By: Keisha Hartman

Blackbaud Luminate Online is a robust solution providing the tools you need to acquire more constituents, build online fundraising campaigns, and nurture sustainable donor relationships.

With peer-to-peer and advocacy add-ons and CRM integrations, you can create a full engagement experience for your supporters and organization.

In order to get the most from Luminate Online, you’ll need to ensure that all your donor data is effectively and accurately being stored. Managing data migration from your existing solution to your new one is not an easy task. Here our top tips to help make your transition a smooth one:

Do a Deep-Clean of Your Constituent Data

You don’t want to transfer information that’s incomplete or outdated, so take some time to clean up your data beforehand so your new software will be in the BEST shape out of the gate. Here are things to look for:

• Lapsed Donors– Look for users who haven’t engaged or donated in the past 1-3 years. Remove them from your CRM as they’re no longer actively involved with your organization

• Duplicate profiles – Dedup and consolidate any double profiles, as they can lead to confusion and repeat communications

• Outdated information –Consider sending an email campaign to collect updated contact information from people who have multiple entries in those fields.

Determine Specific Data Migration Needs

All data migrations are different, which is why it is important to discuss your specific needs with your digital fundraising consultant or software implementation specialist during the migration process. This is definitely a service we offer here at Doing Good Digital and have delivered to many of our clients.

Think about what custom configurations and implementation you may need. You can customize your Luminate Online platform to best fit your non-profit’s fundraising and donor management goals by adding custom fields and workflows within your database, keeping your data relevant and useful to your organization.

Choose Who Will Manage the Data Migration Process

Whether you choose to work with a consulting firm, or manage the process in-house, be sure to appoint a data migration leader. The data migration leader will be the point person for managing the timeline, communicating between the departments, and leading the data standards for your organization. They should be able to devote a lot of time and energy into this project and take ownership of the data hygiene. 

Develop a Plan to Monitor Data Input Going Forward

To keep your data as clean as possible on a long-term basis, your staff should develop a well-documented process for inputting donor data. This will help you keep track of current best practices and clearly communicate your data entry policies to the entire team to ensure future clean data.

When your data is neat and well organized, you’ll easily be able to use it to inform your fundraising and marketing strategies.

If you’re struggling with data clean-up or in need of customized data fields, contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our senior data migration experts. We can advise you on a strategy and lean on our industry experience.