4 Routine Data Hygiene Best Practices for Nonprofit CRMs

With accurate and up-to-date information, your nonprofit can better understand its supporters, make informed fundraising decisions, and drive greater impact. However, managing data in a customer relationship management (CRM) system can be a complex task, especially when dealing with large volumes of information. That’s where data hygiene comes into play. 

Data hygiene refers to the process of maintaining clean, accurate, and reliable data within your CRM, ensuring that it remains a valuable asset for your organization.

In this guide, we’ll delve into four data hygiene best practices. Whether you use Blackbaud, Salesforce, or another CRM provider, these insights will help you on your data-driven journey. 

1. Conduct a Database Audit

A database audit is a strategic assessment of your CRM’s health, performance, and integrity. For the audit to be effective, work with your team to: 

• Set clear objectives. Determine which data sets, modules, or processes within the database will be audited. Consider whether you want to audit the entire database or focus on specific areas of concern or a specific purpose. 

For instance, if you’re preparing outreach for a legacy giftcampaign, you might prioritize an audit of your existing recurring donors, their donation frequencies, and the amounts they contribute to identify potential supporters. If you’re preparing to find new recurring donors, review those donors who have given most recently and most often in the last 6 months and last 12 months. Also, review their payment type.

• Assess data quality. Evaluate the quality and integrity of the data in your nonprofit’s database. Identify and make note of any data quality issues, security vulnerabilities, or compliance gaps. 
• Document findings. Develop an action plan to address the issues at hand. Define the datasets that require improvements, assign individuals or teams to make the changes, and set a timeline for when they need to be completed. 

If you need assistance throughout this process, consider working with a nonprofit consultant who specializes in data management. They can design a comprehensive audit plan that aligns with your mission and provide actionable recommendations to enhance the quality of your data. 

2. Standardize Data Entry

Data entered with precision is the foundation for effective data hygiene strategies. Take these steps to prevent issues from arising in the first place: 

• Verify your data sources. Data mapping allows you to identify areas where data is incomplete or inaccurately entered. To begin, determine how data enters your CRM, whether through integrated software, links or manual data entry. Then, create a visual representation or diagram that outlines the flow of data between these sources, including the data fields used and any transformations or validations applied. 
• Set user controls. Control who has access to your CRM and limit data entry rights and ability to make changes to authorized personnel. This helps prevent accidental changes, deletions, and data corruption. And if you’re using volunteers at any part of your data-entry process, ensure that they have signed a confidentiality agreement and you have someone overseeing their work. 
• Set data entry protocols. Provide clear instructions on how to enter data into the CRM. For example, when entering recurring donation information into the database, users may have to choose between predefined frequencies (monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually for example). This will make it easier to analyze and segment the donor base later on and ensure reports and analysis are correct.

Ensure that all staff members and volunteers responsible for data entry are well-versed with these standards. Host ongoing training sessions and consider creating a guidebook with information about data formatting, naming conventions, and the importance of accuracy. And while you’re at it, consider including your process for thank yous and acknowledgments as well, driven by data entry. 

3. Regularly Validate and Cleanse Data

The quality of your data will naturally degrade over time as data entry practices evolve and donor information changes. Without ongoing maintenance, inaccurate, outdated, or inconsistent data can lead to flawed analysis. 

To prevent misguided decision-making, adhere to these data hygiene best practices: 

• Archive outdated records. Schedule routine data cleansing activities to remove outdated or irrelevant records from your CRM. This may involve archiving or purging records for donors who are no longer engaged, event attendees from past years, or outdated program participant data. The typical school of thought is to keep donor records for at least 10 years. Don’t archive a donor too soon. 
• Merge duplicate data. Implement a process for identifying and merging duplicate records within your CRM. Duplicates can lead to confusion, wasted resources, and inaccurate reporting. Regularly run deduplication routines to keep your database clean.
• Update changed addresses as part of your continuous process.  If you are sending direct mail appeals to your donors, make sure you run your data through National Change of Address (NCOA). If your donorbase CRM is able to run NCOA, make sure you activate that option. If your donorbase CRM does not offer it but if you are using a mail house or lettershop, you can ask for that information back. Upload the updated addresses in your donor database. The United States Postal Service (USPS) requires nonprofits to have an NCOA run within the last 95 days. 

Most modern CRM systems have built-in data validation tools to streamline all these processes. However, it’s still important to conduct manual checks and cleaning sessions to guarantee that everything is accurate and up-to-date. 

4. Append Missing Data

If you notice incomplete or outdated information in your CRM, consider conducting a data append. Data appending is the process of using third-party sources to enhance your dataset and improve your understanding of donors.

Depending on your needs, you may choose to append:

• Demographic data: This includes information such as age, gender, income level, education, and occupation, which can help you tailor outreach and engagement strategies to specific audience segments. 
• Geographic information: Geographic data includes location-based details like ZIP codes, cities, and regions. Your nonprofit can leverage this data to target local campaigns, understand regional demographics, and organize in-person events.
• Social media data: Your nonprofit can append information about supporters’ social media profiles, online engagement, and behavior to gain insights into their online presence and engagement preferences. 

Encourage users to keep an eye out for incomplete donor profiles and instruct them on how to advocate for a data append. For instance, a fundraising team looking to improve a monthly giving program might identify the need to append demographic information and detail their reasoning to the chief development officer, who will then make the final decision. 

Remember, data hygiene is an ongoing process. It requires continuous monitoring, regular updates, and a commitment from everyone involved. By dedicating time and resources to clean data, you can unlock the full potential of your CRM system and raise more money for your nonprofit.

Provided by guest blogger, with edits provided by A Direct Solution.