Gathering & Preparing Data For Your Import in EveryAction - Key Upload Considerations

Sep 11, 2026

Upload by Mabel

Guide to gathering and preparing supporter and contribution data for import into EveryAction. Covers downloading CRM data as spreadsheets, optional fields such as email lists, groups, and coding details, and constraints for successful bulk uploads, including filename rules and a 20MB limit. Explains the purpose of EveryAction’s upload template and best practices like pre-creating custom fields and tags, uploading organizations and individuals separately, limiting columns, validating contact formats, and starting with a small 10–15 record test batch.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time6 min

AccessFree to download

Gathering Data from External Sources

Considerations Prior to Uploading

The EveryAction Data Upload Template

Best Practices in Preparing to Bulk Upload

Helpful Hints: Contacts

Gathering & Preparing Data For Your Import Agenda | | Gathering Data from External | | | --- | --- | --- | | | Sources | | | | | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | to Uploading | | | | | | Considerations Prior | | The EveryAction Import | | | --- | --- | --- | | | Template | | | | | | | | Best Practices for Prepping Your | | | --- | --- | --- | | | Data | | | | | | 2 Let’s get ready to roll! 3 Gathering Data from External Sources Ideally, data from your current CRM or sources should be readily downloaded or prepared asa spreadsheet. If you do not have access to Microsoft Excel, you may use Google Sheets (free) to prepare your import file as well. This file should contain all data regarding your: • Contacts (supporters) • Contributions (gifts or donations) And while not required, can contain details like: • Email Lists • Groups • Gift or contact coding information -or- .csv .xls .xlsx 4 Considerations Prior to Uploading • EveryAction’s Bulk Upload Tool will error out if there are parentheses within the original file name. Ensure these are not present. • Your file should be under 20MB in size. • This does not have to be a complete list of your contactsand contributions. Bulk uploads can be done repeatedly, if needed. 5 Let’s move onto data preparation. 6 The EveryAction Data Upload Template The Upload template provided during this session is key for properly uploading your data into EveryAction. It contains a full breakdown of what data is applicable to what fields, based on its use in EveryAction. Please be sure to keep this as a guideline as this will be an invaluable tool in ensuring that your first Bulk Upload test is seamless. 7 Let’s explore the template a little deeper! 8 Best Practices in Preparing to Bulk Upload • Fields that are user created, like Source Codes, Activist Codes, Custom Fields, or Tags should be created prior to uploading data. This way, your first batch of data can include values for these fields for contacts. • While not required, it is highly recommended that Organizations and Individuals be uploaded separately. • Your file cannot contain more than 50 columns of data. • Confirm that Contact fields adhere to EveryAction’s expected formats: • Email – ensure that the domain is correct (gmail.con [vs. .com](vs. .com) ) • Phone Number-can only be 10 digits (Area Code + Number) • Only upload with a sample of your data for the first time. • This can be 10-15 records, in any order, from your main list. 9 Helpful Hints: Contacts As data will vary from organization to organization, you may have additional or fewer fields when doing your Upload. The example below is centered around Individual Type Contacts that also include Activist Code and Custom Field data. • For our Activist Code (AC_ ) columns, a “Y” is to mark inclusion in those codes. • The Custom Field (CF_ ) column includes an applicable value. In this example, the field is of a numerical entry type. • Additionally, the field itself is using the Custom Field’s short name, as the column header within your upload has a maximum of 20 characters. 10

FAQs

What data should be included in the import file for EveryAction?

The import file should include contacts (supporters) and contributions (gifts or donations). It can also include additional optional details such as email lists, groups, and gift or contact coding information.

What key restrictions apply before uploading data?

Avoid parentheses in the original filename and keep the file under 20MB. Bulk uploads can be repeated, and the initial upload does not need to include the full dataset.

How should contact fields be prepared for a successful bulk upload?

Create user-defined fields like source codes, activist codes, custom fields, and tags before uploading. Validate formats (email domain correctness and phone numbers as 10 digits), limit to no more than 50 columns, and test with 10–15 records first.

Sep 11, 2026

Upload by Mabel