Cleaning house (files): Having the correct address is everything. (Databases).

Direct marketers know that a portion of the mailings they've concocted and dropped will return because they were sent to the wrong addresses. But that amount will shrink dramatically if the database is clean.

Nonprofits of varying size and scope implement very rudimentary practices to

keep their databases clean. Such screening procedures as National Change of Address (NCOA), Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS), and merge/purge should be commonplace if an organization wants to maintain a healthy database.

Jacksonville University (JU) has a name-brand fundraising software system but outsources cleaning its list comparing it with the United States Postal Service's (USPS) NCOA data.

"It costs about $1,000 a year" with the software vendor, said Gary Farrar, director of development at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville Fla. "We can do it better (less expensively) than that outside.... I would certainly shop around for that."

According to the Census Bureau, 16 percent of Americans move annually. Therefore, Farrar said, that leaves 16 percent of a nonprofit's database in need of updating.

"Of that 150,000 (pieces JU mails annually) probably 60,000 of them are magazines, which cost us $1.50 each to mail," explained Farrar. "If we have wrong addresses or things like that they come back at $1.50 a piece that we pay. Consequently, the better the database is the more money we save."

Farrar said in addition to NCOA screenings JU follows CASS regulations to save overhead.

CASS regulations certify to the USPS that address information is formatted to fit USPS automation equipment. Nonprofits see major savings in postal costs, but only if organizations mail pre-sorted, First Class, or bulk pieces.

Said Farrar, "When you certify CASS that means that you can export your information in a format that the Post Office already understands and you can get a lot cheaper mail rate."

Farrar suggested a few simple ways nonprofits start to better make use of their database and to make sure information remains correct in the process.

First, he said, make sure all mail is returned to one central point of the organization where the database is maintained. This is paramount in keeping the database correct, he said.

"All the mail that comes back that has been previously sent Out from this university comes back to my office. I can verify addresses and see how many have changed, how many haven't, things like that," said Farrar. "I'm trying to make sure that corrected information comes back to one place right where it's going to be put into the system."

Farrar suggested developing a policies and procedures manual that every new employee receives because there are many ways to enter data.

Every nonprofit is different and one group may enter phone numbers, addresses, and other information differently from another, but all groups should have their own policies and procedure manual, Farrar added.

Lastly, Farrar certifies JU's database information within the campus. Part of that deals with keeping up to date with student information. For example, if a student goes one term and has been entered into the system (along with parents) then leaves, Farrar is notified so the record can be marked inactive.

Farrar said the university also gets "national list from fraternities and sororities once every two years and verify it against what we have to make sure that we have all of the Jacksonville University/members of that particular fraternity/sorority in our system as such."

The University of California, Davis, is another university that uses NCOA screens monthly because of its 130,000-name database of alumni and higher-end donors. That 130,000 are just part of the university's database of between 400,000 and 450,000 names.

According to Karen J. Latora, database and user services manager at the Davis, Calif. the $250 monthly NCOA screening fee is costly but worthwhile.

"To us it's worth it because when you're talking about 60 cents for each return on top of the postage that you've paid and the cost of the magazine we're saving a lot of dollars," said Latora.

Since turning to its current brand-name database service, UC-Davis has aggressively conducted NCOA the past year and a half and it has paid off in spades. UC-Davis reduced the number of returns since implementing its database software system three years ago and increased the number of "mailable" addresses from 80 percent to 93 percent.

Latora added that the university shells out between $10,000 and $15,000 annually for database cleanup and searches, which include alumni searches by social security number and last name.

"Expense for those is $1 per search by the social security number," said Latora. "If you do it by last name I think it's 30 cents to 50 cents per search depending upon which vendor that we use. And we run a couple hundred of those a month.... So, that ranges. Our bill for those is $100 to $200 a month, so it's a little more costly."

Paul Matijevic, senior account manager for SunGard BSR Inc. in Chicago, said that most of his clientele use the standard NCOA as part of their database cleansing.

"Some institutions have created fairly sophisticated systems in which they can import and export that data back into their database," Matijevic said.

Another way Matijevic said his clients augment their database is to screen it with a national database.

For example, a nonprofit takes a subset of its database and sends it to a screening company that goes through the process of screening it for viability of whether or not the list is a group of potential fundraising prospects.

"But in the process of doing that, they also are screening to make sure that you have accurate biographic information," added Matijevic. "So, you're getting back ... publicly held information about whether or not the person has wealth."

Heather Antos, database administrator at Boston-based City Year, said it currently uses a name-brand fundraising software package that's enabled it to begin consolidating its 14 locations nationwide into one main database.

City Year, the largest organization in the AmeriCorp network, recently sent 50,000 addresses to be NCOA checked, explained Antos. Since implementing NCOA, City Year received only 13 returned mailings out of its 8,000-piece annual appeal in 2001. The previous year they received "hundreds and hundreds" of returned letters, said Antos.

"Well, since we're coming from not having any kind of fundraising database, having one now opens a great deal of doors for a lot of people here in the ability to track things that they didn't have the capability to do before," noted Antos.

Up until recently each City Year location had its own separate database, according to Antos, who joined the organization last year to administer the fundraising software system.

Antos said it takes roughly a month to consolidate an affiliate's database and that four locations have consolidated thus far. City Year gains approximately 7,000 to 8,000 new names with each database consolidation, she added.

City Year pays $700 to its vendor for the two NCOA screens of its 15,000 names. Antos expects the database to grow to between 60,000 and 75,000 by the time all 14 affiliates consolidate.

"And I would say the $700 that we spent for the address update, by the time we do our second mailing, which is coming up in March, we'll have saved that on return postage," said Antos.

RELATED ARTICLE: 10 Ways To Keep Your Database Healthy

1. Put Someone In Charge. Although many people might have their hands on your organization's data, one person should have oversight. Make sure someone in your organization is empowered as a database administrator.

2. Create A Database Task Force. Although the database administrator is ultimately in charge of watching over the data, having a task force helps ensure the administrator has input from others on key issues relating to your data.

3. Limit Access To Key Data. Any good software program will offer the ability to limit access to features or fields depending on functional role. Take the time to map out who should have what security rights.

4. Invest In Training. Trained users make fewer mistakes because they understand how the system is supposed to work. Untrained users can be more costly than any training investment you could ever make.

5. Document Your Processes. Users that have documented policies and procedures unique to your organization are less likely to mess up your data. Document your processes and make sure you keep your in-house manual up to date.

6. Look For Duplicates. Even with documented procedures in place, you're going to end up with duplicate constituent records or codes. Your database administrator should review code tables and run reports looking for duplicates on a regular basis.

7. Reconcile Financial Information. Run reports in both finance and fundraising, and make sure the numbers add up. This is a great way to uncover possible data issues.

8. Request And Enter Updated Information. Keep on top of address changes and other information that tends to change. Details matter, and the organization that keeps up with them daily will have cleaner data.

9. Develop A Regular Database Maintenance Schedule. There are various diagnostics that can be run on a database to ensure it's healthy. Set up a regular schedule of these processes (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) and stick to it.

10. Plan For Disasters. Clean data won't do you any good if you have a catastrophic event that results in the loss of your data and database. Make sure you have a disaster recovery plan that include consistent backups that are stored off site. And, if you do have a problem or need advice about how to avoid problems, remember that your software vendor is an excellent resource.

Source: Blackbaud's Educational Services Division