1. Cell References

What are cell references?

Cell references are the core buidling block for working with fundraising data in Excel. A cell reference is simple: you tell Excel to use data from one cell in a spreadsheet in some other cell of the spreadsheet.

How do I use cell references?

Let’s take a look at an example. In the screenshot below, we see some data entered into cell A2, the number of minutes in a year (525,600). We want to refer to that nubmer in cell D2, so we use a cell reference by typing =A2 into cell D2.

When we do so, Excel does a couple things to help us out:

• The cell we are referring to is outlined with a color (blue in this case)
• The text of the cell reference we’re making in cell D2 also becomes blue (so you can quickly find the cell you’re referencing visually)

Now, if we push the enter key on the keyboard, the value from cell A2 will appear in cell D2:

Note, as we can see in the formula bar at the top of the screenshot, the actual value of cell D2 is still just our cell reference =A2, it hasn’t changed. But the value displayed in the cell has changed to match what’s in cell A2. So what happens if we change the value of the cell in A2? The value in cell D2 will automatically update:

When we change the value of a cell that’s referenced somewhere else, everywhere it’s referenced, the value will automatically update.

Ranges

In addition to referencing single cells, Excel allows you to reference ranges of cells. For example, let’s say you want to sum up all of the numbers in cells A1 through A8. We’ll use a formula and the sum() function to do this by referencing the range of cells A1 through A8 as A1:A8

Key takeaways

• Cell references allow you to refer to data from one cell in another cell
• Excel manages all cell references and ensures that they automatically update when the value in the cell being referred to changes
• Cell references must be part of a formula in Excel, which are denoted by using the = character at the start of a cell value
• Ranges of cells are defined using the : operator, for example cells A1 through A8 are the range A1:A8