Using Your Database

(Recommendation: use a piece of paper and jot your answers down to make a preliminary assessement of your database).

Your database:-

• Quality data
• Useability
• Fast Track Action

• QUALITY DATA

1. Is it in the right places?
2. Is it accurate?
3. Are the fields that you require the information from being updated and completed.?
4. Do your staff know which fields must always be completed?
5. Do you have security access so that data cannot be changed without prior agreement? (if applicable).
6. Do you have a hierarchy system within the database? (e.g. Major donors, Legators, Trustees)
7. When was your database last updated?

• USEABILITY

• What do you use it for during during one year of fundraising (one year being your financial year).  E.G.
• reporting (weekly e.g. to team members, monthly e.g. for team analysis, quarterly e.g. for trustees/Chief Executive, annually) - what reporting do you require from your database,
• direct marketing (list what your annual programme is and who they are targetted at),
• what members of the team are going to need to use the database and how they will want to do that and when they want to do this.

• Who manages the database?
• Ideally this should be one team member and then the director/manager.  This is because the database needs to be controlled by one person in management and one person who can action the process/create reports etc.
• Everything to do with the database needs to flow through a manager and it is not for individuals to make chages without seeking consent and agreement.  This is to ensure that there is a member of senior management, and if possible, one team member, who understand the bigger picture of the database and what it is needed for.

• How up to date is your data?  Do you have the data you need and what is the most important data you need:

Some suggestions:-

Legators - do you know who your potential legators are?
Major Donors - do you have criteria inputted to ascertain who are your major donors
Events - if you run events do have those who have attended logged.
Membership schemes - what are they, do they offer real benefits, could these members be better broken down to e.g. legators, major donors etc.
 
 
 
 

FAST TRACK ACTION - things you can do quickly if you take over a database that needs urgent attention!
 

• Anything that leaves the office should offer the opportunity to clean the database

e.g. a form in a newsletter etc
Data protection facility
Feedback mechanism to allow complaints about duplicate mailings, out of date information etc
update addresses/dataprotection

• run a de-duplicate within your database using various criteria.  This should be done regularly.

• Gift Aid.  With Gift Aid being so simple to use, all correspondence, leaflets, newsletters etc should allow the individual to complete the gift declaration box which will allow the database to be continually be updated.  Back logs should be looked into and it is usually worth running a mini campaign to get the gift aid declaration completed.

• Questionnaires.  Questionnaires can build more complicated donor profiles.  These should have a 'real' reason for being sent out (not necessarily to get donations) and initially should focus on your your 'important' donors or potential donors (e.g. legators and major donors).

Other fact sheets in Organizational planning
Fact sheet index

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