Email is not a type of phone.

Creating separate Email and Phone categories in Query, Export, and Import would improve usability and more accurately reflect how organizations communicate with and manage relationships with donors.

Currently, email addresses and phone numbers are grouped together under the Phones field in Query, Export, and Import functionality. While both are contact methods, they are fundamentally different communication channels and are used for different purposes.

For example, RE NXT does not currently offer text messaging functionality. So, organizations cannot send acknowledgements, receipts, appeals, newsletters, or Eblasts to a phone number, but they are able to send these communications to email addresses through RENXT. Likewise, phone numbers are used for calls and other direct outreach, making them a separate communication method that should be managed independently.

Create separate categories:

• Phones

  • All Phones

  • Specific Phones

• Emails

  • All Emails

  • Specific Emails

Everything currently queryable under Phones > All Phones > Specific Phones that relates to email addresses should instead be available under a dedicated Emails section.

This change would:

• Make fields easier and faster to locate when building queries, exports, and imports.

• Reduce confusion for new and experienced users alike.

• Better align with real-world fundraising, stewardship, and database management workflows.

• Improve data governance by treating phone and email contact information as distinct data types.

• Bring RE NXT more in line with common CRM practices, where phone numbers and email addresses are maintained and reported on separately.

Separating Email from Phone is a small usability enhancement that would have a meaningful impact on efficiency and create a more intuitive user experience for database administrators, fundraisers, and marketing teams.