Have you ever found yourself in any of these situations
You wrote down a donor's name and address on a piece of paper and lost it.
You sent an email or letter with a donor’s personal information on it to the wrong recipient.
You were told by a donor that they did not receive an email or letter, only to find out later that you had incorrect information.
Hey, no judgment… These gut-wrenching moments have been experienced by all of us at one point in time. The good news? There are many easy ways to prevent these common donor data mishaps.
Tip 1: Do It Right, Not Fast
As tempting as it may seem to track everything in an excel spreadsheet or worse, a notebook, investing the time and money into a safe and secure Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system could be the difference between data and donor synergy and total communication mayhem. The data you get out of your CRM is only as good as what you put into it in the first place. Be careful of importing data directly from vendors or third parties without checking it against your existing data. At Track15, we are versed in many CRM tools, including Salesforce, Blackbaud, Donorperfect, and Kindful.
Tip 2: Clean Up Your Data
We hear lamentations like these all the time from nonprofits: “Our CRM is terrible.” “Our CRM is a mess.” “We need a new CRM.” We are very sympathetic to the struggles our clients face with their CRM, but at Track15 we are dedicated to learning the ins and outs of your current system in order to make it work for you!
Why do we spend time doing this? A) Because buying and setting up a new system can be very expensive and very time consuming; and B) All CRMs can be complicated, at first! Sometimes you just need a tutorial to understand how to make it work for you. And C) Often, your CRM just needs a little cleaning up!
Regarding CRM clean-up: In older organizations especially, data may not have been entered correctly the first time. This may result in duplicates, incorrect householding, and incorrect donation history. There are many ways to clean up data, and it can usually be done without purchasing a new software.
Tip 3: Keep Your Data Up to Date
Keeping your constituent data up to date is a two-way street. You may be asking yourself questions like, “How do I know that so-and-so moved to California?” or “How do I know that this couple is no longer married?” The answer goes back to what we always say at Track15: communication is key. If you’re only in touch with your donors twice a year, once at Christmas and once for an invitation to an event, then you are likely not going to know when donors’ major life events occur. However, if they consistently receive communication from you, then they are more likely to meet you halfway and share updates to their email, home address, etc. You can also explore whether your CRM offers a form that your stakeholders can use to update their information.
We love spooky season at Track15 (as you can tell). What we don’t love is seeing our nonprofit friends struggle with donor data - it is the backbone of all successful development strategies and needs to be well executed. We are here as a resource to support you with your donor data journey! Contact info@track15.com for more information.
Happy Halloween!
