{"id":"sheet-np-donor-name-lookup-left","audience":"nonprofit","category":"spreadsheets","track":"data","technique":"context","title":"Pull donor names onto the donations tab from another tab","free":false,"task":"You want donor names in column D of the Donations tab, pulled by Donor ID from the Donors tab in Google Sheets, where the ID sits in column B to the right of the name. New walk-in donors aren't on the Donors tab yet, so the cell must say Not found instead of an error. Ask for one formula for D2 in one code block, then exactly 2 numbered lines: Why not VLOOKUP: (one sentence) and Volunteers: (one sentence telling volunteers that Not found means they should add the donor to the Donors tab first). Under 45 words outside the code.","materialLabel":"Your two tabs (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"DONATIONS TAB (one row per gift)\nA Date | B Donor ID | C Amount | D Donor name (empty)\n2026-10-02 | D-0107 | 50.00 |\n2026-10-02 | D-0233 | 250.00 |\n2026-10-05 | D-0412 | 20.00 |\n2026-10-09 | D-0107 | 75.00 |\n2026-10-11 | D-0388 | 1,000.00 |\n\nDONORS TAB\nA Name | B Donor ID | C Email | D First gift\nAlma Reyes | D-0107 | alma.r@mailbox.net | 2022-04-10\nBen Okafor | D-0233 | bokafor@mailbox.net | 2024-11-02\nCarla Diaz | D-0388 | cdiaz@mailbox.net | 2025-06-19\nDev Shah | D-0390 | dshah@mailbox.net | 2026-01-08\n\nNotes:\n- D-0412 was a walk-in at the October 5 fair; not entered on Donors yet\n- About 1,400 donors on the Donors tab\n- Volunteers fill this sheet on weekends","rules":[{"type":"codeBlocks","count":1},{"type":"numberedItems","count":2},{"type":"maxProseWords","max":45}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Not describing the layout","why":"The AI assumes the ID is the first column and writes a VLOOKUP that can't work.","fix":"Add: \"On Donors, name is column A and ID is column B.\"","checks":["r0","r2"]},{"title":"Forgetting missing IDs","why":"The AI's formula shows #N/A for walk-in donors, which confuses volunteers.","fix":"Add: \"Show Not found when the ID isn't on Donors.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Getting a menu of options","why":"The AI likes to offer two or three versions of the formula, so you're left to pick and test them yourself.","fix":"Add: \"Give one formula only, in one code block, no alternatives.\"","checks":["codeBlocks"]},{"title":"Forgetting the volunteers","why":"The AI explains the formula to you but never says what volunteers should do when they see Not found.","fix":"Add: \"Then 2 numbered lines: Why not VLOOKUP: and Volunteers:.\"","checks":["r2","numberedItems","maxProseWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Describes the column layout","patterns":["column [ab]","left of","name is","id is"]},{"label":"Handles missing IDs","patterns":["not found","#n/a","missing","iferror"]},{"label":"Asks for one formula","patterns":["one formula","one code block","single formula","no alternatives"]},{"label":"Asks why VLOOKUP fails","patterns":["why.{0,20}vlookup","vlookup won'?t","one sentence"]}],"hint":"Lookup formulas depend on where each column sits. Describe the layout and say what the cell should show when there's no match.","rubricLabels":["The formula matches B2 against the Donor ID column (Donors column B) with exact match and returns the name from Donors column A (for example XLOOKUP, or INDEX with MATCH and 0)","The formula shows Not found when the ID is missing (for example IFERROR(..., \"Not found\") or XLOOKUP's not-found argument), so D-0412 doesn't show #N/A","Line 1 (Why not VLOOKUP:) says VLOOKUP can't return a column to the left of the ID (name in column A, ID in column B), and line 2 (Volunteers:) says Not found means add the donor to the Donors tab first"]}