📌 Note: Memberships are available as add-ons. For more information on adding new features please see the add-ons page in your nation.

All new nations are eligible for a free voter file import performed by our highly-skilled Data Services Engineers. For advanced custom data services — e.g., large-scale migrations, cleanup, and deduping — contact our Services Team.

Each nation has a single relational database with connected tables. Information directly connected to a profile is in the signup table. Donations are stored in the financial table and memberships are stored in the membership table. 

Imports must be formatted as UTF-8 standardized, comma separated files (CSV). Certain fields only accept data in a particular format and some fields are only available in particular types of imports. Detailed information is available on fields available for import. Files must be 1000 MB or smaller to be imported. Your computer may have problems opening a CSV file that is larger than 50 MB - a macro is available for splitting large files.

Detailed instructions are available on preparing for an import. Important highlights:

This handles importing most profile information for both people and organizations. You can import from a CSV file. A list or filter shared by another nation can also be imported using the same action here. Begin a new import and review the status of previous imports at People > Import > People & Organizations.

This type of import requires that you enable voter features at Settings > Defaults > Basics. This will import profile information for voters. It also allows you to import a larger number of signup fields, including voting districts and party affiliation. You can also request a U.S. voter file from the NationBuilder Election Center. This requires you to enable voter features in your nation. Begin a new import and review status of previous imports at People > Import > Voter file.

This type of import requires that you enable voter features at Settings > Defaults > Basics. View a historical record of when elections occurred and whether an individual voted in that election. Voters must already exist in the nation for you to import vote history through the control panel. Once voters exist, ballots can be imported in the People section at People > Import > Ballots.

Import information collected during a phone bank or door knock using scannable sheets. Scannable sheets include the results of a survey. Begin a new import and review status of previous imports at People > Import > Scanned survey import.

This type of import requires that you enable donor features at Settings > Defaults > Basics. Import donation records. Each record represents a separate transaction. Donations are stored in the finances table, which is connected to a particular signup profile by unique identifiers. Begin a new import and review status of previous imports at Finances > More > Import donations.

This type of import requires that you enable membership features in Settings > Defaults > Basics. Memberships are stored in the membership table and are connected to a particular signup profile by unique identifiers. A signup can have more than one type of membership, but only one membership per type. Begin a new import and review status of previous imports at Settings > Nation defaults > Membership types > Import memberships.

How to back up your nation
​Prepare for your first import
​Fields available for import
​How imports affect existing data
​Importing addresses
​Unique IDs
​Macro to split large files
​Recover from a bad import
​​Share data with other nations
​Import a voter file
​Import ballots
​Import scannable sheets
​Import donations
​Import memberships