"Your data doesn't have to be perfect to be useful." - (Borrowed with permission from Intellidata's Slice newsletter.)

In my experience, many associations hold themselves back from cleaning up their data, because they are overwhelmed with where to start, and they also think success can only be achieved if the data is perfect. The thinking goes: since there's no way to get to perfect data, there's really no reason to start.

But it's clearly not true. The data you have now isn't perfect, nor will it ever be. But if your data is "pretty clean," it can be very useful.

So don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. Continue working on keeping your data as clean as it can be. It will never be perfect, but it will still be useful.