6 Ways to to Grow Your Active Donor Base with Data, Part 2

We’ve been discussing ways that your nonprofit can address attrition and generate new donors to help grow a healthy active donor base.   Part 1 focused on tightening up your data management.  This article looks at analyzing your list for active vs. lapsed donors.

Thoughtfully analyze your active donor list

Has your organization taken a hard look recently at which donors in

its current list are active and which are lapsed? Analyzing your list thoughtfully in this way can help you make sure your data reaps the benefits it should.

Exactly what does your organization consider an active donor? Have you specified when donors are considered lapsed? Some organizations say two years without a response to an annual appeal. Others say 18 months. Still others don’t specify at all, and their list of “active” donors actually contains many, many more lapsed donors than active.

Once you determine how your organization has been defining its active donor base, ensure that definition is rooted in reality. Is a donor who hasn’t given in two years truly active? Your historical giving data can help reveal the appropriate time frame for your organization to define a donor as lapsed.  Perhaps someone who hasn’t responded to two cycles of annual appeals is immediately coded as “lapsed” within three months of the unanswered second appeal.

The definition of “active” matters for two reasons:

• First, and most obviously, active and lapsed donors require different appeals and messaging.

• Second, an accurate definition of active donors will offer your organization a realistic attrition rate, which helps with campaign development and resource allocation.

Next up: List selection and segmentation

6 Ways to Grow Your Active Donor Base with Data, Part 1

Without a healthy active donor base, you’re in trouble. That’s a truism all nonprofit fundraisers acknowledge. Growing the number of active donors is a constant process, but you can take steps today to boost that effort. The following strategies focus on reactivating lapsed donors and acquiring new names.  Upgrading current donors is certainly important, but these folks are already active givers.

For most nonprofits, addressing attrition is the key to growing a healthy active list.  Most also recognize the need to generate growth in new donors.  Making sure the data your organization has is working the way it should can address both needs and translate to better results.  And, no, your data doesn't have to be “big.” You can make use of data already in your systems to encourage growth.
  

#1:  Tighten Up Data Management

Data management is the administrative process by which your organization acquires, validates, stores, protects and processes the data it needs. The result of good data management is data that’s accessible, reliable, timely and accurate enough to satisfy the needs of anyone who uses it.
If your data is not satisfying everyone—if it, in fact, gives people heartburn—try a few of these tactics to tighten up your data management.

• Most important and a best practice: Merge all your databases--donor, volunteer and event, even shadow--into one main list.  Also, integrate your online database, if you have one.  So many benefits here: If someone makes a change (e.g., snowbirds indicate their preferred seasonal addresses), everyone has access to the information. Incorrect data due to double entries decreases.  Any information captured online immediately appears in the main database.  The list goes on.
• Standardize how you collect data.  First, determine what donor and prospect information is required when a record enters the system, whether by manual entry or online capture.  Also, require the use of USPS-standard address formats.  A further step is to expand your data collection to include information you might not currently store, such as mail records that show appeals, responses to appeals or giving channel breakdowns.
• Standardized your workflows.  Adopt and communicate a consistent way to code information, and build that into your system.  For instance, make mandatory certain information (say, source codes showing where donors come from) so that anyone who adds a record into the system has no choice but to enter the info.
• Implement a National Change of Address (NCOA) and/or “new move list” service (from companies like SofTrek partner Melissa Data) to ensure that current addresses are always available even on inactive donors.  Since U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicate around 15% of people change addresses in a year, this move alone could greatly increase the quality of your contact data. 

Next:  Thoughtful list analysis

9 Must-ask Questions for Your Nonprofit CRM RFP (Part II)

By Steve Birnbaum

(Part 2)

Last post, we discussed the first five of nine questions you need to ask when you’re developing an RFP for a new nonprofit CRM. These final four questions continue the process of digging deeply into the real and vital (yet sometimes not obvious) strengths and weaknesses of any system you’re considering.

6. How does your system safeguard constituent data in the cloud?

Make sure vendors can specify how their security strategy keeps sensitive donor information safe. Cloud-based systems should help you meet data governance rules, have well-established policies for disaster recovery and PCI compliance and meet all appropriate regulations and standards.

7. Does your system empower multi-channel fundraising?

More and more NPOs are running sophisticated multi-channel fundraising campaigns. Any system you review should not only support large, complex direct-mail segmentation for online and offline campaigns but also offer tools to support major and planned giving, including capital campaign management.

8. How will your system support our national/chapter organizational structure?

Your chapters shouldn’t get less out of a system just because they’re not national headquarters. Ask if vendors’ systems have built-in national/chapter organization functions. Systems you consider should also be able to enforce rules about how chapters share, see and access data.

9. Do you provide a development environment?

A complete development environment should be a mandatory part of any system implementation. Ask vendors if they include all of your data in a test system at no charge, allowing you to test integrations and other system changes without affecting your live data.



Remember, your organization’s goal is not simply to buy a nonprofit CRM or fundraising software. Your ultimate goal is to make sure that your system improves the way you interact with all your constituents and helps you grow their devotion to your cause. Good luck with the process. 
Read Part 1 of this post . . .

Steve Birnbaum is SofTrek’s Vice President of Client Solutions.  He has more than 17 years’ experience in nonprofit management, with particular expertise in organizational planning, technology implementation, and change management.

9 Must-ask Questions for Your Nonprofit CRM RFP

By Steve Birnbaum

(Part I)

When you’re developing an RFP for your new nonprofit CRM system, some questions are more equal than others. In addition to the basics about functionality, make sure you include nine other must-ask questions, five of which we feature in this post. These questions get at some of the most important, but sometimes overlooked, aspects of a nonprofit CRM or fundraising software system. The answers will reveal a great deal about the in-depth capabilities of the systems you’re considering.

1. Can you describe the vision and product roadmap for your system?

The systems you consider might have wonderful features today. Your organization, however, is buying a system for today and for years from now. Make sure vendors can clearly explain their plans for their system in the next several years. Be alert for vendors offering outdated client/server technology today while planning to require your purchase of an expensive upgrade in a few years.

2. Can your system grow with us?

Your organization is not static, so ask vendors if their systems are scalable. Your system’s capacity should easily grow with your organization, accommodating any number of users and constituent records. Even if you never plan to grow that large, you should be confident that millions of records and hundreds of users would never be a problem.

3. Can your system align with our business processes?

You work with constituents and constituent data in the way that makes sense for your organization. Vendors should be able to configure their systems to work the way you do, not vice versa. Look for a platform that accommodates extensive configuration without the downside of having custom software.

4. Are you committed to system integration?

Ask vendors if they have a track record of working closely with other vendors to share data and processes among systems. A look at their current system integrations (finance systems, content management systems and others) will offer a good indication if they actually do. Unless you want to live in your vendor’s walled garden, make sure they play nicely with others.

5. How can you help us improve our major gift effort?

The key to effective major gift solicitation is having a full picture of a prospective major giver’s relationship with your organization. Ask vendors if their system includes a comprehensive constituent relationship management (contact management) platform to support annual and long-term development efforts for major gift programs, including tools for forecasting, reporting and analysis. The system also should run on tablets and other mobile devices on which major gift officers often rely.
 


Next post:  The final four must-ask questions for your nonprofit CRM RFP

Steve Birnbaum is SofTrek’s Vice President of Client Solutions.  He has more than 17 years’ experience in nonprofit management, with particular expertise in organizational planning, technology implementation, and change management.