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Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, CRM, Data hygiene, Duplicate Management, Fundraising, Fundraising CRM, NFP, Non-profit, Nonprofit

Duplicate Records – Exploring the Root Causes

In the realm of charity organisations, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems play a vital role in efficiently managing donor and supporter information. These systems help charities maintain strong relationships with their donors, track fundraising efforts, and streamline operations. However, a common challenge faced by many charities is the existence of duplicate records within their CRM databases. Duplicate records can lead to data inconsistencies, organisation inefficiencies, and, hinder effective donor management. In this blog post, we will delve into the causes and discuss strategies to mitigate this issue.

Causes of duplicate records

Manual Data Entry Errors
- One of the primary causes of duplicate records is human error during manual data entry.
- Some staff may not take the time to search to see if the record exists at the outset.
- When staff manually enter data into the CRM system, they may inadvertently create duplicate records due to typos, misspellings, or inconsistent data formatting
  - For example, entering a donor’s name as “John Doe” in one instance and “John Doo” in another can result in duplicate records.
Lack of Standardisation
- Inconsistent data standards and practices can also contribute to the proliferation of duplicate records.
- Without standardised naming conventions, address formats, or contact details, it becomes challenging to distinguish between similar records.
  - For instance, variations such as “Street” vs. “St.,” “Apt” vs. “Apartment,” or “0430500525” vs. “04 3050 0524” can result in duplicate entries. Implementing data standardisation protocols and automated data cleaning processes can help address this issue and ensure uniformity across the CRM system.
Integration Challenges
- Charities often utilize multiple software applications, such as fundraising platforms, email marketing tools, or event management systems, which need to integrate seamlessly with their CRM.
- However, integration challenges can arise, leading to the creation of duplicate records.
  - For instance, if data synchronisation between the CRM and a fundraising platform fails to match records accurately, duplicates may occur.
- It is crucial for charities to carefully select CRM software that offers robust integration capabilities and regularly monitor and reconcile data between different systems to prevent duplication.
Merging Records
- In some cases, multiple records may be inadvertently created when merging data from different sources or during data migration processes.
- It is essential to thoroughly review and match records to avoid duplication.
  - Especially when consolidating donor information from various sources or importing data from external sources
- Meticulous data cleansing and deduplication procedures should be followed to identify and merge records appropriately.
Lack of Data Governance
- An absence of clear data governance policies and procedures can contribute to the accumulation of duplicate records over time.
- Without defined rules for record creation, updates, and de-duplication, the CRM database can become cluttered.
- Implementing data governance frameworks that establish ownership, define data management processes, and regularly audit and clean the CRM database can help mitigate the problem of duplicate records.

Duplicate records in a CRM system can cause significant operational challenges, hinder effective donor management, and lead to data inconsistencies. By understanding and addressing the root causes, charities can work towards establishing robust data management practices.

Stephen Mally Fundraising, Fundraising CRM, Fundraising database, Fundraising program, Fundraising reporting, Fundraising statistics, KPI, Non-profit, Nonprofit, NP

Fundraising statistics at your fingertips

Are you able to recite the progress of fundraising for the year? If asked, do you know exactly where your organisation stands in terms of funds raised to goal, progress within each fundraising program, and other critical key performance indicators (KPIs)?

My experience is that some staff of nonprofit organisations are unable to, if pressed, offer the status of their fundraising programs and state the overall fundraising progress in their organisation. As fundraisers, we live and die by numbers. We ought to know, at any given point in time, exactly where we are in fundraising income and fundraising expenses and we ought to monitor progress and issues through fundraising reporting.

Why is it that some fundrais Data ing staff are unable to readily state fundraising statistics when asked? Here are a few reasons commonly stated:

Fundraising database or CRM used is complicated. Reporting in the database/CRM is difficult, at best
Lack of trust the data in the fundraising database/CRM and, therefore, incorrect fundraising reporting
Conflicting reports. Staff run multiple reports, each offering different results
Staff creating manually reports to track and expenses. Staff often times use Excel spreadsheet
A desire to have fundraising reports available at the click of a button, available at one’s fingertips

Each reason given above is filled with a host of issues behind the scenes. As fundraising managers, we owe it to our organisation and to our staff to conduct a reports analysis session or workshop. This workshop will create change across the organisation so the organisation becomes data-driven instead of excuse-driven. The workshop will lead your organisation to create a suite of reports – some standard reports in your CRM, others customised for your organisation – which can be available each month (or on demand) and available at your fundraiser’s fingertips. Standardised reporting will lead to data cleansing, data standards, and a renewed focus on the fundraising numbers rather than on the distrust or lack of confidence that often times exists across organisations.