Maintaining accurate supporter records is essential for communication, reporting, and donor management. REACH provides tools to identify and merge duplicate records.

Best Practice: We recommend running duplicate checks regularly, especially after importing data or adding large numbers of new supporters.

REACH requires a primary email address for each supporter. This email is used to identify potential duplicate records when adding new supporters. Duplicate entries cannot be created if the email already exists in the system. However, a supporter can be duplicated if a different email address is used.

Note: Resolving duplicates is available on the Essentials and Pro plans with Full Donor Management. Read more about Basic vs. Full Donor Management.

How REACH Identifies Duplicates#

When using the Resolve Duplicates process, REACH checks:

• Email address
• Phone number
• Address

Duplicates are not identified by name. Any suspected duplicates will be listed for review.

First Time Checking for Duplicates#

Important: The duplicate check looks for exact matches.

For example: “123 Main St” will not match “123 Main St.” (with a period).

1. Go to Supporters
2. Click Actions > Resolve Duplicates
3. A list of potential duplicates will appear in rows:
   • Supporter: The record to keep
   • Duplicates Found: Records that may be merged

Merging or Ignoring Duplicates#

• To merge a record, check the box next to Merge and click Submit
• To ignore a record, click Ignore and then Submit

Important: Merge and Ignore actions cannot be undone.

Custom Fields: If both records have custom field data, the information in the record you keep will remain. The data from the merged record will be lost.

Running Duplicate Checks After the First Run#

After the initial run, you must re-run the process each time you want to check for duplicates:

• Go to Supporters > Actions > Resolve Duplicates
• Click Re-Run Duplicate Supporter Process
• REACH will process the results and email you a link when complete
• Open the link to view updated results

Cleaning Up After a Merge#

Once records are merged, clean up contact methods to prevent errors:

• Open the retained supporter record
• Go to the Contact Methods tab
• Remove any duplicated phone numbers, email addresses, or mailing addresses

This prevents errors when updating supporter information.

Merging Within a Supporter Record#

You can also merge directly from an individual supporter record:

1. Open the supporter record you want to keep
2. Click Actions > Merge
3. In the Supporter field, type the name of the duplicate record you want to merge
4. Select the correct name (it will appear in the field)
5. Click Merge

Important Notes:

• This merges the selected supporter into the current record
• If you select the same supporter as the record you are in, the Merge button will be disabled
• This action cannot be undone