Five Tips to Manage Your Data at the End of 2024

With Give to the Max Day and year end appeals right around the corner, now is a good time to think about the state of your database. Here are some things to consider when working with your data before 2025.

Check the status of your acknowledgments

Managing your donor relationships at this time of year is critical. If you have gifts that have gone unacknowledged, consider working to extend a brief call or email to extend a simple thank you. Having a fresh, timely update of your base acknowledgment letter ready before your upcoming campaigns will make it easier to customize your thank-you notes to recognize the various opportunities for giving this season. Think about the timing of any custom letters going to principle or leadership donors. Tracking all of these things in your database will help clarify for everyone on your team where a donor is at in their stewardship management.

Organize your campaigns

As you prepare to track who gives what (and when) having pre-determined ways to recognize a GTMD check from a year-end email donation will save you time and energy in the future. Remember which methods work best for your database. Whether using custom groups or an appeal code tagging system, having an easy way to pull your donors by giving event gives you more accurate data when you need it most.

Consolidate where possible

Sometimes processes get moved along in the hustle of it all, and this time of year is no different. Taking a pause to consider what can be simplified gives you time to assess the situation and make the choice that works best for you and your organization. Maybe you chose a database for its highly customizable donor grouping system but haven’t yet utilized its mass emailing capability. See where you can cut out multi-step, multi-platform processes.

Update, update, update

Individual records, grant management information, donor notes, all of it. Did someone give for GTMD last year? Is that person also a monthly donor? Have a grant report that was finished? Are there a bunch of duplicate donor records that need merging? The list of things to do might seem endless, but taking the time to address situations like these can be simpler than you think. Ensuring that gift and donor records are accurate makes the campaign process smoother overall and will save you the headache of figuring it out once it’s over. Give yourself time to check that your database is in general good health before donor-heavy campaigns and high activity seasons.

Consistency is key!

Databases, while powerful, are only as functional as their user. Whether you’re making new changes in 2025 or not, choose something and stick to it. With more than one staff member likely updating gift information, inconsistent knots of data will only become more challenging to untangle as time goes on. Remember, if something works for you, you might not need to fix it! Make sure everyone on your team is on the same page and knows how to troubleshoot to get the most accurate version of every gift entered into your system.

Next
Next

2024 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN MESSAGING