Getting a donor’s name right is one of the most visible—and most personal—ways your database affects relationships. Name and salutation standards exist to balance automation, consistency, and respect for donor preference.

This section walks you through how to decide and document your organization’s standards for names, addressees, and salutations so your database can generate accurate, respectful communications at scale.

What You Are Standardizing

Name standards are not about a single field—they are about how your database constructs name outputs for different uses. At minimum, your standards should address how the database generates:

• Mailing label names (the name that appears above the address on an envelope)
• Salutations (the name that follows “Dear” in letters or emails)

You may also need to track:

• Recognition names (donor lists, annual reports, plaques, naming opportunities)
• Formal vs. informal versions (e.g., “Mr. Andrew Jenkins” vs. “Andy Jenkins”)

Your database should be able to generate these automatically most of the time, with clearly defined exceptions when donor preference requires manual control.

Core Principles to Adopt

Before defining any rules, your standards should commit to the following principles:

• Legal names and preferred names are not the same thing. Store full legal names in structured fields, and store preferred or chosen names separately.
• Automation is the goal—but not at the expense of donor preference. Standards should enable automated salutations and labels while allowing overrides when needed.
• Donor preference always wins. If a donor tells you how they want to be addressed, that instruction overrides default rules.

These principles guide every decision that follows.

Define the Name Fields You Will Use (and Why)

Your database should ideally support the following name components:

• First name
• Middle name
• Last name
• Prefix / title (e.g., Dr., Rev., Ms., Mx.)
• Suffix (e.g., Jr., Ph.D.)
• Nickname
• Preferred name

Standard-setting guidance:

• Legal names belong in structured name fields.
• Preferred or chosen names should be stored in a distinct field used for communication outputs.
• Recognition names may be generated automatically or stored explicitly, depending on your system.

Decide How Formality Works in Your Organization

Your standards must answer one deceptively simple question: When do we use formal names, and when do we use informal ones?

This decision affects:

• Mailing labels
• Letter and email salutations
• Event communications
• Donor recognition

Questions to answer:

• Are mailing labels formal by default?
• Are salutations formal or conversational?
• Do we use nicknames automatically, or only when explicitly requested?
• Do we treat recognition names differently from mail and email?

Example approaches:

• Formal by default: “Mr. Andrew Jenkins”
• Informal by default: “Andy Jenkins”
• Mixed: Formal mailing labels, informal email salutations

Your standards should clearly state:

• The default behavior
• What triggers an exception
• Where that exception is recorded

Establish Rules for Prefixes and Titles

Titles are one of the highest-risk areas for errors. Your standards should explicitly address:

• Whether titles appear on mailing labels, salutations, and recognition lists
• Whether gender-based titles (Mr., Ms.) are used at all
• Whether a gender-neutral option (Mx.) is offered

Many organizations are choosing to eliminate gender-based titles from their default naming standard, while retaining them as exceptions for donors who explicitly request them.

If you remove gender-based titles, ensure you retain professional or honorary titles such as Dr. or Rev.

Define Household Name & Salutation Logic

Your standards should answer:

• Do households receive joint or individual communications?
• Do we use joint salutations (e.g., “Dear Julia & Roberto”)?
• Do we use stacked labels?
• Do we use “and” or “&”?
• How do we handle different last names?

Common supported formats:

• Dear Julia & Roberto
• Dear Dr. and Mr. Martinez
• Dr. Julia and Mr. Roberto Martinez
• Julia & Bob Martinez

Define Manual Overrides and Exception Handling

Your documentation should clearly state:

• When staff may override automated names
• How overrides are stored in the database
• How overrides are reviewed or audited

Common override scenarios:

• Donor prefers a gender-based title
• Donor uses a name unrelated to their legal name
• Addressee is a family (e.g., “The Andersons”)

Example Scenarios