The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) was in a bind. The charity, dedicated to raising language, literacy and numeracy standards in Australia, wanted a clean, accurate database for running communication and fundraising campaigns. However, their database was essentially unusable due to the sheer number of duplicates it contained.
ALNF contacted DCA for a database cleanse and de-duplication, but the project was far from straightforward. DCA first needed to identify the main data issues – incorrect configuration of the Salesforce Supporter360 CRM system leading to data duplication, and a lack of data-entry training, rules and parameters – before these could be resolved and database hygiene work could begin.
ALNF’s database originally consisted of 25,886 contacts, which DCA cleansed and de-duplicated. DCA also fixed approximately 2,000 organisational records and 800 leads from the ALNF database, as well as matching and importing 6000 records back as leads from an additional ALNF website. The final, clean database contained 19,736 unique individual records: almost one-third of the total records were duplicates. The complete data cleanse, de-duplication, consolidation and migration process was finished in time for ALNF’s biggest annual campaign, the Wall of Hands appeal.
According to Jasmine Flikier, Communications Officer at ALNF:
“Our experience could not have been more positive. The DCA team quickly spotted all of our issues, and worked closely with us to ensure a positive outcome. They were sensitive to our needs and our budget – invaluable for a not-for-profit organisation.
We are now able to easily communicate with donors, track their gifts, and quickly find registered volunteers. But most importantly, for the first time we know we can trust the information in our database. It has become our source of truth.”
July 2014
