How are contacts and other records automatically deduplicated?

Raise More automatically merges duplicate people, donations, and pledges at import time so you don’t have to clean data by hand.

This guide explains, in plain English, what gets matched, in what order, and how to avoid surprises.

1. How Raise More decides two people are the same

When a row is imported, RaiseMore looks for an existing record in the following order.

Once a rule finds a match, the search stops.

Priority	What we look at	When it’s considered a match	Why it matters
1	RaiseMore ID (`raisemore_id`)	The row explicitly says, “I belong to person XYZ.”	Hard‑link to an existing contact. Always wins—even overrides a conflicting LALID.
2	LALID	Same LALID as an existing person.	LALID is a widely‑used external ID, so we trust it completely. If a LALID is present, all other checks below are skipped.
3	Other external IDs(Calltime ID, Numero ID, NGP VAN ID)	Any one of these IDs matches.	Keeps data in sync with outside tools when no LALID is supplied.
4	Email	Any email address in the row already belongs to someone.	Email is usually unique and easy to validate.
5	Full name + ZIP code (only compares to people who have no email on file)	Same first & last name and same ZIP.	Helps merge “mail‑only” contacts who never gave an email.
6	Full name (no ZIP)	Names match but there’s no ZIP or it’s blank.	Catches remaining name‑only duplicates.
7	Phone + Name	Cleaned phone number plus matching first & last name.	Phone alone isn’t unique, so we combine it with the name.
8	Create a new person	No match found.	A brand‑new contact is created and given a fresh ID.

Once a person is chosen (either existing or new):

Emails & phones – New ones are saved; existing ones are never duplicated.
Addresses – Duplicates are removed and blank ZIP codes are auto‑filled from USPS.
Tags & custom fields – Added or updated when different.
Current ask amount – Updated if the imported value differs.

Item	When it’s treated as a duplicate
Donations	Either• Same ActBlue LineItem ID or• Same amount, date, and person
Refunds	Always up‑serted (updated if they already exist).
Pledges	Same amount and person. Date is not considered.

If a duplicate is detected, RaiseMore quietly ignores the second copy—you will not see double totals.

RaiseMore ID beats everything. Even if a LALID or email points somewhere else, the explicit RaiseMore ID wins.
LALID short‑circuits the rest. When a LALID is present we skip email, phone, name, etc., ensuring that contact is never merged with the wrong person.
Name‑with‑ZIP only targets people without emails. This prevents someone with an old postal‑only record from being merged into a fully‑fledged email contact by mistake.
Phone match requires the name, too. We deliberately avoid matching by phone alone to reduce false positives (shared landlines, campaign hotlines, etc.).
Multiple rows in one file. If two rows in the same upload point to the same person (by any rule above), they merge before anything hits the database.
Second import of the same ActBlue file. Identical donations are recognised by LineItem ID and skipped, so you can safely re‑upload without double‑counting.

Include IDs wherever possible. raisemore_id or LALID virtually guarantee a perfect merge.
Keep names & addresses consistent. Minor typos or missing ZIPs can create new people.
Validate emails & phones. Correct formatting helps RaiseMore recognise existing supporters.
Don’t worry about blank ZIP codes. We’ll fill them in automatically when USPS can provide one.

The first person claimed by that email keeps it. Additional rows with that email will merge into the same contact.

The LALID takes priority. The email in your file will be added as another email for that same person.

Check for small spelling differences, missing ZIP codes, or the presence of emails (remember that “name + ZIP” only hits records without emails).

Need more help? Contact support@raisemore.app and we’ll walk you through any tricky deduplication scenario.