Data gathering and data analytics are two of the most important resources to raise money for a nonprofit. Though data gathering is done at most nonprofits, many do not take the time to analyze that data. It can help create a strong successful fundraising plan each year. The following is a partial test of your knowledge of your nonprofit s database:
- How many donors are active in your database?
- How many donors have lapsed? When was the last time a lapsed donor gave?
- Which donor gives to which fundraising initiative (year-end, spring, online etc.)?
- Who goes to your events? Have they gone to more than one event?
- How many times do donors give in a year?
- What initiative raised the most NET revenue? Which one raised the least?
- Where do your donors live (city, county, in or out state)?
- Who are your major donors?
There are many more questions and the answers should be in your database if the data gathering is done correctly. Following are four examples of how analytics helped raise funds for an organization:
The Executive Director targeted two groups of donors within the database...Those who lived in affluent areas and had the ability to increase giving and those who were consistent donors (about 300 donors). Short monthly emails were sent to these groups sharing the nonprofit client successes and how donor support helped. They did not ask the donor to give in the email. Six months later this group was sent a special year-end solicitation. Donations increased by 30% that year. The targeted approach worked!
There was a small event held each year to hear firsthand client success stories. The Executive Director noticed that one couple who had attended for four years did not come. The Executive called to see if they were okay and they were. Because of this outreach the donor doubled their year-end donation from $1,000 to $2,000. The building of this relationship and using the targeted approach worked!
The Director of Development researched 10 donors within their database who had the financial ability to become a major donor. A relationship began with one of the ten who had been giving $50 a year. She was invited and came to a one-on-one visit to the organization and then started to get involved. Her donations increased. Several years later, she became a board member and about 10 years after that first outreach, she gave the largest one time gift of $1 million dollars. It started out as a targeted approach and ended up with a strong relationship with the donor!
Through database analytics, the Executive Director was curious as to why an individual who lived a thousand miles away from the nonprofit gave $250 at the end of every year. She called personally to thank this individual and so began a relationship. This individual gave $10,000 the following year. Targeted approach based on data analytics!
All of the above true situations happened because of data analytics.
Try it...it works!
If you have any questions or want more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Take care and be safe
The Leadership Group, LLC