What’s in a Name? A Whole Lot, Actually.

Have you ever had someone who insists on calling you the wrong name? I have. A high school teacher who decided my name was Beth. Not Liz. Not Elizabeth. Just… Beth.

To this day, that name hits me in the gut. She stuck with me for all the wrong reasons.

Now picture doing that — unintentionally — to your donors.

At one agency I worked for, a donor actually wrote a note saying he wouldn’t give again because they couldn’t get his name right. This wasn’t a casual supporter. He’d given millions to a local university. What set him off wasn’t ego — it was the unmistakable feeling that he wasn’t seen.

Getting a donor’s name right is one of the simplest, most powerful acts of respect you can offer. It’s the start of your relationship with them. And like any relationship, it’s built (or broken) in the details.

Even online gifts can trip you up. Some donors type their names in all lowercase — “john wilson,” “maria garcia.” They’re allowed to style themselves however they want. But your database? That’s your house. Clean it up. Capitalize properly. Keep it consistent.

• Because when you don’t, a whole chain reaction kicks off:

• You can’t reliably dedupe records. 

• “Dr. Lopez” becomes “Mr. Lopez,” which means…

• They get two appeals in the mail.

• And you get one very unimpressed donor.

• Who sees you wasting their hard earned money.

  
  

These small errors send a loud message: we weren’t paying attention. And donors notice.

So as year-end rolls in and gifts come flying through every channel, make space for one crucial step: shore up your data. Clean names. Standardize prefixes. Merge duplicates. Treat the humans behind those records like… humans.

Because the moment your donor sees their name spelled correctly, formatted respectfully, and used consistently, they feel something simple and powerful:

Seen.

That’s the beginning of trust. And trust is the beginning of giving.