Part 1 – How do I execute on the TrueGivers Data?

Preparing for Export

When it comes to preparing for the TrueGivers data, there are a couple of things you should figure out to make your life easier.  We can assist you in making these decisions based on input from you and other members of your organization.

Tags & Segmentation

The first step should be for you to determine what “tags”, ranges, or other segmentation you need to enable you to work with the data.  This could be a combination of RFM and NOZA, ZOOM, or other demographics to come up with “Major Gift”, LYBNT, etc.  This step is crucial because you will use the tags & segmentation of your donors to perform campaign execution and assignment.  Some of the most popular tags & segments are:

• RFM – Recency, Frequency, and Monetary values.  At the highest level these are Current, Actives, and Inactives.  You can also segment them into more detailed segments using values from each “dimension” of RFM, like 0-3 months, one-time, 0 -$25, etc.
• Data source – NOZA, ZOOM, etc.
• Affinity – where else are they giving to?
• Professional status – are they an influencer?
• Pyramid and verticals – Major Gift, Mid-Level Gift, Reactivation, Sustainer, Planned Gift, etc.

Layout & Format

The next step should be to determine what format you will receive the data in.  TrueGivers can provide it in whatever layout and format you require.  If you don’t know which format you need it in, our default layout contains all of the details and the CSV format will work with all systems – and Excel.  If you have a question about working with a specific CRM, please email our support team – support@truegivers.com so they can customize the format to exactly what you need.  We have worked with all systems – big & small – so it’s never a problem for us.

Merge/Purge

The final step in preparing for the data is to determine how the new information should be merged in with the existing data or if parts or all of the existing data should be replaced.  Since we provide updated names and addresses (via NCOA), as well as fully parsed address, email, and phone information, your system may not have all of the fields required to support simply importing all of the data at once.  Again, we can work with you to determine the proper way to prepare the data – or your system – for import.

That’s it!  With all of these steps out of the way, you can then import the data into your system.  Don’t have a system?

What will you do next?  That’ll be the topic of our next article, Part 2 – What can I do with all of this data?