Copy to Project

The Copy to Project feature allows you to copy contacts and their associated data from one Broadstripes project to another. This is useful for sharing contacts between campaigns, creating backup projects, or transferring data to new organizing efforts.

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Prerequisites & Permissions

To use the Copy to Project feature, you must meet the following requirements:

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When to Use Copy to Project

Common Scenarios

1. Starting a new campaign from existing contacts
   • You have a successful organizing campaign and want to start a related effort with the same worker contacts
2. Creating regional or departmental projects
   • Splitting a large project into smaller, more manageable projects based on geography or department
3. Sharing contacts between affiliate organizations
   • Multiple unions or organizations need access to the same pool of contacts
4. Creating a test or training project
   • Copy real data to a separate project for training new staff or testing workflows
5. Backing up critical contacts
   • Preserving a snapshot of contact data at a specific point in time or archiving old data
6. Consolidating campaign data
   • Bringing together contacts from multiple organizing drives

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Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Search for Contacts

1. Navigate to your source project
2. Use the Search feature to find the contacts you want to copy
3. You can use any search criteria (lists, events, custom fields, etc.) to filter your results

Step 2: Access the Copy to Project Feature

1. From the search results page, click the Actions dropdown menu
2. Select “Copy to project”

Step 3: Select Destination Project

1. A panel will appear with a dropdown menu
2. Select the destination project from the list
   • Only projects where you have Project Admin access will appear
3. Click “Review data to be copied”

Step 4: Select Contacts Before clicking “Review data to be copied,” select the contacts you want to copy:

• Individual selection: Click the checkbox next to each contact you want to copy
• Select all: Use the “Select all” checkbox to select all contacts in the current search results

Important: You must select at least one contact. If no contacts are selected, you’ll see the error: “Please select one or more contacts.”

Step 5: Review the Data Preview The review screen shows three important sections:

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Settings to be Copied

A list of project settings that will be created in the destination project if they don’t already exist:

• External Systems
• Custom Fields
• Leader Roles
• Assessment Codes
• Event Steps
• Lists (Shared tags only)
• Classifications
• Relationship Types
• Parties

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Data to be Copied

A count of all data items that will be copied:

• People and Organizations
• Addresses and Phone/Email
• Journal Entries and Time Entries
• Donations
• Event Steps and Custom Field values
• External IDs and List Assignments
• Employments (active and terminated)
• Department Indicators
• Leaderships (active and terminated)
• Parent Organizations and Primary Organizations
• Relationships

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Broken Relationships

Lists relationships that will NOT be copied because the related contact isn’t in your selection. See Broken Relationships Warning for details. Step 6: Execute the Copy

1. Review the data summary carefully
2. (Optional) Check “Send me an email when the copy is complete” to receive notification
3. Click “Copy to [Destination Project Name]”

You’ll see a confirmation message:

“Your request has been made to copy the data. Refresh the page to check for completion.”

Step 7: Monitor Progress

1. The copy operation runs in the background
2. Navigate to Bulk Tasks to monitor progress (in the source project)
3. Once complete, the task will show:
   • Number of contacts successfully copied
   • Any errors that occurred

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What Gets Copied

Project Settings (Created if not existing) Contact Data Relationships

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Understanding Employment Relationships

Employment records link People to Organizations. To preserve these relationships when copying:

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Retaining Employment Relationships

Both the person AND the organization must be selected for the employment to be copied. Example:

• If you copy Jane Doe who is employed at Acme Corp:
  • ✅ Employment IS copied if both Jane Doe AND Acme Corp are in your selection
  • ❌ Employment is NOT copied if only Jane Doe is selected

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Special Cases

1. Employments without organizations
   • Some employments may only have a person (no linked organization)
   • These are always copied with the person
2. Multiple employments
   • If a person has multiple employments, each one is evaluated separately
   • Only employments where both parties are selected will be copied
3. Terminated employments
   • Follow the same rules as active employments
   • Include additional fields: date_ended and reason_ended
4. Employment external systems
   • External system values linked to copied employments are also copied

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Previous Copy to Project Jobs May Block Employment Copying

Example scenario:

1. First copy job: You copy Acme Corp (organization) to the destination project ✅
2. Second copy job: You copy Jane Doe (who is employed at Acme Corp) and include Acme Corp in your selection

Result:

• Acme Corp is not duplicated (the system recognizes it was already copied)
• But Jane Doe’s employment at Acme Corp is still NOT copied

Why? The system filters out already-copied contacts before checking employment relationships. Since Acme Corp is filtered out as “already copied,” it’s not included in the employment eligibility check. The key takeaway: To preserve employment relationships, you must include both the person AND their employer organization in the same copy operation—ideally the first time either is copied.

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Workarounds for Previously Copied Contacts

If the organization was already copied in a previous job and employment relationships were not transferred, you can recreate them in the destination project using one of the following approaches: Option 1: Data import in the destination project (recommended) Use the data import feature to create employment relationships from a spreadsheet. This is the best option when you need to link multiple people to organizations that already exist in the destination.

