🧽 Cleaning Your Data Before Importing to Beacon

Once your data is in Beacon’s standard import templates, the next step is making sure it’s clean, consistent, and ready for import.

In this step, you’ll:

✅ Clean up formatting issues
✅ Remove data you don’t actually need

and therefore
✅ Get your spreadsheets in great shape for a smooth import

🧼 What is clean data?

Clean data fits the format of the field in Beacon it’s going into—no more, no less.

Messy data contains extras, inconsistencies, or errors that won’t import properly.

Let’s look at a few examples:

Field type	Clean example	Messy example
Phone	`07593724617`	`07593724617 (office)`
Email	`alex@email.com`	`alex@email,com` or blank
Date	`2024-03-01`	`22/08/1992`, `March 1st`, `TBC`
Checkbox	`Yes`	`Maybe`
Dropdown	`Donor`	`Donorr`, `D`

Why does this matter?

Some messy rows won’t import at all
Others will import incorrectly, causing long-term problems
Beacon’s importer will flag certain issues, but it’s best to fix them now

👉 The column headers in your Beacon template include help text to guide you. We've got some addtional help here. Use it!

➕ ACTION: Go through each column in your template and fix any rows that don’t match the expected format.

Look out for:

Typos or spelling issues
Text in number/date fields
Inconsistent formatting (especially for dates and phone numbers)

🧹 Remove unnecessary data

Now that everything’s in one place, this is a great chance to cut out anything you don’t need.

Why remove data?

You might choose not to import a column if:

📅 It was collected for a one-off reason
e.g. Dietary preferences for a Gala in 2019
🗂️ It’s something you no longer collect or use
e.g. Religion or ethnicity, if you no longer track it
❓ Nobody knows what the data is for
e.g. Old CRM fields like “Reference Code 2” with inconsistent values

You can still import the record without importing that specific field.

💡 Tip: Instead of deleting the column, just mark it clearly to ignore it during import.

Example:

We used to collect people’s religion, but we don’t anymore, and it’s not important for our work.

I still want to import this person into Beacon, just without that piece of data.

So instead of deleting the column, I’ve just marked it as “Ignore” in the spreadsheet. That way, we know not to include it when setting up custom fields in Beacon.

➕ ACTION: Review your templates.

Decide which data columns you do not want to import, and mark them (e.g. “IGNORE – no longer used”).

🛠️ Use custom fields wisely

Every extra column you add (that’s not in the original template) becomes a custom field in Beacon.

Custom fields are powerful—but limited. It’s important to only add useful, essential data you’ll genuinely use.

Before you keep a custom field, think:

Will you regularly search or report on this data?
Will this data help you deliver better service?
Does your team understand and use it?

If the answer is no—it’s probably safe to skip it.

Note: custom fields are unlimited on Premium and Ultimate plans, but we still recommend adding them with caution and consideration.

Just because you can add it, doesn't mean you should!

By this point, you should:

✅ Have your data in the correct Beacon standard templates
✅ Assigned unique IDs to all rows
✅ Cleaned up any formatting issues
✅ Removed or marked data you’re not importing
✅ Only added useful custom fields you’ll actually need

🎉 Your data is ready for import; its clean, clear, and well-structured