Avg # of gifts processed by fulltime database mgr?

There have been posts on this previously.  It's hard to say due to so many factors.  Are records already in RE? Are they manually entering donor records? Importing records?  Importing gifts?  It takes more time to enter a pledge and payment schedule than it does to enter a single gift.


If this person is DBM will they have responsibilities for data cleansing? Running reports? Generating recognition lists? Checking for missing info? Looking for and marking deceased records?  Updating addresses?  These are just a few of the pieces that could justify a full-time position if you have a large database.

Not all gifts are the same, and some take longer to enter. Some are a $25.00 online donation and some are major gifts associated with proposals and solicitors. Also, not all database managers enter gifts. They sometimes have direct reports who are doing the gift entry. Kind of a hard thing to measure by just a number.

I am a full-time DBA with a smaller org. Gift entry and DBA work used to be split, but I absorbed both jobs during downsizing. I processed about 7200 gifts last fiscal year not counting pledge payments and in-kind gifts. I also manage imports, data cleaning, address updates, constituent entry, mailing list generation, and financial reporting. I am also the part-time grant writer. However, it is difficult to keep everything up on the job, and data maintenance and imports usually have to wait a few months till my schedule is empty enough (in between appeal mailings), and grantwriting barely gets squeezed in. I recently got a once-a-week assistant, which has helped considerably. If you have the flexibility to do so, and the number of gifts to warrant, I would strongly suggest having a back-up person who can assist with gift entry during busy times. If nothing else, that way your organization can keep running if your DBA is out ill for a week.