created. You are also able to set the other values such as the source, the date (which defaults to the current date each time the settings are loaded), the consent statement and the privacy policy. You can also determine whether or not to add the record based on matching criteria and what those matching criteria should be. This is shown below:

From Raiser's Edge to MailChimp

As the solicit code is now the current reflection of the constituent's consent preferences, it is sensible to use these to determine how groups should be updated on MailChimp. In the same way that you can determine what happens if a group item is present or absent in MailChimp, you can also configure what happens to the MailChimp group if a solicit code is present or absent on the constituent record. This is shown on the lower half of the consent mapping form:

There are four options for each solicit code; you are able to add or remove a group item (shown above in the grey dropdowns) if a solicit code is present or add or remove a group item if it is absent.

As with all of the Chimpegration features, we give you an overview of what is going to happen for the selected option both in the group settings page and in the review screen (albeit with somewhat more text than previously encountered).