To build accurate custom reports, it’s helpful to understand how your data is structured in CauseVox.
This guide will explain:
What a resource is
What a base resource is (and how it controls your report output)
What a related resource is
How these concepts work together when building a report
By the end, you’ll know how to choose the right starting point when creating a custom report.
Use the quick links to jump to the right section:
What Is a Resource? (Your Data Categories)
In CauseVox, your data is grouped into major categories called resources.
A resource is simply a type of record, such as:
Contacts: Individual contacts and donors, fundraisers, supporters
Donations: A type of revenue such as a one-time or recurring gift
Revenue: Actual completed revenue transactions such as paid donations, ticket purchases, auction items, and pledge installments
Expected Revenue: Forecasted and pending revenue such as unpaid or pending pledge installments
You can think of a resource as a collection of similar records.
For example:
The Contacts resource = all your people
The Revenue resource = all your money-related transactions
Each resource has its own set of fields.
For example:
Each Contact contains fields such as First Name, Last Name, Display Name, ID, Email Address, Created At Date, etc.
This leads to the next important idea: resources are connected.
What Is a Base Resource?
The base resource is the primary data source for your report.
Your base resource determines:
What each row in your report represents
Which fields you can add as output columns
Which filters apply directly
Which related resources you will need to “look into” using subqueries (covered in Reporting 201)
In other words the base resource is your report’s starting point.
How Base Resources Work (Examples)
Example 1: You want a list of donors
Each row should be a person.
→ Base Resource = Contacts
Example 2: You want a list of all donations made last month
Each row should be a donation.
→ Base Resource = Donations
Example 3: You want a list of all revenue items (donations, tickets, auction items)
Each row should be a money-related transaction.
→ Base Resource = Revenue
Example 4: You want donors who donated in a specific time range
You still want one row per donor, so:
→ Base Resource = Contacts
…but you’ll need to “reach into” the related Revenue resource to check what they gave.
(This is where subqueries come in which is covered in Reporting 201.)
What Are Related Resources?
When you build a custom report, you start with a base resource (such as Contacts, Revenue, Donations, etc). Each base resource is connected to other types of records called related resources.
Related resources are simply the other types of records that are connected to the one you selected as your base.
You “look into” related resources any time the information you need does not live directly on the base resource itself.
Example 1: Base Resource = Revenue
When your report starts from Revenue, each row represents a transaction (donation, ticket order, auction payment, installment, etc.).
In CauseVox reporting, the Revenue base resource includes core fields that come directly from related items, so you can add things like:
Contact Name
Contact Primary Email
Campaign Name
Organization Name
These fields are treated as part of the Revenue record in the report builder.
Related resources do come into play because Revenue includes multiple types of revenue items, each with their own extra fields:
Donations
Ticket orders
Auction purchases
Pledge installments
Credits / adjustments
If you need to filter by something specific to these types (e.g., ticket quantity, item amount, installment schedule), you would look into these related revenue item types.
Think of it like:
Revenue = the core record
Revenue item types = extra details attached to that record
Example 2: Base Resource = Contacts
When your report starts from Contacts, each row represents a person.
Contacts have several related resources:
Addresses (all postal addresses associated with the contact)
Emails (all email addresses associated with the contact)
Phone Numbers (all phone numbers associated with the contact)
Household Contact
Organization Contact
Donations
Pledges
Personal Pages
Recurring Profiles (active recurring gifts)
Registrations
Revenue (all donations, ticket orders, auction purchases, and installments made by that person)
Tickets
Ticket Orders
+ more
Any time you need to apply conditions that depend on activity stored in these related areas (e.g., “donated last year,” “has an active recurring profile,” “has multiple email addresses containing X”), you would use the related resource in your filtering.
Think of it like:
Contacts = who the person is
Related resources = what the person has done or what belongs to them
How Base Resource & Related Resources Work Together
Here’s the key idea:
Your base resource controls the rows.
Your related resources control the conditions.
Example:
“Show me donors who donated to the Spring Gala.”
Rows = donors → Base: Contacts
Conditions = donation activity → Related Resource: Donations
Once you understand this connection, building reports becomes much easier.
Visual Concept
Imagine your data as a set of connected lists:
A list of People (Contacts)
A list of Transactions (Revenue, Expected Revenue, Recurring Profiles, Donations, Pledges, Auction Payments, etc)
A list of Email Addresses
Each person may appear in multiple lists:
John Doe
appears in Contacts
has 3 Revenue records
has 2 Email Addresses
A report is simply choosing one list as your starting point deciding which connected lists you need information from.
Summary
Before building a custom report, keep these ideas in mind:
Resources: Types of data (Contacts, Revenue, Donations, etc.)
Base Resource: The list you want your output rows to come from
Related Resources: How those types connect (a contact has many revenues)
Choosing the right base resource is the foundation of accurate reporting.
If you’re comfortable with the concepts above, you’re ready for Reporting 201.