Importing donors

You can add many donors at once from a CSV file. Every import tags the donors in the file, so you can find them again or build a segment from them. This page covers preparing the file, running the import, and reading the results.

Preparing your file

The file must be a CSV file with exactly three columns, named and ordered like this:

first_name,last_name,email

The column names must be exactly these, in exactly this order, with no other columns. A file with any other header row stops the import with an error. See If the import fails.

Every row needs a first_name and a valid email. A row without a first name, or without a valid email address, fails.

Running an import

1. Click Contacts in the sidebar, then More, then Import.
2. On the File step of Import contacts, choose your CSV file and click Continue. If you don't choose a file, you'll see "File can't be blank".
3. On the Tagging step, click Begin.

The import is queued as soon as you click Begin. To stop before then, click Cancel on the File or Tagging step. Nothing is imported.

What the import does

Each row is handled on its own:

• The email is new to your organisation: a new donor record is created with the first name, last name and email from the file. Their email consent is Not known and their deliverability is OK. See Email consent and deliverability.
• A donor already has that email: the row is skipped. The existing record is not changed: its name, consent and other details stay as they are.
• The row can't be saved, for example because it has no first name or the email address isn't valid: the row fails and nothing is created.

If the same email appears twice in one file, the first row creates the donor and the second is skipped.

The import tag

Each import creates a tag named "Import" followed by the import's ID. That tag is added to every donor the import creates, and also to every donor whose row was skipped because the email already existed. Only rows that fail are left untagged.

Use the tag to find the donors on Contacts with the Tag filter, or in a segment. See Tags and segments.

Following the import

The Import step shows progress as it happens:

• Waiting: "Your import has been queued and will begin shortly"
• Importing: "Your import is being processed..."
• Complete: the import has finished.

When it is complete, one of these messages appears:

• Complete: no rows failed. For example, "Your import completed successfully with 40 rows imported and 3 rows skipped."
• Warning: some rows failed. For example, "Your import completed but encountered some errors along the way with 45 rows processed, 40 rows imported, 3 rows skipped and 2 rows failed."
• Error: every row in the file failed. The message reads, for example, "Your import completed but 12 of the 12 rows processed failed. See the results for more information."

Then choose:

• Done: go back to Contacts.
• View results: download the results file.
• New import: start another import.

Downloading the results

Click View results when the import is complete. The file is called contacts_import- followed by the import's ID and -results.csv.

It has one row for each row in your file, with the columns first_name, last_name, email and result. The result is one of:

• success: a new donor was created.
• skipped: a donor already had this email. Their record was not changed, but they were given the import tag.
• failed: the row could not be saved.

If the import fails

If the file's columns are not exactly first_name, last_name and email in that order, no rows are imported. The Complete panel shows "An error with code" followed by unexpected_headers, then "was encountered during import. There's nothing you can do but try again."

Fix the header row in your file. Then click Try again to start a new import, or Done to go back to Contacts.

If an import stays on Importing and never completes, check that the file is saved as a CSV file rather than a spreadsheet file renamed to .csv, and contact Supporter Club through the person or email address you dealt with when your organisation's account was set up. There is no support form in the admin.