How to Upload Relationships Using the Bulk Uploader

What your spreadsheet should contain: a Relationships upload needs, at minimum, two columns -- one identifying each Constituent on either side of the relationship (matched by Constituent ID or Custom Field, whichever you choose in the Matching Types step). Optionally, you can also include a Relationship Type column and a Reverse Relationship Type column (for example, 'Spouse' and 'Spouse,' or 'Employer' and 'Employee') to set the relationship type as part of the same upload.

Example row, for illustration:

How it works

1. Under Upload Type, choose Relationships.
   
   
   
   
2. Upload your CSV, then choose how to match your existing constituents:

• Match Pre-Existing Constituents by Constituent ID, or
• Match Pre-Existing Constituents by Custom Field (rows without a match are skipped, not created as duplicates)
  
  Note: Relationships requires an exact identifier (Constituent ID or Custom Field) on both sides. Matching the wrong two people together would silently create an incorrect relationship — unlike other upload types, there's no safety net here, since a bad match doesn't show up as an error anywhere. 
  
  
  
  

      3. Map a First Constituent Column and a Second Constituent Column -- these identify the two people on each side of the relationship.

 Match spreadsheet columns 

If you're matching by custom field, you can also map Relationship Type and Reverse Relationship Type columns, with a choice of:

• Fill in if Blank (default): if a relationship already exists between the two constituents, it's left as-is; your mapped value is only used when a new relationship is created.
• Override existing values: replaces the relationship type on an existing relationship with your mapped value.