The authors describe how the science can “help facilitate donations, whether impulsive – quick gifts involving little analysis but rapid and positive emotional feedback – or deliberate – thoughtful contributions that resist the temptation of fast, feel-good donor experiences and more deeply account for the recipients of the aid and its results.”  Think donor interaction with text-message fundraising campaign versus a major gift donor understanding more deeply the mission and results of your organization. 

Karlan, Tantia, and Welch assert, “Some donors prefer to give impulsively and embrace strategies that encourage intuitive, quick actions that make them feel good. Other donors want to be more deliberate with their giving, and the right tools can help them follow through on those intentions. In both cases, rigorously testing new approaches and strategies can help charities learn what works best for them and the impact they have on the world.”

The authors go on to provide thoughtful examples of nudge techniques for both impulsive giving and deliberative giving with real-world examples and suggestions for how to use the techniques. 

Read the full article online.

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Are you next? Based on our visits to client sites around the country, you are probably in decent shape as long as your data is under your control. FERPA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, etc. have been around long enough that we have had the lid clamped down tightly when it comes to our own internal systems.

But what happens when “your” data is no longer under your control? As more institutions evaluate SaaS and PaaS solutions for their advancement CRM and related fundraising activities, we must acknowledge that we are not always going to be in control of our precious data assets. We must rely on others to ensure our data are properly safeguarded when entrusted in their care.

The good news is that every primary SaaS or PaaS product in play for our use these days are very public regarding what measures they have taken to protect data. And our own internal security experts very likely have requirements we must check on before acquiring such a solution. Stanford University, like many others, has a website devoted to this topic.

But what should we look for?  When it comes to SaaS we can expect reliable providers to be fully credentialed.  PivotPoint Security lists the most common security accreditations.

But what about working with service providers who do not store our data – but use it (wealth screening, biographical append services, employer locator vendors, etc.)? Look for similar credentials. The main wealth screening vendors have been SOC 2 compliant for a long time. The other forms of append services may not necessarily need to subscribe to as strict a protocol. On the other hand, if they are not utilizing security protocol such as encrypted file transfers and ftp transmission facilities, you might want to dig deeper into what safeguards they are taking.

What’s important in today’s fundraising environment is knowing what happens to your data when it is no longer “your data.” You do not want to read about yourself on the next security breach webcast!

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This post will not discuss specific vendors or products. No doubt you already know what I am talking about simply because you are hearing from your current vendor. Rather, I want to focus on whether you need to change at all.

Just because a vendor comes out with a new or different version of what you are currently using does not mean you must go with it. If I am happy with a product, and it serves me well without me having to make accommodations or settle for poor efficiency, then I don’t change.

I do not “need” a new car every three to five years. In fact, I tend to drive them until my needs change. I hung onto my last car for 12 years. It had 250,000 miles on it and was replaced strictly because we had a child and needed a car that met all the latest safety requirements.

The replacement car is now seven years old and just hit 100,000 miles, and I see no reason to swap it out (even though all warranties have expired). In fact, the company no longer makes my model and hasn’t for three years, but that’s no reason to get a replacement!

It’s the same with fundraising databases. Contrary to what your vendor might tell you, and to dispel the myth propagated on the Internet, there is no “shelf life” for a CRM. This applies to products that are no longer under “warranty” or are no longer in production.

If your organization has stayed current with upgrades and releases to the product and underlying architecture, a replacement might not be necessary for 20 years (assuming it was first acquired in the 21^stcentury).

The key to long life for a CRM is the same as a car: regular routine maintenance and little or no “off-market” modifications. What breaks a CRM faster than anything is not using it the way it was designed, not maintaining its interior (data), and adding features that it was not originally designed to accommodate.

Regular data tune-ups are mandatory. Those do NOT need to be done by the dealer. Shop around for the best offer, remembering to get at least three recommendations.

A bi-annual check-up by a professional is also advised. Get an independent external individual, who is current with best practices and processes and someone who can come in and kick the tires. Often a poor-performing CRM is not due to the CRM, but how you are using it.

If you make a minor investment in ongoing routine maintenance of your CRM, you will easily save your organization six-figures or more. While one day, a major investment could be required due to regulatory or “safety” concerns. Remember, just because you hear on the listservs that “everyone is doing it,” does not mean you need to follow!

