What if I told you that your university or nonprofit is sitting on untapped fundraising potential worth millions—but messy data is holding you back?

For institutions that rely on donor and alumni engagement, clean employer data is the key to unlocking major opportunities. Yet, inconsistencies in CRM records—misspelled employer names, outdated company details, and missing information—create barriers to maximizing matching gifts, engaging key stakeholders, and tracking career outcomes.

Here’s why employer data normalization should be a top priority.

1. Unlocking Millions in Matching Gifts

Many companies double or even triple donations through matching gift programs. The problem? If your employer records are incomplete or inconsistent, you can’t identify which donors are eligible.

• Misspelled employer names – “J.P. Morgan” vs. “JP Morgan” vs. “JP Morgan Chase”
• Abbreviations vs. full names – “IBM” vs. “International Business Machines”
• Legal vs. common names – “Google” vs. “Alphabet Inc.”

Impact: If employees are scattered across different versions of an employer’s name, you lose visibility into thousands or even millions of dollars in potential matching gifts.

2. Seeing the Full Picture: Donor & Alumni Engagement

Employer data inconsistencies don’t just affect fundraising; they also impact your ability to strategically engage key stakeholders.

• Without standardized records, you might be missing senior executives who could champion fundraising campaigns.
• Your leadership team may not have a full view of how many alumni or donors work at a specific organization.
• Data-driven decision-making becomes unreliable because key individuals are lost in CRM clutter.

The Fix: Clean employer data provides a true, holistic view of alumni and donor networks, allowing institutions to:

• Identify influential executives to drive internal giving campaigns.
• Accurately assess the donor base by employer.
• Report data-driven insights to leadership with confidence.

3. Career Services & First Destination Reporting (FDS)

For universities, clean employer data is critical for career services and first destination reporting (FDS).

When records are incomplete or messy, it creates major challenges:

• Alumni career paths become difficult to track, limiting mentorship and networking.
• Career outcome reports lack accuracy, impacting rankings and funding opportunities.
• Employers looking to hire alumni may struggle to identify the right talent pools.

The bottom line: If career services can’t easily navigate employer data, it hurts both students and institutions.

The Solution: Employer Data Normalization

By standardizing and enriching employer records, universities and nonprofits can:

• Unlock full matching gift potential, ensuring no donation goes unclaimed.
• Gain an accurate, holistic view of key organizations and stakeholders.
• Streamline career services with structured, easy-to-navigate employer data.

At BRD, we help institutions clean up their records and maximize their fundraising, engagement, and career services impact.

Want to see how clean data can transform your institution’s success? Let’s chat.