Our import tool helps you add company contacts to Givebutter. You can upload a comma-separated value (CSV) file, copy and paste company contacts from a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, or type info directly into the import table.
Givebutter needs some basic information about your company contacts to create new files for them. Data formatting is traditionally a time-consuming step. To help you prepare your data, you can download a customized template from your dashboard that automatically includes any custom fields you have created.
Preparing data for import 🧮
In your Givebutter dashboard, click on Settings in the left-hand sidebar.
Click on the Imports tab, and click New Import.
Select Companies from the dropdown. The uploader will open and fill the page.
Click Download Template and choose the format you prefer. Click Download.
The file will be saved to your computer, usually in your downloads folder or on your desktop. Open the template with the software of your choice, such as Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets, and enter your own data.
The template will include one row of example data for Acme Inc. Be sure to delete that info before you upload your finished file!
The file must contain the following column:
Company – Company name
The file may contain the following columns (in any order):
Primary Email
Primary Phone Number – Formatted as a 9- or 10-digit phone number, with or without parentheses, dashes, or a 1 at the beginning
Address Line 1
Address Line 2 – Optional
City
State
ZIP Code
Country Code – 3-digit or 2-digit country code allowed. (You cannot write an entire country name here, ie. "United States of America" must be "USA". This does not refer to a phone number area code.)
Important address information: If one address field has a value, then all address fields must have a value. For example, if Country Code and ZIP Code have a value, then Address 1, City, and State must also contain a value. Incomplete addresses will be deleted. Only contacts with complete address information will successfully import.
Email Addresses – Enter additional email addresses separated by a comma
Phone Numbers – Formatted as 9- or 10-digit phone numbers, with or without parentheses, dashes, or a 1 at the beginning, separated by a comma
X (formerly Twitter) URL – Two formats are acceptable: the entire URL or /handle
Linkedin URL – Two formats are acceptable: the entire URL or /handle
Facebook URL – Two formats are acceptable: the entire URL or /handle
Tags – Apply tags to your company contacts, separated by a comma
Notes
Email Subscription Status – Use
true/on/yes/1to subscribe, andfalse/off/no/0to unsubscribe. (If left blank, contacts will import as subscribed by default.)Phone Subscription Status – Use
true/on/yes/1to subscribe, andfalse/off/no/0to unsubscribe. (If left blank, contacts will import as subscribed by default.)Contact custom fields – The contact import template download is dynamic, which means it will include any contact custom fields you created prior to download. Enter custom field answers under the relevant columns. The answer format will vary depending on the type of contact custom field:
Text – Text input of either short answers or paragraph style
Number – Numeric value, as a whole number or a percentage
Date – A single date (
YYYY-MM-DD), or a range (YYYY-MM-DD,YYYY-MM-DD)Toggle –
yes/noOption – Multiple choice list, which can be restricted to one choice (
example), or allow multiple selections (example1|example2).
Uploading your data ⬆️
Click Settings on the left-hand sidebar, then select Imports.
Click on the blue New Import button and select Contacts.
Choose Upload file, and select the correct file from your computer. You can also manually enter data by typing it in, but file imports are much faster.
Select the correct file from your computer. Supported file types include .csv, .tsv, .xls, .xlsx, .xml, and .txtfile. After selecting your file, data will automatically be extracted.
Click Import to import your data.
Confirm mapping for your data. If Givebutter assigned your Incoming Field data to a Destination Field that isn't a match, click the dropdown arrow to assign your column to a different Givebutter field/attribute.
When you're done matching the data fields, click Continue in the upper right corner, and click Submit to import your records. The importer will begin processing.
You'll be notified by email when your import is complete.
If the import failed, follow the directions provided in our email to reconcile any errors. To track the status of your import, navigate to Account in the left-hand menu on your dashboard and click on Imports.
Viewing imports 👀
In your dashboard, go to Settings, then click Imports. You'll see a list of your import history.
Failed import rows will be displayed here. You can download just the failed records by clicking the red icon next to the relevant import.
To download the import file, click the three dots [...] on the left side, and click Download File.
Click on any import to view details, including the type of import, number of rows, number of failed rows, the date of the import, and specific line items for each failed row.
Deleting imports ❌
If you make a mistake, you can delete imports from your account. This will remove all data from this import – proceed with caution. We cannot restore deleted import data.
If you delete a contact import and there are transactions (of any kind, including offline transactions) attached to a company contact, that specific company contact will not be deleted.
In your Givebutter dashboard, navigate to Settings and click Imports.
You'll see a list of all previous imports in the History section. Click the three dots [...] on the right side of the import you'd like to delete.
Click Delete imported contacts to delete this import.
You can also delete transaction imports the same way!
Click Delete Data to confirm the deletion.
FAQ 🤔
Can you import a linked point of contact alongside a company contact?
Not currently. You can import a company contact and an individual contact, but you cannot yet create the link directly via the import process. You'll need to import them separately and then link them to add an individual as the point of contact.
I don't want to import a spreadsheet. How do I manually add company import data?
You can manually enter data following the same steps listed above – instead of selecting a file to import from your computer, click Manually enter data.
I'm importing an Excel file and the data doesn't look correct in the importer.
Excel has many formatting options for text or numbers. Make sure your data isn't formatted in any particular way that will be confusing for the system. General is a good category to default to if you can. Below is an example of a format that could cause issues.
