I love data! When not writing grant applications and finding the right words for a project to sing, I love to play with data to see what patterns it will uncover. This love also comes from my firm belief that we make better decisions based on objective facts than we do simply trusting our guts.
Fund development work follows that rule as well. The more you can base your work and prioritize your time by following the data, the more efficiently and effectively you can use your time. And, let’s face it, fund development professionals rarely can afford to waste time, so finding ways to make your time most productive can lessen your burnout risk while bolstering your organization and its mission.
Too often, I hear fund development staff who either prefer the relationship aspect of their work (hurray!) and dread the thought of sitting behind the computer to dig into the data or who cannot find (or make) time in their day to do so because they feel the pressure to get out and raise money. However, taking the time and effort to assure that you have good, up-to-date data upon which to base your fund development plan and activities will save you time – and raise more money – in the long run.
You might ask yourself, “That’s all well and good, but where do I find this magical data that will make my life so much easier?” The short answer lies closer than you think – literally at your fingertips!
The first and best place to find data sits in your donor database. If you don’t have a database, get one. Pure and simple. And, no, Excel does not qualify as a database! Many relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use databases exist out there. Do your homework, ask your colleagues, and get one. Yes, you will need to invest some money and time to get it set up, but the long-term gains will more than outweigh the short-term pain.
As a consultant who has vetted multiple donor databases, I recommend that you consider Arreva’s ExceedFurther database. It can handle all your organization’s data from online fundraising, donor relations, grants, volunteers, events, auctions, and so much more. Its comprehensive view of your donors and supporters saves staff time to focus on mission-critical work like developing relationships.
Once you have a database, make sure that you have standard operating procedures that outline how everyone should enter the data. Everyone who touches the database must receive training and follow established procedures to ensure consistent data entry. This will make pulling and using the data so much easier.
For example, someone from your team should review all donations as they flow into your donor database and regularly check for and merge duplicate records – the bane of my existence when I oversaw a database in a previous position. Some donor databases, like Arreva’s ExceedFurther, have built-in capabilities for these processes so your staff can maintain a clean and accurate database.
In addition to correctly entering the data, you need to know how to pull reports. Reach out your database’s customer support team or check their website or YouTube to learn how to pull the right reports for you. At a minimum, you want to know each donor’s total giving for the current year, last year, and lifetime (which means since you started entering data). If you have more years of data and can pull that, great! The more data you have the better; it will let you see trends.
Your donor database should allow you to pull reports on any field in the system. Some solutions limit the filters and fields you can use to pull reports, creating more headaches for your team. To avoid these issues, work with a comprehensive donor database like Arreva’s ExceedFurther.
Once you have the data, download it into an Excel spreadsheet and let the fun begin! I like to sort the data, first to look at which donors have given the most in their lifetime followed by how consistently they have given and whose giving has increased. Simple formulas can help you discern the latter two data points. They all identify donors with a strong affinity for your organization and perhaps the means to make a larger gift. These donors all certainly deserve your attention or further investigation.
Once you have examined the data in your database, you can dig deeper to find hidden giving potential. Wealth screening companies will run your data through their system and append information that identifies giving capacity and indications of wealth. Many companies do this kind of work, and donor databases like Arreva’s ExceedFurther integrate with these tools. Your screened data will let you see your wealthiest donors and the ones most likely to give; play with Excel to prioritize them based on these factors. Once you have this information, engage your board, volunteers, and staff. Who do they know? What can they tell you about them? Will they introduce you in a warm handoff? If you know them, don’t wait. Pick up the phone and call them!
Public data sources also exist that can help you learn more about these prospects, especially the ones that no one close to your organization knows. For example, social media sites – especially LinkedIn – can provide a treasure trove of information on someone. Sites like the White Pages can provide updated contact information. I recently used Perplexity to find out if prospects on an old list had died; it gave me great information very quickly. And don’t forget good ol’ Google! Sometimes you can learn something about a person just by reviewing their online history and fingerprints. Make sure you capture this information about the prospect in your database so that your successor does not have to reinvent the wheel.
Now that you have the data, what can you do with it?
1. Identify Major Donor Prospects.
Data can identify people (or organizations) who support you consistently, have made the largest gifts to your organization, or who have either steadily or recently increased their giving to you. All these factors signal a potential major donor. These become your priority to cultivate and ask for a larger gift.2. Identify Planned or Deferred Giving Prospects.
Some of the data that makes someone a good major gift prospect also makes them a good planned or deferred gift prospect. Look for people who have given consistently over 5 to 10 years, show a pattern of increased giving over time, or have given at least 10 to 15 times regardless of the amount. These indicate a good planned giving prospect because they have regularly invested in your mission. As a bonus, finding people who do not have heirs further increases the chances that they will make a deferred gift to your organization.3. Cull your mailing list.
While I recommend that you mail (and email) as many people as possible because you never know which touch will resonate with them and spur them to give, I recognize that budgets do not always allow you to follow that philosophy. If you need to cut your mailing list, retain people who have given recently – like in the last five years if you can afford it and definitely in the last 3. If you have data that suggest that they respond better to mailed appeals as opposed to email, keep those folks as well; if they always give to email appeals, shift them to that list and save the stamp. Likewise, if you have data that they like to give at this time of year or through the appeal you are about to mail, keep them.4. Maximize Year-End Giving.
Do you know who gave last year but not yet this year? You should. If someone typically gives to your organization in December but has not yet (and it’s December), call them to remind them. You will increase your donor retention rate. Many donors who fail to renew their gift simply forget, especially at the end of the year when life gets hectic. Knowing where your gaps lie can help you close them before they impact your bottom line. If you have other common, recurrent and significant fundraising campaigns like an annual giving day, the same concept applies.5. Beyond reviewing donor-level data, look at your macro-level giving data.
Where do you get your gifts? Individuals? Corporations? Grants? What percentage of your income comes from each source? Does this meet best practice standards? How do your gifts distribute across the giving pyramid? Does 90% of your money come from 10% of your donors? If not, you have greater potential by focusing on major gifts (too few top donors) or need to broaden your pipeline by expanding your broad-based solicitation campaigns (too few lower level donors). Macro-level analysis also lets you see if you have sufficient diversity of your funding sources to withstand a change in funder priorities or economic upheaval. For more specific tips on ways to diversify your funding sources, you can download Arreva’s guide, Funding Resilience: A Strategic Guide for Diversifying Fundraising.6. Create strong lists
Once you have analyzed your data and created some strong lists, you can add donors to a campaign within your donor database and send tailored communications based on the type of donor, their giving history, capacity to give, and more. Arreva’s ExceedFurther enables this through a dedicated Campaigns module; other donor databases also contain functionality for sending communication to specific lists to streamline your communication processes.
In summary, using data will help ensure that you focus your time on the right aspects of your fund development program as well as on the right donors. Because who wants to work harder when you can work smarter and raise more money in the process.