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Catch a new episode of Futures in Fundraising each month on Tuesdays at 10:00 am (EST) on Facebook Live.

To download this show and catch up on others, find us on iTunes.

The post The How and Why of Data and Digital Giving with Quinetha Frasier appeared first on Alexander Haas - Fundraising Counsel.

It seems that it was only 20 years ago that we felt that the only data we needed to effectively solicit donors and recruit volunteers was knowing where they lived and a home phone number.  Cell phone?  In 1997, I was the proud owner of a “bag phone”!  Gosh, that was just 20 years ago!

Today, in many development offices around the country, there are discussions concerning the need to clean up data in fundraising systems.  Donors are frequently “lost,” or at the very least offended, when data is misused or inaccurate.  Getting someone’s name wrong is just bad form.  The reaction is even worse when a pledge reminder is sent to someone who is deceased and a relative opens the mail.

As bad as bad data is, or using good data incorrectly may be, golden opportunities (and revenue) are missed due to lack of data.  Too many institutions simply focus on the obvious data errors.  What isn’t so obvious are the data omissions that, if rectified, could result in significant increases in revenue.

Today, there are many more two-income families than there were 20 years ago – necessary in many cases just to make ends meet.  And, if we can find a spare moment, many of us are volunteering our time to nonprofit organizations and corporations that serve our children, families, and communities.

Given the above, one of the most important data areas many fail to focus on relates to employment and relationship information.  While we all understand the benefit of knowing where someone works not only to assist with wealth identification factors and making appointments for major gift calls, as well as to facilitate a corporate matching gift, we don’t always take it to the next step and obtain spousal employment data as well as board affiliations and even retirement information.  Many of these boards, former employers and spouse employers will also match gifts!

There are three key steps we should take regarding these data:

1. Gather the information through the use of frequent and effective donor and alumni survey instruments and then add it to the development system;
2. Link the individual and their affiliation records to the various corporations and ensure that the corporate records reflect all the pertinent information regarding their matching gifts programs;
3. Upon receipt of a contribution (or even before), remind the donor which of the corporations they are affiliated with might be eligible to match their contribution and to what extent (.5:1, 1:1, or even more).

I recall a remarkable success story following these points above from my days at Duke University.  We had a donor who wanted to establish a $25,000 scholarship and submitted her first $5,000 payment.  After carefully reviewing eligibility requirements, we found that this single payment could be matched by four corporations (at 1:1) she was affiliated with – the scholarship was immediately funded!

Good use of good data is critical to the success of a fundraising program.  But what’s equally important is understanding how additional data we do not have can make us even more successful.

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Why is good data management important? Because it can tell you a wealth of information about both the past and the present! Instead of being reactive in knowledge about your donors, you can be proactive. You can determine those who might be good prospects for moving up to a major gifts level, those who need a personal visit, and those who may need to be brought back ‘into the fold’ of your organization.

At our firm we will often conduct a Database Assessment for our clients, which enables us to take a close look at their database and evaluate, on a scale of 1-10, their data management system, determine how it is used by analyzing records and research processes, and look at various data-inputting processes including prospect tracking, gift-recording procedures and prospect-research activities.

You would find it alarming how many times these Assessments find either little to no best practices for data organization and management within an organization, or just all around poor data records. Even those with relatively clean data always have one or two processes where they could use improvement.

I recently read an article entitled “Data and the Science of Raising Money” in the September 2016 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  The author, Nicole Wallace, interviewed Steve MacLaughlin, a Blackbaud Executive who recently wrote Data Driven Nonprofits that focuses on how to apply the power of data to fundraising for nonprofits.

In the article, he explains that while corporations such as Google, Facebook and Walmart already use data to improve their search results, ad placements, revenues, sales or just to store general information in order to know the patterns and behavior of their customers, that nonprofits can use data in much the same way, harnessing its potential to increase their fundraising effectiveness.

According to MacLaughlin, good data can tell you: “Which donors are my best donors? Which donors are most likely to stop giving to my organization? Which donors should I choose to invest more in? Which donors are likely to be my best donors in the long-term?” All of this information is extremely valuable and helpful to those of us who are fundraisers.

One idea I found particularly interesting – because I see it most often in the organizations with which I work – is that nonprofits typically use their data to drive while “looking in the rearview mirror.” However, looking to the past cannot always show you what is happening right now and can’t show you what will happen in the future. Past giving obviously is an important indicator of a donor’s interest and can tell us many things that are crucial to our work as fundraisers; but MacLaughlin argues that more attention should be given to good data that can help us to drive forward in the now.

