Advancement Data Health Checklist
Use this diagnostic with advancement, finance, marketing, and technology colleagues. Mark each statement, note the evidence, and select no more than three priorities for the next 90 days.
Constituent identity
We have a documented duplicate-management process.
Household, spouse, and relationship rules are applied consistently.
Key contact preferences and consent records are maintained.
Deceased and inactive records are handled through a clear process.
Fundraising structure
Funds, campaigns, appeals, and packages have documented definitions.
Gift, pledge, soft-credit, and adjustment rules are understood.
Solicitor and portfolio assignments are current.
Recurring and first-time donors can be identified reliably.
Reporting & decisions
Retention and reactivation definitions are consistent.
Leadership reports reconcile to approved sources.
Board reporting does not rely on individual-owned spreadsheets.
Important measures include an owner, refresh cadence, and definition.
Systems & integration
CRM, finance, website, email, and event data have named systems of record.
Manual imports and exports are documented and controlled.
Identity matching is reviewed for cross-system reporting.
Integration failures or stale data can be detected.
Governance & security
Data owners and stewards are named.
Role-based access is reviewed periodically.
Sensitive data is not shared through unapproved tools.
Retention, deletion, documentation, and incident procedures exist.
Choose three 90-day priorities
Interpret the result
32–40 / Strong foundationFocus on monitoring, documentation freshness, and targeted optimization.
20–31 / Improvement neededAddress inconsistent practices and the few gaps creating the most recurring risk.
0–19 / Priority attentionBegin with ownership, high-impact controls, and a sequenced improvement roadmap.