There are two ways to keep your Constituent data flowing from Donorfy to Mailchimp ensuring that both systems are kept up-to-date with a little effort as possible:
1. Automated Sync.
2. Manual Sync.
Each of these are detailed within this article. But before you can send sync the data, you need to have your Constituent Lists created.
⚠️Important:
To update Mailchimp from Donorfy, you must have administrator permission or have 'Can Update Mailchimp' permission allowed under Data lists.
Build the Constituent List
Go to Lists in Donorfy and create or open a Constituent List.
Add any filters you need to define who should be sent/updated in Mailchimp, for example:
Specific campaigns or tags.
Certain Purposes or channels.
Geography or segmentation.
Run the List to confirm it includes exactly the constituents you want to send to Mailchimp.
When you’re happy with the List results, you’re ready to start the Mailchimp update.
Automated Sync
This type of Sync will send new additions and updates to Constituents from your Constituent List to Mailchimp on a nightly scheduled basis.
It will update contact details in Mailchimp including address changes (where data is mapped), Tags, communication preferences and lapsed status.
📌Note: Data flows one way only - from Donorfy to Mailchimp. Donorfy remains the master record.
Setting up the Sync
Go to Integrations, click Mailchimp, then select Sync.
From the Sync all of the constituents in the List drop-down menu, select your Constituent List.
To Enable the automation, toggle the Enable scheduled sync to Yes.
You can now save the changes and let the sync run that night, or save and run now which will initiate the sync immediately.
Manual Sync
This type of sync is manually initiated from within your Constituent List, allowing you stay in control of who is sent to Mailchimp and what is updated. This is great if you have a smaller segment of Constituents to send to/update within Mailchimp.
This is especially useful when you want to:
Update only a segment of constituents for a specific campaign email.
Send constituents to a different Mailchimp audience (not just your main one).
As with the Automated sync it will update contact details in Mailchimp including address changes (where data is mapped), Tags, communication preferences and lapsed status.
Start the Mailchimp Preview Update
At the top of the List results, click the Mailchimp button.
Choose the Mailchimp audience you want to update.
Click Preview Update.
Donorfy will queue the update and begin preparing a preview of what will change.
A note appears above the List name indicating that the process is queued.
Donorfy builds a summary of:
Constituents to be added to the audience.
Constituents to be updated in the audience.
Any that will be unsubscribed or otherwise changed, depending on your mappings.
View the Mailchimp Updates Tab
Open the Mailchimp Updates tab (available from the List / Mailchimp area).
This tab shows the status of your Mailchimp sync preview.
To refresh the status:
Press Ctrl + R (or refresh your browser), then
Re-open the Mailchimp Updates tab.
Once the preview is ready, a summary screen appears showing counts of:
Records to add.
Records to update.
Any issues or conflicts.
Review the Records Before Updating
Before you commit any changes, you can download and review the detailed records.
On the summary screen:
Click the links (for example, “X to be added”, “Y to be updated”).
Each link downloads an Excel file showing the constituents in that category.
Open the file(s) and check:
If the right people are included.
If there are any unexpected records you need to exclude.
This gives you a final chance to confirm everything is correct before updating Mailchimp.
Choose Which Changes to Apply
On the summary screen, you’ll see toggle switches next to each category of change (for example, “Add”, “Update”, “Unsubscribe”):
Set a toggle to Yes if you want those changes to be applied to Mailchimp.
Leave a toggle as No if you want to ignore that category and make no changes of that type.
You can be selective – for example, you might:
Add new subscribers, but
Skip updating existing ones in this run.
When you’ve set all toggles as required, you’re ready to run the update.
Apply the Update to Mailchimp
Click Update Mailchimp to start the update.
Donorfy will:
Add new constituents to the selected Mailchimp audience.
Update existing Mailchimp subscribers with the latest data (names, tags, Purposes, etc.), according to your mappings.
When the update is complete, you will receive an email confirmation showing:
What was changed.
Any issues or errors encountered.
You can also review history via the Mailchimp sync/history options in Donorfy for auditing.
If You Decide Not to Update
If, after reviewing the preview, you decide not to proceed:
Click Delete on the preview to remove it.
No changes will be sent to Mailchimp.
You can then adjust your List or mappings and restart the process when you are ready.
Donorfy Academy
The Donorfy Academy features a learning course for Mailchimp – you can access this via the Learning product within the Access Evo button.