How many methods does your organization have for keeping track of constituents? A donor database? Drawers of client files? Student attendance records? Payroll?

Chances are good that if your organization is larger than three volunteers and a phone you have multiple databases at work. Some keep track of the people who are important to you: clients, donors, staff, students. Others are application-specific and hidden from view, like the ones that automatically fill in forms. Almost inevitably some information appears in more than one database, and usually in different forms. For example, your former client Teresa Perez may also be a donor, listed under her married name, O’Shaughnessy.  The tall Alaskan mountain now known as Denali could appear in one place as Mt. McKinley and another as Mount McKinley. All of this usually results in duplicative records, unrecognized overlaps, and, most important, inefficient or error-filled communication.

Master Data Management, or MDM, is a way to effectively organize data at your organization. MDM brings together disparate systems and presents you with a unified view of your constituents. MDM can make your operations more efficient, lowering your bottom line and elevating both fundraising and engagement. MDM can enhance programmatic outcomes. Master Data Management can transform aspirations – “the 360-degree constituent view,” metric-based decision-making, compelling customer service, robust cross-channel marketing – into your organization’s daily reality. While organizations have always needed it, Master Data Management is now more available than ever through more cost-friendly tools and technology; these allow for automation and integrity processes that reduce the amount of manual auditing of records required to maintain a healthy dataset.

Before we describe how MDM can help you fulfill your organization’s aspirations, we should explain what it is. The term Master Data Management is formally used to describe a global strategy for standardizing data that emphasizes the construction of a single “source of truth” for each data element (also known as the Master Record). Informally, the term may be used to describe data standardization and integrity assurance measures that do not create a distinct Master Record. “MDM” might even be used to describe a specific tool or technology that provides data standardization. In fact, Master Data Management is all these things: a global strategy, a series of standardization and integrity processes, and the tools and technology that help execute those strategies and standards.

Master Data Management is critical for most nonprofits today because, as we noted earlier, constituent data is no longer stored in only one database. To collect valuable constituent information, organizations use direct marketing and fundraising databases; program management applications; constituent engagement tools (such as websites, email marketing tools, and social media outlets); event management applications; and myriad custom Access databases and Excel spreadsheets. Often each application stores and manages data independently, and each of these applications and tools may be necessary to serve the unique functionality needed by a program, marketing campaign or engagement effort. To understand your constituents and communicate with them effectively, however, the data managed by those distinct applications must come together in a meaningful way.

An effective and fully implemented MDM strategy will:    

• Improve fundraising response rates by providing unique insights about donor behavior across channels;
• Reduce costs-per-dollar-raised by eliminating waste or inefficiency;
• Deliver improved services to constituents by offering complete constituent insights;
• Target communication effectively by unifying and coordinating strategies; and
• Reduce data management overhead by uniting process and technology.

In successive blog posts, we will describe MDM as an operational strategy, introduce the core concepts, and describe the basic process for implementing MDM at your organization. While nothing can replace a great mission, effective organization strategy, dedicated staff and the right tools and technology, by bringing all of this together your nonprofit can fully achieve its goals. Our hope is to help you understand the power and promise of Master Data Management so that you can evaluate whether an MDM implementation is right for your organization.     

Want to know more right now? Read our White Paper, or contact us.