The Future of Fundraising is Responsive

During even the best of times, fundraising can be a complex endeavor requiring perseverance, persistence, and adaptability. As organizations and individuals continue to assess new information daily from the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and others on the growing COVID-19 pandemic, the need for successful fundraising efforts has become even more critical. Successful fundraising campaigns not only provide organizations with the funds to support critical programs and activities; they also foster affinity towards, relationships with, and awareness of important nonprofit organizations.

To discover how organizations can become more agile and responsive in their fundraising efforts, I reached out to Theresa Lee, a principal consultant at Responsive Fundraising. Theresa was also one of my instructors in the Professional Fundraising Certificate Program, which I completed last fall at Boston University, so she both teaches and practices the principles of effective fundraising. 

What is responsive fundraising, and why is it important?Responsive nonprofits are those where the organizational leaders share a common understanding of highly effective fundraising practices and where fundraising is not simply something bolted on to the organization to be merely tolerated in good times and heavily relied upon in bad times. It means creating a culture where fundraising can be holistic, meaningful and sustainable; — where fundraising can thrive. Responsive means aligning the board, volunteers, and leadership team with an understanding of their roles and responsibilities in fundraising, where and how they can make the greatest contributions, and where they can complement the strengths of others.  

Responsive fundraising is important because meaningful engagement of prospects and donors leads to movement from trivial to meaningful to significant levels of giving. The organization’s fundraising philosophy must be informed by a commitment to meaningful engagement and direct solicitation. When an organization commits to this, then they will attract and retain top fundraising talent, clearly articulating their working goals and objectives, and provide consistent and constructive feedback. Without this organizational commitment, neither fundraising nor the development staff will thrive, there will be significant turnover, and lost opportunities. 

Any organization, whether operating as a nonprofit, for-profit, or government agency, has to navigate the tension between operating efficiently and being responsive to the needs of their donors, customers, or citizens. When it comes to most nonprofits, I believe that fundraising practices have swung so far toward efficiency that being responsive to our donors is really hard to do. And now nonprofits dependency on inexpensive fundraising is really beginning to catch up with them. In an effort to run most efficiently, most organizations have attached onto their organization whatever made the most sense at the time instead of thinking critically about how fundraising should be carried out and according to what metrics.

Why are most fundraising plans designed to fail?In the extreme, nonprofit leaders expect fundraising to behave like a machine; flip on the switch when times get tough, then overlook and ignore it until we are in trouble again. They don’t take the time to ensure that fundraising has become an essential part of their identity from the very beginning. That’s because it’s messy – people and relationships are messy. They don’t behave like machines and are not predictable. It’s also because there is pressure to deliver results now and long-term relationships are not built to deliver results immediately. Leaders feel pressure, pressure flows down and fundraisers are forced to ask sooner than they should, providing short term gains, but not ultimate results. Fundraisers get burnt out, disillusioned and leave. Once they leave, relationships they built take a backward step. 

Technology has become the substitute for real relationships and arms-length fundraising is the result. While this will help acquire donors of trivial gifts, rarely are meaningful and significant gifts received from people who do not have a deep and abiding relationship with the people of the non-profit. We are stuck in an efficiency loop and have a hard time letting it go to take the time to build a meaningful culture with real relationships. It’s not hopeless; it’s just broken. 

How can associations or nonprofits with small staffs be more effective at building and executing fundraising campaigns?They can prioritize people and build relationships. Hire good fundraisers, be clear with expectations, and keep them from being mired in the trivial and yet urgent tasks that derail them, while jealously guarding the time they spend with donors. This often means a complete culture shift and it’s not easily gained. It takes commitment to the long-term health of the non-profit. It takes everyone agreeing on the cultural norms, expectations, and a timeline to achieve a significant shift in fundraising otherwise known as a campaign. It means that we are truly having meaningful conversations with our donors, treating them like valued partners, not cash machines. All non-profits, but particularly smaller nonprofits where the margin for failure is narrow, must prioritize building long-term, healthy and meaningful relationships with people who care about their mission, feel valued as collaborators in helping to carry out the mission, and understand that their philanthropic investment has an impact on others.

Sustainable Volunteer Engagement

Frustrated with volunteer apathy and turnover? Seeking to shift your organization’s culture about volunteers?

Take time to strategize about WHY you want volunteer involvement, WHO you are trying to recruit, WHAT skills and values they bring to your organization, and WHY they are integral to your success.

Begin by reflecting on your own volunteer experiences and the inherent values in all of us. This exercise can reveal a lot of hidden information about you and your volunteers. I encourage you to ask each of your potential volunteers to reflect on the following.

