FundSvcs Community

At UNC Chapel Hill, we are a higher ed with a medical center, and we made this update in 2018. We no longer require an individual record to have a title, and we no longer assume gender, based on first name or gendered relationships on the record. We added Mx. as a title option, but it is only used if specifically requested by the constituent.

The biggest argument is that we are doing this to make our constituents happy by addressing them as they would like to be addressed and not making assumptions.

Our database has a variety of name formats. If a constituent has no title, we would use their first name or their full name in an address or salutation, depending on the context.

I believe there are standards listed somewhere in the aasp files, as one of my former colleagues helped design that document and used some of the information from UNC's standards to do so.

What do you do about doctors? 

Doctors are notorious for making sure the world knows they are a doctor and have even called us to make sure we use their title and credentials.

We always address people as the wish to be addressed. If we know they are addressed as Dr., we set up their record appropriately and use the title or professional suffix where needed. However, we don't add that title unless they tell us that is their title or they have graduated from specific programs at UNC.

It certainly gets a little tricky with spouses where one is a doctor and the other has no title at all. These folks might get a formal salutation of "Dear Dr. Smith and Ryan Smith."

We dropped titles in 2019 and moved to the friendly addressee, first Name/s Last name/s and salutation first name/s. Of course, there are always exceptions if the donor prefers the formal format.