Inevitably if you’ve been working with FundRaiser (or any software using codes or tags) for any length of time, duplicate codes begin to happen. Maybe someone put in a code with the year first; maybe someone put the category first, then the year. However it happens, duplicate codes grow in the database and there needs to be a way to manage them.
Luckily within FundRaiser, there’s the ability to review all the codes. You can even print a list of the codes if you’re the type of person who likes paper and pencil for planning. Once you’ve reviewed your codes to determine how you’d like to merge, or maybe even delete some of them, then you’re ready to clean up your database.
Before you make any changes to your codes it’s always good to make a backup. Not only are regular backups a good process anyway, but making backups can provide a level of reassurance as you combine or delete your category codes.
Next, move slowly. There may be a lot of codes to merge or delete; it is a very common situation within databases of all kinds. However, working slowly, doing minor changes will not only allow staff to become comfortable with the changes, but also make sure that the suggested changes still work for your organization. You may find, for example, that the code you merged really needed to stay separate because it truly was a different code.
Don’t be afraid to make changes to your codes. They evolve over time. FundRaiser makes it easy to update your codes for gifts and donors as your needs, and your organization, changes. It’s a good idea to review your codes at least once a year to see where there may be duplicates or ones that are no longer used. During this review, you don’t even have to delete codes. Marking them as inactive will keep the codes from appearing in your drop-down lists, but will keep them in the database. That’s a good first step.
When in doubt, don’t hesitate to contact our helpful support team when it comes to cleaning up your database codes. We would be happy to discuss this process with you.
To learn more about how FundRaiser can help you code gifts and donors:
Take an online guided tour of FundRaiser and learn about the features in FundRaiser for tracking metrics like Gift Source.