The author of the article summed up a few key points from her interview with MacLaughlin to improving data use in fundraising:

1) You Need to Clean House!
I cannot tell you how often we come across clients who have old records, incorrect records, incomplete records, bad records, you name it. The importance of VALID information cannot be stressed enough. The author states that in a recent Target Analytics study, they determined that the average nonprofit can’t reach 26% of its database entries by mail – meaning they have bad or no information – and does not have email addresses for 74% of its supporters. Seventy-four percent!! In an increasingly digital world, I find this number staggeringly high. Cleaning up your database with correct information is a crucial first step. Without clean data, you are doomed to failure for increasing fundraising effectiveness; and you will never be able to use the power of your data to positively inform your fundraising efforts. You’ve heard the saying: “You are only as strong as your weakest link.”  Well, in this case, I say: “You are only as good as your bad data!”

2) Start by Measuring only a Few Things with Data
Oftentimes fundraisers feel metric-fatigue. However, MacLaughlin suggests starting out with a few measurements to gauge the success of your data-driven fundraising approach.

• First-year donor retention;
• Multi-year donor retention; and
• Total amount of money raised.

From there, you can start to incorporate more metrics as you begin to see success in your data-driven approach.

3) Eliminate Rogue Data
In my experience, next to bad or incomplete data rogue data is probably the second most popular offender of a clean database. I cannot tell you how often I have seen situations where multiple staff people input data differently into their database systems; or, possibly the worst, keep their data records on separate spreadsheets apart from the database altogether! (THE HORROR!)  MacLaughlin encourages staff to store data in a central location and make it accessible for everyone so that the same information is available to all.

If rogue data or incorrect data inputting is something with which your organization struggles, it may not be a bad idea to bring in a database consultant or conduct a 1-2 day training to make sure that all employees who are responsible for inputting data into the system are all doing it the same way.

4) Look for Quick Wins
MacLaughlin suggests that using data to solve a manageable problem is a great first step to showing people the value of being data-driven in your approach to fundraising. In this information age, data is so important, and people need to value its potential!

I encourage you to read the full article and interview by Nicole Wallace to learn a little more about using data effectively in fundraising for our nonprofits. All in all, remember that data and database management are important tools and a huge key to success in fundraising. So get your data-house in order!

The post Get Your (Data) House In Order appeared first on Alexander Haas - Fundraising Counsel.

These gifts were several years ago and I am not a repeat donor. I am a classic aging SYBUNT that is just sucking up marketing and print dollars.

Why, I ask myself whenever these magazines are delivered, is someone at the college not concerned with updating the database and cleaning it?

Makes me wonder how many dead people they mail to.

Sure, I could request that they stop mailing but if the organization is actively involved in building relationships with valid constituents, then they should recognize a lost cause (me as a donor to their school) and spend their alumni money more wisely and effectively.

I agree with the tenet that someone who gave once is more likely to give again, but after a certain number of years without active support, it would be wiser and more strategic to send me a postcard or simple news flyer if keeping me in the know about your school is the intended goal.

You can ask everybody in your database for support by degrees, but you need to allocate your resources and segment the asks.

An alumni magazine sent to a non-alum is probably not going generate the kind of response that makes the expenditure worthwhile…

Do you know who’s in your donor database?

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Now, I recognize we only have a few more precious days before the end of the calendar year and that this is, for many nonprofits, the busiest time of year and when you anticipate receiving a large percentage of your philanthropic funds.

But I hope you will go beyond simply waiting for donors to bring their checks by your office and will heed at least some of what the folks at Blackbaud suggest. They list “Ten common sense steps – think of them as resolutions – to help you ensure the growth of your constituent base.”

What caught my attention is that four of the ten steps revolve around the importance of taking time to segment your approach:

• #3) Get to know your supporters better;
• #4) Segment your welcome messages;
• #8) Create targeted website content;
• #9) Make your email newsletters more engaging.

Any of you who’ve read some of my previous blogs or our firm’s e-newsletters know that I’ve become a big proponent of segmentation – particularly looking at the demographic differences of our constituents and donors.

