If you're navigating the complexities of Raiser's Edge™, you know how crucial a well-organized database is for your fundraising success. A clean and optimized database not only saves time but also enhances the effectiveness of your campaigns, ensuring that every outreach is targeted and impactful.

In this blog post, we're diving into the heart of Raiser's Edge™ database optimization. We understand the challenges you face in managing vast amounts of donor data, tracking contributions, and maintaining accurate records. That's why we've compiled four essential tips that will help you streamline your database management, making it more efficient and responsive to your organization's needs.

Review relationship managers:
Pull a list of all gift officers and their coded prospects, and ask the team to check their prospects to ensure connections are still being pursued. It will also provide you with the opportunity to sunset any solicitors no longer with the organization.

Assess constituent codes or donor types:
Your constituent codes or donor types need monitoring and triaging. For example, foundations will always be foundations. But, if you use your codes or types to track prospects, volunteers, board members, or staff, they'll need to be reviewed regularly. Pull a list of all constituents and output their names and constituent codes/donor types. Review and update each record accordingly.

Evaluate attributes and other user-defined fields:
These fields are your database's junk drawer. They tend to collect pieces of data that don't fit anywhere else, and they build up over many years and different database administrators. Go through your code tables and inactivate all codes you no longer use and then review the codes that are left and look for those that can be consolidated.

Sunset open actions or contact records:
Our dear colleagues who conduct donor-facing activities will sometimes forget to mark them as completed. Pull a list of all open contacts/actions. First, inactivate all open actions for solicitors that are no longer with the organization. Second, ask your gift officers to review the list and let you know which ones should be marked as completed.

Database cleanup is critical for fundraising success. If you are looking for step-by-step tutorials on how to dig in and clean up your Raiser's Edge™ database, check out our RE:boot. It's a 3-month bootcamp that will tidy every nook and cranny of your database.