Batch Screening Documentation

Use DAFinitive^® Batch Screening to screen a list of constituent records against DAFinitive^®. This feature helps your team identify potential donor advised fund connections more efficiently than looking up records one by one.

Please note: DAFinitive^® Batch Screening is an add-on service to the base DAFinitive^® subscription. If your organization has not already added Batch Screening, please contact your account representative or hello@dafinitive.com to learn more.

Before you begin

DAFinitive^® does not include contact information for donors or advisors, so Batch Screening identifies potential matches based on names. Your team should review and validate any returned matches before determining that a donor advised fund is connected to an individual in your database.

Important: It is your responsibility to ensure your organization has the appropriate rights and permissions to screen constituent records and complies with any applicable data protection laws. Do not submit records for minors.

Prepare your upload file

Your file must include the required fields below. Include recommended fields, when available, to help support review and validation. You can also see a sample template here.

Required fields

Constituent ID number
First Name
Last Name

Recommended fields

Middle Name/Initial
Spouse/Partner First Name
Spouse/Partner Middle Initial
Spouse/Partner Last Name
Home State

Note: Home State is not used for matching, but it can help your team evaluate whether a returned record is likely to be relevant.

Submitting your file

Once you are ready to submit your file, navigate to the Screening portal within DAFinitive^® and click on Choose File:

After you have chosen your selected file, in the File Nickname field, you have the option of providing an additional nickname for your file. Then, click Continue:

You will then be given an option to map the columns in your file to DAFinitive^®. When you are finished, click Run Screening:

While your screening processes, you will see a status bar:

Once the screening is complete, you will see a Summary of your results, followed by three tabs where you can view results based on various Match Types. Here, you also have the option to download your results to Excel:

Match types

We employed three matching algorithms to determine the potential that your constituents have established donor advised funds. The algorithms, and examples of each, are described below:

Exact Match

The submitted first name, last name, and middle initial, when provided, exactly match the first name, last name, and middle initial of a Donor/Advisor name in DAFinitive^®.
Example: You submit “John Q. Smith,” and the Exact Match shows you that DAFinitive^® has a fund with a Donor/Advisor named “John Q. Smith.”

Fuzzy Match

The submitted first name, last name, and middle initial, when provided, closely match—but do not exactly match—the first name, last name, and middle initial of a Donor/Advisor name in DAFinitive^®.
Example: You submit “John Smith,” and the Fuzzy Match shows you that DAFinitive^® has a fund with a Donor/Advisor named “John Q. Smith.”
Example: You submit “John Q. Smith,” and the Fuzzy Match shows you that DAFinitive^® has a fund with a Donor/Advisor named “John Smith.”

Fund Name Match

The submitted first name, last name, and middle initial, when provided, exactly match a name extracted from a fund name in DAFinitive^®.
Example: You submit “John Q. Smith,” and the Fund Name Match shows you that DAFinitive^® has a fund named “John Q. Smith Family Fund,” even if the Donor/Advisor names for the fund are blank or listed under different names.

Returned match fields

Each results tab will have the following columns:

Field	Description
Client ID	ID number provided by you
Constituent Name	The name of the constituent provided by you
Role	Primary/Spouse - Constituent's position in the file you submitted
Spouse/Partner Name	Spouse/Partner name, when provided by you
DAFinitive^® Matching Fund	The name of the donor advised fund, as listed in DAFinitive^®
Sponsor Organization	The sponsoring organization that manages the fund, as listed in DAFinitive®
Fund Donor/Advisor	The matched name listed on the DAFinitive^®file (not visible on the Fund Name Match tab)
Additional Donor/Advisor Names	Additional donors/advisers, as listed in DAFinitive^® (not visible on the Fund Name Match tab)
Client State	State where the constituent is located, as provided by you
Fund State/Country	The state or country where the DAF sponsor is located, as listed in DAFinitive®
State Match	Yes/No - Does the client state and DAFinitive^® fund state match?
Gift Count	The number of gifts in DAFinitive^® that have been distributed from the fund
Has Notes?	Yes/No - Is there a note associated with the fund in DAFinitive^®?

Additional Notes:

A reminder that DAFinitive^® does not include contact information for donors or advisors, so Batch Screening identifies potential matches based on names. Your team should review and validate any returned matches before determining that a donor advised fund is connected to an individual in your database.
Also note that Batch Screening may return more than one potential match for the same individual, especially when a submitted name is common. It is also possible for one donor advised fund in DAFinitive^® to appear as a potential match for multiple individuals in your database.