e. Review the titles (if you use them). If you don’t know a woman’s marital status, err on the side of addressing her as Ms.
2) Addressee/Salutation – Once you’ve checked the name fields, you need to check the Addressee/Salutation tab to be sure that you have the correct formulas.
a. Make sure that you know your organization’s preferred formatting (if you don’t have one, now is the perfect time to set them!).
b. Don’t forget to check the additional Addressee/Salutations if you use them!
3) Address & Contact info – You can’t raise money without contacting people!
a. If you have Address Finder or Address Accelerator, check to see if the address has standardized and review the Address Attribute if it has not. Fix it if you can (using Address Accelerator).
b. Check the email address for obvious errors. You won’t be able to send an email to john.jones@mgail.com.
c. Make sure the phone number has the correct number of digits.
d. Remove any non-address information from the address box and put it where it belongs.
4) Mailing/Contact status – Constituent preference and consent is becoming even more important and, for those of you in Europe, it may even be the law.
a. If the address box is blank, make sure you set the record so that it will be suppressed when you pull a direct mail list.
b. Review notes, annotations, etc. and make sure that any indication of communication preferences has been entered in the correct location.
5) Required fields for your org – If you have certain fields that are uniquely specific for your organization, make sure you check them so that your reports, queries and lists all pull accurately.
What would you add to this list? What things do you regularly check in your database to help keep it in tip top shape?
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