Date Completed
Winter 12-14-2025
Project Type
Graduate Research Project
Department
Paul College of Business
Abstract
The College for Social Innovation (CFSI) is an educational nonprofit that provides 15-week credited social sector internship programs for undergraduate and gap year students. To assess program impact and support strategic decision-making, donor engagement, program improvement, and recruitment initiatives, CFSI collects alumni outcome data through two FormAssembly surveys integrated with their Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). However, organizational and data infrastructure changes taking place from 2020-2021 created a misalignment between FormAssembly and NPSP data structures, resulting in inconsistent field types, variable naming conventions, data mapping errors, and duplicate records entering the NPSP from 2021-onward. Compounded by the issue of low survey response rates, CFSI is unable to confidently monitor alumni trajectories, assess program effectiveness, or communicate accurate impact outcomes to stakeholders.
This report explores a three-stage data recovery and governance strategy which utilizes short-term data restoration, long-term system stabilization, and improved data collection practices to resolve CFSI’s alumni outcome data challenges. Short-term data restoration initiatives, such as Salesforce Data Loader, Salesforce Duplicate Management tools, and third-party deduplication tools can be used to export, clean, standardize, and reintegrate historical data. Long-term system stabilization will be supported through data governance practices, instructional toolkits, employee training initiatives, and biannual data audits. Finally, improved data collection practices using Salesforce Campaigns automation, incentives, and networking connections are recommended to improve survey completion rates. Together, these interventions enhance data integrity, sustainability, and reporting reliability, enabling CFSI to generate valuable alumni outcome insights, conduct cross-year comparative analysis, improve donor engagement, and support organizational goals.
Recommended Citation
Shirodkar, Rhea A., "Enhancing Alumni Data Integrity and Collection Practices at the College for Social Innovation" (2025). Business Analytics Student Projects and Publications. 4.
https://scholars.unh.edu/business_analytics/4