Why non-profits should time a database cleanup with the new fiscal year

For many non-profits, April 1 heralds the start of a new fiscal year. Much like the beginning of the calendar or school year, there are certain rituals associated with this season.

Illustration of a hand cleaning a computer screen

Instead of starting a fitness regimen or stocking up on binders, however, non-profits need to tackle critical administrative tasks that will set them up for success in the coming months.

Maybe your organization has the right people with the right expertise to take on this list internally. Or maybe it doesn’t. Either way, these tasks aren’t optional for non-profits committed to running efficient, streamlined operations in support of their missions.

Here’s a to-do list to celebrate the new fiscal year:

Clean up campaigns,
funds and appeals

This is a good time to sift through and update your campaigns, funds and especially your appeals. If you have annual appeals, this is when you should add the upcoming appeals and mark the previous year's appeals as inactive. Remember that, while you're at it, you can link the campaigns and funds you want your appeals associated with in the tabs on the appeal records.

Update budgets

If you enter your goals and expense amounts in campaigns, appeals or events, take time to update/add these amounts for upcoming reporting.

Set up reports

If you have fiscally related reports, set up the New Year’s reports. Base them either on the previous year or, if you have time, take this opportunity to make improvements based on the previous year’s experience.

Receipt all gifts

Check to ensure that you don't have any outstanding unreceipted gifts that donors are waiting for. This will also assist with any audit activities you may be working on..

Prepare for events

If you have events that you’re starting to line up for the next year, create the records now to be ready for when the event-related data tracking starts to happen. Like appeals, you can mark past events as inactive.

Eliminate duplicates

Although de-duping should happen on an ongoing basis, take the opportunity to refresh your Duplicate Management Tool and get a sense of how many duplicates are in your database. If you don't have planned duplicate management time, schedule times to manage them all - weekly or monthly.

Assess proposals

Review your current proposals in the Prospect module to see if there are any that you can now mark as inactive and closed off. Work with your team to set up any new proposals for the upcoming fiscal period.

A lot of these tasks shouldn't take too long, and your team can (hopefully) work them into their busy schedules. Or your organization might be too overburdened to add these administrative responsibilities. However you decide to do it, taking the time to update this information now will save time later.