Nonprofit Data Nourishment

Quality growth in most areas of life occurs incrementally. Regardless of what you’re trying to grow, as long as you have a plan to nurture it regularly, it will grow, get better, become stronger.

You can easily nurture your Raiser’s Edge (RE) data while making it easier for more of your team to engage with by making small adjustments or additions to your data processes.

Nourish your data with these seven tips and you’ll see growth in no time.

1. Keep Names Consistent
   A consistent naming system is your friend. Whether saving reports or using folders to keep Queries and Exports organized, make sure your entire team is using the same naming conventions or structures.
2. Dashboard Your Data
   Stay on top of your goals by using dashboards. That way, there’s no need to worry when you receive a call from a team member who needs to know “yesterday” the progress toward a particular goal.  By creating a simple dashboard in database view or helping others create their own suite of dashboards in web view output properties can then be easily tweaked to quickly produce needed views.
3. Clean Up Contacts
   Build and run Queries to determine which Organization Records do not have a Primary Contact. You can then make a plan for adding additional data to records that may need tightening up.
4. Track 100% of Board Giving and Participation
   Regardless of how your board members choose to give, a properly prepared Gift Detail and Summary Report in database view or an Overview Dashboard in web view used in conjunction with Constituent Codes and/or Gift Attributes will give you up-to-date data on board giving and participation.
5. Banish Bad Addresses
   Eliminate and/or update incomplete or bad addresses from RE by building and running Queries with the Criteria “Preferred Address Lines Equals Blank” or “Preferred Zip Equals Blank” or “Preferred State Equals Blank,” just to name a few.
6. Reconcile on the Fly
   Organize a dashboard in either database view or web view by Campaigns, Funds, and Appeals to reconcile donations  within your development structure each time Gifts are entered or Batches are Committed. This will make your regularly scheduled reconciliation with the Finance Department or Business Office a breeze.
7. Organize Your Batches
   Use the Folder (Categories in database view) structure in Batch to organize your batches into types of giving or payment. Create separate Batch Folders for Cash/Checks, Credit Cards, and Pledges.

With a few adjustments to your data processes, you will be consistently nourishing your data, making it easier for everyone to understand and use.