One letter can make all the difference!
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Contributed By
Meredith Hancks
I know that others in the greater fundraising world have written and spoken of this idea before, some in the very recent past. But I think it is important enough that it bears repeating and can serve as a reminder to us all about the importance of data. Having data, and being able to retrieve it, and knowing that it is accurate can be a really big deal! And in this particular instance, that big deal is "middle initial."
YES. That single letter (or maybe two, or maybe none, depending on what your parents chose for you) between your given name and your surname can have a huge impact on the research that is conducted and whether you're finding out information about the correct person. In our organizations, it's really important to make sure that we capture the middle initial of our constituents. Or, if they do not have a middle initial, we need to make a note of that in our records. Or if they have more than one, try to track what they are, and in which order the constituent prefers they appear in their name.
As an example, I was conducting some research this week on a graduate. She has a name I was not familiar with (that is, it's not something like Amy Jones that you might come across frequently) and I was anticipating a fairly uncomplicated search. First I looked in my database and then my subscription services, so I had a pretty good idea of her capacity and where she had given gifts previously. I knew her occupation, so on a whim I decided to enter her first and last names along with her occupation in a Google search. Remember, it's a name I thought was sort of unusual... The search results turned up individuals with EIGHT different choices for middle initial and NINE different states with the same first name, last name, and occupation. I'm glad I knew which of them was the one I wanted to look at! Otherwise my search would have taken a very very long time, and would have involved a lot of analysis. Instead, I could scan the search results and click only on the links that were for my prospect (about half a dozen or so) and get relevant and correct information.
If you had entered your search terms like this: "Amy Farnhallen, veterinarian" in your search engine, would you expect 385,000 hits?
Amy R. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in MI
Amy K. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in MA
Amy F. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in IL
Amy F. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in NY
Amy Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in WI
Amy Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in PA
Amy L. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in WV
Amy T. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in ME
Amy C. Farnhallen who practiced veterinary medicine in CA
Knowing your data is accurate really helps save you some headaches. Even with a thing as seemingly small as a middle initial in a name. This week for me, it meant the difference between two hours of research, and two days of research.
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