1. Prepare a spreadsheet containing the affected people and their employment details
2. Include columns that allow Broadstripes to match to existing people in the destination — such as a Unique ID (e.g., an external system ID or Broadstripes ID) or name fields (First Name, Last Name)
3. Include employment columns such as Employer, Department, Classification, and any other employment subfields you need to transfer
4. Import the spreadsheet in the destination project — navigate to Settings > Data Imports > + Import Data
5. During column mapping, map your employment columns to the corresponding Broadstripes fields
6. In the Configuration panel, check “Automatically create shops and departments and link employments”
7. Preview and run the import

Option 2: Manual recreation For a small number of employments, open each person’s record in the destination project and manually add the employment relationship. This is practical for fewer than ~10 employments but does not scale well.

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How to Ensure Employments Are Copied

1. When selecting contacts, include all related organizations
2. Use the Broken Relationships section in the review to identify missing parties
3. Click on the numbered button in the Broken Relationships section to see which contacts need to be added

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Broken Relationships Warning

The review screen shows a Broken Relationships section that lists relationships that will NOT be transferred because one party is missing from the working set. A contact can be missing from the working set if it was not included in your selection or if it was already copied to the destination in a previous job.

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Understanding the Warning

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Viewing Affected Contacts

1. In the Broken Relationships section, click the numbered button next to each relationship type
2. This creates a temporary list and opens a new search showing the affected contacts
3. Use this information to decide whether to add more contacts to your selection

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Resolving Broken Relationships

1. Add missing contacts: Go back and include the missing organizations or people in your selection
2. Accept the break: If you don’t need the relationship in the destination, proceed with the copy
3. Recreate later: You can manually recreate relationships in the destination project after copying, or use data import to create them in bulk

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Common Errors

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Validation Errors

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Permission Errors

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Copy Errors (Shown in Bulk Tasks)

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Custom Field Validation Errors

This error occurs when a custom field value in the source project is not a valid option in the destination project. This typically happens when:

1. The custom field exists in both projects but with different options
   • Source project has “Shift” field with options: AM, PM, Night
   • Destination project has “Shift” field with options: Day, Evening, Night
   • Copying a contact with “AM” fails because “AM” isn’t a valid option in the destination
2. The custom field was created in the destination but options weren’t copied
   • The copy operation creates new custom fields if they don’t exist
   • But if a field with the same name already exists, its options are NOT updated

Solutions:

• Before copying: Ensure custom field options in the destination project match or include all options from the source project
• After error: Add the missing option to the custom field in the destination project, then re-copy the affected contacts

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Partial Completion

If some contacts fail to copy:

• The Bulk Tasks page shows the number successfully copied
• Detailed error messages list each failure
• Successfully copied contacts remain in the destination
• You can fix the source data and retry copying the failed contacts

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Tips & Best Practices

Before Copying

1. Clean your data first
   • Ensure people have valid first or last names
   • Fix any data validation issues in the source project
2. Plan your selection carefully
   • Include all related organizations if you need employments
   • Use the preview to understand what will transfer
3. Check existing data
   • Contacts already copied to the destination will be skipped
   • The review shows “Contacts already copied to [project]” count

During the Copy

1. Use email notifications for large copies
   • Check “Send me an email when the copy is complete” for large batches
   • Large copies can take 30+ minutes
2. Don’t navigate away too quickly
   • Wait for the confirmation message before leaving the page
   • The job runs in the background, but ensure it’s queued

After Copying

1. Verify the results
   • Check the Bulk Tasks page for the final status
   • Review any error messages
2. Spot-check the destination
   • Open a few copied contacts in the destination project
   • Verify relationships, custom fields, and other data transferred correctly
3. Re-copy if needed
   • Already-copied contacts are automatically skipped
   • You can safely re-run the copy to catch any that failed

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I copy contacts to multiple projects at once? A: No, you must copy to one destination project at a time. Run separate copy operations for each destination. Q: Will duplicate contacts be created if I copy twice? A: No, the system tracks previously copied contacts and skips them automatically. Q: Can I undo a copy operation? A: There is no automatic undo. You would need to manually delete the copied contacts from the destination project. Q: Are attachments copied? A: No, file attachments are not included in the copy operation. Q: What about saved searches and layouts? A: These are project-specific and are not copied. You’ll need to recreate them in the destination project. Q: Can regular users see copied contacts? A: Yes, once contacts are in the destination project, visibility follows normal project permissions. Q: I copied an organization first, then copied a person employed there. Why didn’t the employment transfer? A: Each copy operation is evaluated independently. The system filters out already-copied entities before checking employment relationships. Since the organization is recognized as “already copied,” it’s excluded from the employment eligibility check. The review screen’s Broken Relationships section will flag this before you execute the copy. To preserve employments, both the person and organization must be included in the same copy operation. Q: If I include an already-copied organization in my selection, will it be duplicated? A: No, previously copied contacts are automatically skipped and won’t be duplicated. However, this also means they won’t count toward employment relationship checks in later copy operations. Last updated: February 2026