There are some movie scenes for which I’m an absolute sucker in almost any movie:

• The moment where it looks like the con has failed… but wait!
• The detective gathers everyone in a room and explains what really happened
• A good translation gag (e.g., the translator says something different from what the person actually said; someone thinks the other person doesn’t know their language so they say what they really think, etc.)
• A training montage

But my all-time favorite is the box-of-scraps scene, where we must take this pile of junk and turn it into the thing that will save us, e.g., Apollo 13, Iron Man, the Martian, Cast Away, etc.  It’s all about ingenuity and making do with what you have at that moment.

Does it feel like you do that every day with your fundraising data systems?

If so, you aren’t alone.  A recent report called Exploring Productivity in the Not-for-Profit Sector found that 38% of UK charities used five to ten different data systems.  Further, only 36% said their various systems work together, with 22% saying their systems were completely unlinked and 18% saying their data processes are manual.  This was UK charities, but having lived with 19 different data systems in one organization here in the States, I know it’s not a local problem.

Having all your donor information in one data ecosystem is a necessary pre-condition of donor knowledge.  You will not have true knowledge of a constituent if all your data isn’t in one data system.  And working on donor information without the backend systems to back it up could be a waste of time and effort.

You will have to purge unnecessary databases.  And I mean purge them. Ideally it should be as if your unnecessary database displeased Stalin: it just disappears from history, incorporated into other people’s stories.

To do that:

• Ask whether another database can do what this database does. If so, bring the data over and train the relevant parties.  The good news is that often the rogue database in question is just an Excel spreadsheet that can be directly imported into your database of choice.
• Ask whether another database can do what this database does with modifications. Rarely is something perfect initially.  You will likely have to create reports for people that they are used to running, but if you are bringing them into a good database, that’s a matter of business rules and set-up, rather than technical fixes.
• If not, ask if the person can do without what the database can’t do. You’d be surprised how many things are done because they have been done that way rather than for any rational reason.

Some different databases are sadly necessary.  Some databases do things that other databases will not do.  You may not be able to run your direct mail program out of your online database or vice versa.

But you do have to decide what system is going to be the Truth.  This should have the capacity to store all your fields, run reports, and do basic data entry.  If you are keeping your direct marketing database, it doesn’t need to be able to run a direct marketing program.  But it does need to have the capacity to do the basic functions.

You may say that you don’t have a database that can fulfill this function.  In that case, I would recommend what I call a Traffic Cop database.  This is a database that you can inexpensively put in the center of multiple databases and get data to and from the other databases.  Its job is to make sure every database knows what every other database is doing, pull out duplicates, and host change management.

Now, sync the databases to the Truth database system.  Sometimes you may be fortunate and be using a database that has existing linkages.  If not, start by syncing manually.  That is, export a report from one database and import it into the other.  Then, reverse; syncing must go both ways if both databases are being updated.  This will allow you to figure out what fields go where and more importantly how to translate from one database to the other (e.g., some databases want the date to be formatted 01/18/2019 and woe be unto you if you forget the zero before the one; others may not having a leading zero or have month and date as separate fields or the like).

After you have your process down, you can automate.  This can happen one of two ways: through the database’s APIs or through an automated report from one database that uploads to a location followed by an automated import from the other database.  Both are viable solutions — you would generally prefer the API solution, but you do what you must.

You will make waves with this request.  As one who has killed off databases like weekend houseguests in an Agatha Christie novel, I know it’s not easy sledding.  Here are some of those common objections and the easiest replies:

Cost: “how can we afford to take on a database project?”  Answer: how can we afford not to?  The lost donations from people calling you up asking for a refund and you have to look through five different databases to see where they donate.  The extra time to try to reconcile your donor database and financial systems.  The data that you won’t be able to get or use for your direct marketing and the lost revenues from that.

No direct marketing constituents: “I don’t want X (usually the people we serve) to get hit up for donations.”  Answer: We won’t be able to guarantee they won’t get a solicitation unless we know who they are.  We rent acquisition lists all the time and these people could be on there.

We’ve already invested in this other database: Answer: point them to this Wikipedia page.  It’s easier than trying to explain sunk costs on your own.

Provincialism: “We have database X and it works fine for us.” Answer: there are three answers for this one.  First, start elsewhere.  Usually, someone will have a database that isn’t working for them and better you start with them, who will then start singing the praises of both you and the Truth, than with the people who like where they are currently.

Second, usually, there is an “I wish we could do X” list somewhere that will make it worth this person’s time to switch.

Third, go to the highers-up with your business case.  By this time, you hopefully have some happy converters and some results from your direct marketing program (e.g., “we can put the year someone started with us on their member card now!”) to share.

Hopefully, this helps you get to your own version of the Truth and no longer have you trying to put your square air filter into a round hole.

Nick