When I'm training users, I see them tune out as soon as they learn that this can't be done in the constituent record or in lists.

For our org, we need to see the last 12 months of gifts and soft credits, not just Last Fiscal Year or Last Calendar Year. We need this to appear on the donor's giving history record AND to be a searchable field. This is because our major donor giving circle works in this way: Every donor who gives $1,000 or more cumulatively over the past 12 months is considered a member of that circle. Currently, we have no way of tracking these individuals in RE.

Clarifying to make sure this is what I'm thinking: Some of my donors make several gifts throughout the year. Their latest gift might only be $500, but their total giving for the year is over $5000. I would like a column in lists (particularly my portfolio) and info in their record that shows their total giving for the year so that I don't have to add those up by hand to see how much in total they gave this year. 

But we need to be able to pull summaries using the Post Date, not the Gift Date, in most situations.  Because in 7 you can select which date to use, this is a problem for us in NXT...can't really utilize reporting/Analyze tools.