update gender using global change?

Audrey Katzman

As we are cleaning up data, we have found a number of constituents who were added without a gender indicated (they are marked “unknown”). To update their genders, how can I build a query to do a global change? Surely some people with gender neutral names will remain “unknown,” but we can determine the gender from addressees when possible (Mr./Ms./Mrs.). I was thinking that I can query gender = unknown, then export fields including import ID, gender, first and last names, and addressee. I could make the changes in the csv file, but then what should I do to create a query that can be used in global change? Any thoughts, or am I focused on the wrong process? Thank you in advance!

Austen Brown

@Audrey Katzman - Is gender important within your reporting? If it's not, I question the need to make this change. I encourage you to hold off on making any assumptions regarding gender/titles based on name - as an example, I cannot tell you how many communications I have received addressed with the incorrect titles because a DBA made an assumption based on my name “Austen”.

If you'd like to move forward with this change I recommend you do it through an import rather than a global change, you'll have a lot more control over the process - with checks/balances, where as it is very easy to mess up a global change.

Christine Robertson 4

@Audrey Katzman I'll echo @Austen Brown - I would do this as an import rather than a global change. You can review more information at once while making your determinations.

Alex Wong

@Audrey Katzman
Hi, I think you already have the right idea in mind, query on what you want to check (i.e. gender unknown), export to csv, check things out and make the changes in the csv.

What you didn't quite get is, you just work with this csv you made changes to already, there is no need to create another query for global change. As mentioned by Austen and Christine already, what you are going to do is use Import > Constituent. Make sure your csv exported has Constituent ID or Constituent Import ID, which allows you to match to existing record precisely and use the “Update” option in the import window, then map your file's column to the RE data field.

Austen Brown

@Audrey Katzman - Adding, if this is your first import - I recommend taking a class through BBU first.

Dariel Dixon 2

There's a lot to unpack here @Audrey Katzman. Echoing @Austen Brown's sentiment, I think it would be easier to use an import.

With that said, there's been a lot of conversation about gender in the field. Assuming gender is not best practice at all. I won't go down that path much longer, but there have been a lot of articles that have been written about just this, here on this board and within other organizations within the industry. Especially if you already have titles in place, I can't imagine how you would gain much with updating this field.

JoAnn Strommen

I recently ran into this same issue. A staff member wanted to do some annual fund giving analysis based on age and gender. We had a fairly small # of these donor records that have title field data but gender was ‘unknown.’ I explained to him the issue and why I/we do not enter data in the field unless constituent/registrar provide us the data. For some records, our titles are obtained from fields on donation forms.

He wanted the genders added for this group of donors that he and another staff member said they personally knew. So for those with a specific title on the record I did do two global adds to this small number of donors. It worked very easily.

But as others have said, I would not have done en masse and prefer to leave field as ‘unknown’.

Audrey Katzman

@Austen Brown and everyone else: Thank you very much for your thoughtful opinions re gender as well as suggestions on how to make the database updates.

Traditionally our married (hetero) couples have been entered with the male as the head of household. We are looking into revising some of our philanthropic efforts to concentrate more on women, who because of mailings have been less “visible” in their giving. I will bring these ideas to my team and ask for their input on the need to add gender data at all before doing anything.

Faith Murray

@Audrey Katzman, I was reminded of your post while reading an article on NonProfit Pro: “Top 5 Ways to Personalize Nonprofit Direct Mail”. Gender personalization of direct mail pieces comes in at #2. Here is what it says.

Gender. If you have an offer that appeals differently to women than to men, this can be a great way to segment your offer. In many cases women perceive things differently than men. Use that to your advantage with targeted asks. Also, verify your data on gender is correct. Sending the wrong message can anger people.

Now, my disclaimer is that my org does not segment by gender. However I mention this for context, because as nonprofits, we have become so hesitant to label our donors' genders in our efforts to be sensitive about gender identity. And yet, gender segmentation remains a primary marketing strategy of corporate direct mail (and acquisition profiling), because it works. One cannot segment mailings without some type of data marker in the record. Perhaps if we feel that the m/f gender label in RE is offensive, some other type of marker could be applied in a custom field for segmenting and mail design purposes.