How to Keep Bad Data Out of Your Nonprofit’s Database

March 26, 2025/ Mark Becker / Fundraising, Nonprofit Data / 0 comments

It’s no secret that data is vital to nonprofits. You rely on it to send targeted and personalized communications to donors and constituents, run accurate reports, and generally work efficiently and effectively. That’s why it’s so important to keep your database clean.

There are multiple things you can do to tidy up your database and keep it in order. One of the most impactful things you can do is to not let bad data into your database in the first place.

What is bad data?

Bad data, or dirty data, refers to a lot of things. It can be the result of data entry mistakes. It can be records with missing, incorrect, duplicate, or outdated information. It can also be data that isn’t formatted correctly.

Why keep dirty data out of your nonprofit’s database?

Of course, you don’t want a database full of bad data. When you have poor data, you can’t trust that your personalized emails will include accurate data and reach the intended audience. You can’t trust that your reports are giving you accurate insights, which can lead to misguided business decisions and missed opportunities. And you can’t quickly and easily find the data you need when you need it.

Keeping bad data out of your database in the first place helps you get ahead of the data cleaning game. It means that you’ll spend less time correcting bad data and filling in data holes, which allows you to spend more of your valuable time on activities that directly impact your mission.

Tips for keeping bad data out of your database

Here are four practical ways to maintain a cleaner database by keeping bad data out:

1. Maintain clear database policies and procedures.
   Keeping dirty data out of your database starts with clearly defined standards for database entry and management. If you don’t already have a database policies and procedures document at your nonprofit, then it’s time to create one. Make sure that the document includes:
   
   • Consistent naming standards for campaigns, events, queries, and exports to make searching for and reporting on data easier and more accurate
   • Data entry guidelines for common fields, such as formats for names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses
   • Rules for identifying and merging duplicate records
   • Policies for who can enter, view, edit, and export certain types of data
     

Review the policies and procedures document at least once per year to make sure the information is still accurate. If you change a policy or procedure, let everyone know what has been changed and why it’s been modified. This will help everyone to understand the importance of the change and its impact on the organization.

Also, make sure your staff onboarding process includes a review of database policies and procedures. This will give new employees the knowledge and tools they need to help keep your data clean.

Bonus tip: Watch for recurring data integrity issues in your database. They might be a signal that you need to re-train staff on your database policies and procedures, update your policies and procedures document, or even limit the number of people who can enter and update key information.

2. Establish data validation rules.
   Any time you use an online form to collect data, be sure to have validation rules in place for input fields in which accuracy is critical. For example:
   
   • When collecting an email address, make sure that the @ symbol is required.
     
   • Use a picklist/dropdown for information like state, country, and gender to ensure spelling and format are consistent.
     
   • Limit the number of characters allowed for entry in a field when needed, such as when you only want a middle initial and not a full middle name.

Bonus tip: Run data integrity checks each time you import data from another platform, such as your email marketing or online fundraising software, or from a list. Make sure that the data conforms to your standards before you add it to your database.

3. Invest in the right form builder tool.
   When it comes to form builder tools, cheaper isn’t always better. Without a form builder tool that can support your data standards, you might end up spending more time and money cleaning your data in the long run. Invest in a form builder tool that has all of the capabilities you need to meet the data collecting standards you set forth in your policies and procedures document.

4. Have a plan for your data,
   You might tend to collect lots of information in your online forms because you want to know your donors and constituents better. But collecting data without a specific plan to use it can lead to a messy database, more time spent cleaning data, and database user questions. In the end, it wastes your (and your constituents’) time. So, steer clear of asking questions unless you have a clear strategy in place for using the data.

Learn more about how to keep your nonprofit’s data clean

Make sure your nonprofit’s data is clean, accurate, and formatted correctly before it even reaches your database, and you’ll have a leg up on data hygiene for years to come.

Discover more tips for keeping your nonprofit’s data tidy. Read the guide, 6 Tips for Keeping Your Nonprofit’s Data Clean and Ready to Use