What to redact before you share a donor export

Analytics assessments need event histories and gift amounts. They rarely need every field your database can spit out.

Before you send an export to any analyst — including us — remove national registration numbers, full card or account numbers, and free-text notes that mention medical or family details. Keep gift timestamps, amounts, campaign tags, recurring flags, and anonymised supporter IDs.

If your app vendor only offers a “full dump,” ask for a reporting view. Many Malaysian nonprofits discover that a narrower export arrives faster and raises fewer questions from their own safeguarding leads.

When in doubt, send a sample of twenty rows first. A five-minute review of column headers prevents awkward rework later.