To help you think of how to go about segmenting your database, I happened upon this wonderful video clip from the Institute of Fundraising “across the big pond” in the United Kingdom. The IoF is similar to our Association of Fundraising Professionals (in fact,  current AFP President and CEO, Andrew Watt, was once the Deputy Chief Executive of the UK organization).

In the YouTube video, which focuses on segmenting your donors, we are cautioned against attempting to segment TOO much.  For example, if you determine that you have at least 30 different common interest groups within your database, it’s very challenging from a practical standpoint to send out 30 different targeted mailings. Most of us just don’t have the time and the resources.

So, thinking practically is the best approach.

As you scurry about during the year-end, take time to think about how you can utilize its momentum and the different segments of your constituents to help ensure that the New Year will be even stronger than this year.

Best wishes for this holiday season and I hope you have a very Happy (and prosperous!) New Year!

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Whenever thousands of self-identified RE geeks congregate, disagreements abound regarding the best way to accomplish “this” or the quickest way to produce “that”. This leads me to my next confession.  RE geeks don’t always see eye to eye.  For the past 2 years I’ve been fortunate enough to present at bbcon with 4 other geeks (Bill Connors, Melissa S. Graves, Kirk Schmidt, and David Zeidman). In 2012 we debated the value of query lists and argued the best way to handle spouses and partners in RE in our session Be It Resolved That Raiser’s Edge Geeks Do Not Always Agree. This year we continued the fight with Raiser’s Edge Geek Forum 2: The Revenge!  Out of these bbcon data knock-down, drag-out fights, as well as numerous other spirited RE exchanges, I noticed certain undeniable similarities in perceived challenges begin to crop up.  Self-imposed, intimidation-based thought patterns began to emerge which leads me to my next series of confessions.

Confession: All CRMs, regardless of the creator, are built upon the same foundation. They are created on the backs of records, tabs, and fields.  An easy to use intuitive user interface is, however, quite a complex undertaking to say the least.  Don’t let the bells & whistles of the user interface intimidate you. Focus on the relational nature of records, tabs, and fields and your way will be clear. Viewed within this context, the similarities from system to system vastly outweigh the differences.

Confession:  If you don’t need it, don’t use it.  Just because a field exists in your database, it doesn’t mean you have to use it.  However, be mindful of the changes that are created in outputs as a result of not using or renaming fields in your database.

Confession:  Our missions are our reason for being.  RE and other CRMs should tell the story of how you fund your mission from both a quantitative (numbers) as well as qualitative (narrative) perspective. Your system should help you organize your work and communicate about your efforts more efficiently. A database should not be a hurdle or a hindrance. If it is, rethink your methods and simplify your process.

Confession:  Successful CRM administrators and users have learned to keep things simple yet creative. Remember your data is just that – YOUR DATA.  Decide what you want to see in your reports and other outputs and then enter the data you need in order to produce those reports and outputs with confidence.  See, simple. This involves a good bit of discussion ABOUT the system OUTSIDE the system, so put the time in to think, discuss, and then work in the system.

Confession:  Anyone can master RE (or any CRM for that matter) and become a data geek, an RE geek, or a geekier geek as the case may be.  Consistent practice and repetition are the keys to growth.  Challenge yourself by taking on one new database function each day.  Practice in small steady bites within a functional area where you feel you need to strengthen your skills.  However, don’t be afraid to jump right in either.  The times I grew the most were the times when a boss threw me a curveball and needed something “yesterday”.  Be thankful for the curveballs, they help you hit in a different direction and make you a much stronger reliable hitter.

These confessions, born of observations on my annual bbcon trip and years of working with development teams, will hopefully help you embrace or at least acknowledge your inner data geek.  There is strength in numbers – pun intended.  I’ll leave you with one last confession.  No one has ever regretted having taken more training.

bbcon 2014 will be held in my neck of the woods next year – October 6^th  through 8^th  at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.  I hope to see you there. Until then you can connect with me on LinkedIn, follow me on Twitter, or like Generate on Facebook.  You can also visit my little corner of the world at readysetgenerate.com.

A proud RE Geek, Ed Hohlbein serves as the Data Management Consultant with Alexander Haas and is the founder of Generate, Inc. a boutique consulting firm that offers high-touch coaching and consulting on The Raiser’s Edge and other select Blackbaud products as well as alternative donor management systems.  Connect with Ed on LinkedIn, follow him on Twitter, or like Generate on Facebook.

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