diff --git a/app/models/application_record.rb b/app/models/application_record.rb
index 71fbba5b..43c3e9aa 100644
--- a/app/models/application_record.rb
+++ b/app/models/application_record.rb
@@ -2,4 +2,15 @@
 
 class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
   self.abstract_class = true
+
+  before_validation :strip_strings
+
+  def strip_strings
+    # trim whitespace from beginning and end of string attributes
+    attribute_names.each do |name|
+      if send(name.to_sym).respond_to?(:strip)
+        send("#{name}=".to_sym, send(name).strip)
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end