Using Key Value Pairs to Create Custom Fields for Actions

Every Action in Humanitru comes with a standard set of fields — amount, date, campaign, and so on. But sometimes you need to track something more specific to your organization: an ask amount for a solicitation, an expected close date for a proposal, a check number, a table assignment for a gala. Humanitru's Notes field has a simple, powerful trick built in for exactly this: Key Value Pairs. This guide covers what they are, how to use them, and the one habit that keeps your reporting accurate.

A Key Value Pair is a single line in an Action's Notes field written as a label, a colon, and a value — one pair per line. For example:

Ask Amount: 5000
Expected Close Date: 09/15/2026
Table Number: 12

Key Value Pairs can be added in two ways: an individual user can type them directly into the Notes field while working on an Action, or an integration can generate them automatically as part of syncing data into Humanitru. When an integration adds Key Value Pairs, it also inserts a divider separating them from other note content. When a user enters them manually, there's no divider — the Key Value Pairs simply sit in the Notes field alongside whatever else is written there.

Key Value Pairs let you create the equivalent of a custom field for an Action, without waiting on a product change:

• Track anything specific to your organization or a particular Action Type — ask amounts, pledge reminders, seating preferences, honoree names, you name it.
• They're fully reportable. When you use a label consistently, Humanitru can surface it as its own column in reporting and exports — this isn't a workaround, it's a supported way to extend what you track.
• It's how Humanitru itself tracks things like Opportunities. Fields such as Ask Amount and Expected Close Date on an Opportunity are stored as Key Value Pairs behind the scenes — the same mechanism available to you.

Humanitru looks at the wording of your label to decide how to treat the value for reporting purposes:

• Labels that include “Amount” are treated as dollar figures.
• Labels that end in “ID” or “Count” are treated as whole numbers.
• Labels that include “Date” are treated as dates.

When you're naming a new Key Value Pair, using these words naturally in the label (“Ask Amount,” “Guest Count,” “Renewal Date”) gives you the cleanest reporting behavior with no extra setup.

Step 1: Open or Create the Action

• Navigate to the Constituent record or the Actions module and open the Action, or start a new one.

Step 2: Add Your Key Value Pairs

• Click into the Notes field.
• Type your label, a colon, and the value.
• Press Enter and add the next pair on its own line.

Step 3: Add Any Freeform Notes

• Add any general commentary in the same Notes field. When you're entering Key Value Pairs manually, there's no divider separating them from other text, so keep your labels grouped together to make them easy to scan.

Step 4: Save

• Click Save. Your Key Value Pairs are now part of the Action record and available for reporting.

Key Value Pairs aren't limited to manual entry — the same format is used throughout Humanitru:

• Integrations: When an integration syncs data into Humanitru, it can generate Key Value Pairs automatically — in this case, a divider is added to keep them separate from other note content.
• CSV Import: When bulk-importing Actions, the labels in your import file should match the labels you use for manual entry, so everything reports together correctly.
• Opportunity Tracking: Ask amounts, expected close dates, and similar fields are built on this same mechanism.
• Event, Membership, and Grant Actions: Anywhere you need to track a detail without a dedicated field — seating notes, benefit details, grant conditions — Key Value Pairs are the way to do it.

Here's the habit that protects your reporting: the exact wording and capitalization of your label has to match every time. “Ask Amount,” “ask amount,” and “Ask amount” are treated as three different labels for reporting purposes.

If your team isn't consistent, a report built on “Ask Amount” will silently miss any Actions where someone typed “ask amount” instead — there's no error message to flag the mismatch, the data just won't show up where you expect it.

Best practice: decide on the exact label wording and capitalization before you roll a new Key Value Pair out to your team, write it down somewhere everyone can reference, and use that exact wording every time.

The easiest way to guarantee consistency is to not rely on everyone remembering the exact wording. Build an Action Blueprint (see NAV-39) for any Action Type that regularly needs custom Key Value Pairs, and pre-fill the Notes field template with the exact labels you want used.

Once the Blueprint is set up, every user who logs that type of Action starts from the same template — the correct labels are already there, so there's no risk of a typo or casing difference quietly breaking your reports down the line.

• Tip 1: Decide your Key Value Pair label names before rolling them out to your team, and keep a simple shared reference (a data dictionary) of the exact wording to use.
• Tip 2: Use Action Blueprints for any Action Type that regularly needs custom tracked fields — it removes the guesswork and keeps entry consistent.
• Tip 3: When exporting or building reports, look for your Key Value Pair labels as their own reportable columns.
• Tip 4: If a report seems to be missing data you know exists, check for inconsistent capitalization or spacing in your Key Value Pair labels first — that's the most common cause.