How you store your name information depends a lot on the type of mailings you do.  However, you should always try to make your database the most versatile it can be.

Therefore, we recommend storing your contact names as separate fields

• Prefix
• First
• Middle
• Last
• Suffix
• Nickname or Salutation

Storing the separate fields will give you flexibility if you want to send personalized letters using a “Dear Firstname” down the line (please Contact Us for more information on personalization).

Storing the data in separate fields will also allow you to send mailings to just the family. For example – if you have newsletters going to all the alumni from a school, but only want to send 1 per household.  If you have the last name field separated out, you can then address the mailing “Dear Lastname Family” instead of addressing to just one person and having the rest of the people feel like they did not receive a mailing.

In addition – we recommend entering your data in mixed case (John not JOHN) as it will be easier to convert to personalized letters if the information is already in the proper case.  (Rescigno’s can fix your information if it was entered in all upper or all lower case and you would like to personalize your letters.)

Please note that NCOA is being used to comply with the new Move Update Requirements mandated by the post office. The NCOA service requires a separate first and last name field which is another reason to separate your data.

Additional Information to Track

In addition to storing the name and address information, it may be helpful for your organization to store the following information about your constituents:

• Year of Graduation (for educational institutions)
• Gift Giving History
• Employer (some have matching gift opportunities)
• Children
• Spouse
• Education

This type of information is most helpful for organizations that rely on appeals to support their institution’s budget.  While you do not want your database to become cumbersome, additional pieces of information will allow you to customize your appeals to a greater detail to attract donations.

What to do with Bad Addresses and Deceased Constituents:

We recommend keeping all constituents in your database, even if you do not have a good current address for them.  You can do this by creating a field in your database and setting it to “Bad Address” or “Deceased” for those that should not be included in your mailings.

The reason we recommend keeping the constituents in your list is because there are services you can use that will research a person based on their last known address.  If you delete the person completely, you will have no way of tracking them down.  Additionally, if they decide to contact you down the line, you will still have their giving history and all the other information you had collected about them.

For the deceased constituents, there are some institutions that contact the family members to see about setting up a trust or for memorials and you will want to keep a list of all deceased constituents for this purpose.

If you want to make sure your list is completely up to date – please contact us.