How Much Data Should a Nonprofit Record?

EVERYTHING! When you begin keeping your records in a database it’s important to think years down the road. Of course you are going to enter your donors’ name, address, phone numbers, and email but there is so much more that you should try and capture. Add an area for business information – who they work for, their title, address, phone numbers, and occupation. You never know when it will come in handy to search your database for a carpenter or lawyer who is sympathetic to your organization. It’s also handy to get a sense of how large of a donation you can ask them for.

Having sections for donation, communication, and relationship information are essential. You will want to track cash donations as well as in kind donations and services donated with dates for each. Your database should also be used to track communications with your constituents. Enter the dates and short notes about conversations you have had, calls you made, visits, and letters sent. The relationships section should be used to note which board members they are friends with and who made the initial contact with them. It is also important to keep track of household relationships so your communications can target one household instead of several individuals in that family. For example, if Mr. Smith made a donation at point and so did Mrs. Smith sending one letter to Mr. and Mrs. Smith would save you money and be more appropriate.

I suggest you also add a section for events because you really want to track which events your donors attend. And another important section is volunteers to keep notes on what their volunteer interests are, their availability, and skills so when you need volunteers you can pull up a list and know who your best options are to get the job done.

I’m sure there are other things specific to your organization that you could add to make your like easier. Think about all those spreadsheets, lists, and post-it notes that you have floating around and incorporate them in your database. Everything will be in one place and life will be so much simpler!