🧠 Overflow’s Matching Logic Explained: Avoiding Duplicate Profiles in Rock

Overflow uses multiple identifiers to match donor profiles, including:

• Email address

• Phone number

• Name (optional secondary check)

In certain situations, donors may trigger a “claim account” flow, or a new profile may be created — even if their email address matches an existing account. Here's why this happens.

🧩 Matching Logic: It’s Not Just About Email

Overflow’s system treats donor identity as a combination of contact information, not just a single field. Here’s how the logic works:

• If a donor enters both a new phone number and a known email, the system cannot confidently determine it's the same person, and initiates a claim flow.

• The same happens in reverse: new email but known phone number = potential new identity.

This conservative approach helps avoid false matches, such as:

• Shared emails (e.g., family members)

• Typos or reused phone numbers

🔄 What Happens When Matching Is Inconclusive?

• Overflow creates a new donor profile.

• If the donor goes through the claim flow successfully, we attempt to merge profiles.

• However, in some cases, especially with integrated systems like Rock RMS, a manual link may be required to preserve contribution sync and history integrity.

💡 What Admins Should Know

This is not a bug — it's intentional design for data security and donor accuracy.

If donors report profile confusion or missing history, please check:

• Their contact info (email + phone)

• Whether a claim flow or merge was triggered

• If their donations are linked to multiple profiles in Rock or Overflow