So you’ve invested in a CRM (constituent relationship manager) solution - make sure to keep it clean! A nonprofit’s marketing and fundraising strategy is built on its data. Quality data is essential for nonprofits because it improves supporter engagement and drives fundraising revenue.

What is dirty data?

• Duplicate data (e.g. contact records with the same name)

• Incomplete data (e.g. partial addresses)

• Inaccurate data (e.g. contact is deceased)

How does dirty data hurt your nonprofit?

• Misinformed decision-making (e.g. reports you pull will be inaccurate)

• Unnecessary costs (e.g. CRMs charge by the number of records and you are likely paying for more data storage than needed)

• Deliverability issues (e.g. sending emails to inactive subscribers will hurt your sender reputation)

• Loss of trust/missed opportunity to build personal relationships with supporters (e.g. addressing a donor with the wrong salutation)

• Wasted time (e.g. mail merges you pull will need manual edits)

How to fix the dirty data?

• Complete an audit/assessment of your existing data

• Clean the bad data and review the data that remains

• Evaluate your internal data policies and procedures (e.g. who has permission to enter data, establish a routine maintenance schedule)

Once it’s fixed, how do you keep your data clean?

• Set new data entry policies and procedures

• Limit database permissions and access to trained staff only

• Help your organization to embrace a data-driven culture through training and educational resources