Data visualization is all about using collected data to build relationships with your donors, and it starts with understanding their behavior. Do you know where your constituents hang out on weekends? Do you know if they have children? Can you name where they went to high school?
These details may not seem as important to you as providing services for the people your nonprofit organization was created to help, but knowing the behavioral makeup of your donors can tremendously strengthen support for your organization.
Here are some of the many ways donor profiles can revolutionize your nonprofit and help you raise more money.
If you’ve been finding it difficult to get recurring donations, or if seemingly generous donors haven’t budged since last year’s campaign, information from their profile could clarify the best way of asking them to give. According to a University of Connecticut study about charitable giving highlighted by Forbes, “It’s not only the characteristics of the giver that determine their likelihood of donating, but characteristics they perceive in the recipient.” So the more information collected for your donors’ profiles, the better you’re able to position your organization as worthy of their giving.
Are your donors even opening your emails? The same body of text is not going to appeal to everybody. Your marketing strategy should focus on what drives your donors to action. When you know what motivates your supporters, you can craft messages for them that speak to their particular worldviews.
The insights you glean from the data in your donor profiles will allow you to address specific subjects that resonate with certain donor groups. For example, if you have a profile group that has a high percentage of grandchildren, share a message with that group about how your nonprofit benefits young ones.
We’ve all heard Plato’s saying “birds of a feather flock together.” With that old adage in mind, it’s in your best interest to expand the purpose of data visualization to not just understanding current donors, but finding new ones.
Knowing from your donor profiles which of your existing contributors regularly give, and why, will help you pinpoint new people with similar motivations to add to your database. These new donors will likely be your established donors’ friends and family, which makes them more likely to donate.
Donor profiles might sound scientific and complicated, but they are nothing more than descriptions of each group’s preferences and habits that help you understand your donors, making it easier for you to continue inspiring them to give.
If your nonprofit already has donor information stored on a database, the next step is to learn how to build profiles for your supporters. Using a cloud-based fundraising platform that integrates CRM is the most efficient way to build donor profiles, as this kind of software gives you the power to visualize data in one complete picture on any device and receive automatic updates. This way, you instantly get a notification whenever you receive a donation which includes basic data about that transaction--who it’s from, why it came in, and how to thank the person.
When this data is automatically recorded under a donor profile, you can easily build a relationship with that donor and become an effective fundraiser. Once you have a steady relationship with your supporters, you’ll have a steady flow of funds, volunteers, and a growing passion for your organization like you’ve never seen before.