·        Reflect on your first memory of volunteerism

·        Reflect on how your parents were involved in volunteering

·        Reflect on your best and worst volunteer experience

Your personal values and attitude, and those of your organization in relation to engaging volunteers in your social contract with alumni, parents, and friends will inform the type of culture that either ignores, tolerates or fully embraces the role of volunteers.

It’s important to ask and understand the reasons why people volunteer – a sense of accomplishment, creating connections with others, giving back, the pride of association, or skill-building. Having these conversations will help you as you recruit, train, manage and recognize volunteers.

Develop a strategic plan. Always be recruiting. Engage each volunteer one-on-one in the recruiting process. While this may seem time-consuming and inefficient (can’t we just send an email?), having the chance to get to know each person and their motivation, history, and attitude about volunteering will help you in the long run. There will be greater clarity about expectations, less turnover, higher satisfaction, and better outcomes overall. Less time will be spent constantly following up with and replacing apathetic or dissatisfied volunteers.

Taking the time to build long term relationships yields more than you originally expect. Engaged volunteers do more, give more, and enthusiastically help you recruit others.

When you embrace sustainable solutions – not the quick fix, but a dedication to fully embracing relationships with volunteers – then you will begin to change your culture for the long term.

Contact Theresa Lee at Theresa@TJLPartners.com for help with sustainable volunteer engagement.

How to Plan a Day of Giving

A Day of Giving can galvanize your organization’s volunteers and donors around your cause. This one-day campaign creates a focal point in the midst of an annual fund year. When carefully planned and executed, a Day of Giving can have several positive outcomes:

• Impact those served by your non-profit

• Reactivate lapsed donors, acquire new donors

• Inspire challenge donors; engage volunteers

• Elevate the public image, story, and profile of the organization

• Increase social media reach and engagement

• Raise money for your worthy cause

Planning and executing a Day of Giving can be complex, exhilarating, time-consuming, and immensely rewarding. To get you started, here are things you need to consider and plan for against a timeline of six months.

Project Checklist

• Develop a timeline of tasks.

• Develop a theme, goals, and challenge structure.

• Find a donor or group of donors who will make a gift large enough to fund serve as a challenge gift.

• Recruit volunteers to serve as donors, advocates on social media, and peer-to-peer influencers.

• Review data to set goals and decide segments.

• Develop a plan to track progress and communicate both progress and results to volunteers, participants, and colleagues.

• Establish a marketing plan and integrate this campaign into your regular marketing efforts by adding special messages.

• Give the volunteers a marketing kit to use in addition to the direct marketing done by the team.

• Develop a stewardship plan.

To learn more about how to plan a Day of Giving and receive the 6-month planning calendar, contact me at Theresa@TJLPartners.com

Through the Front Door and Up the Elevator

Like most parents, I have watched and read with intrigue and sadness the unfolding of the college admissions scandal. I am a parent of a high school senior who has been admitted to six universities in New England. I’m proud of her hard work – academically and athletically. She is an honors student, all-state in soccer, and heavily involved in co-curricular activities including yearbook, orientation, and class council – all while working to earn her own money. She lovingly served her community through the Special Olympics and aspires to impact lives through healthcare.

Despite a long career in higher education advancement, as well as serving my alma mater as a volunteer Admissions Ambassador, I didn’t have any influence on where she applied, where she got in, or where she may attend. Maybe that’s not entirely true. We have raised an independent-minded young woman with a strong work ethic who cares deeply about others. We helped guide her to make good decisions and have been clear that her academic, athletic, and career journey is hers, not ours. We love her enough to let her stumble and struggle to find her own way.  

My now 90-year old father taught his seven children the value of a dollar, hard work, and the importance of intellectual curiosity. He is the son of Irish immigrants with no education – my grandfather was illiterate and my grandmother dropped out in the 7th grade to work to support her brothers and sisters after both of her parents died. Despite my grandparents’ circumstances, they valued education and the opportunities available in America to rise past one’s social and economic condition. The great social elevator that is education transformed my family’s socioeconomic trajectory in just one generation.

As a fundraiser, it’s not hard for me to ask for the financial support of education. It’s personal. When you live the impact yourself, and you watch so many students benefit from the transformational experience of higher education, you learn to value it. I am disheartened to see the ideals of access and affordability – what my colleagues in educational advancement work on every day – corrupted by those willing to shortcut the path. This so-called “side door” has no place in higher education and those who worked their way into school through the front door recognized the unfairness immediately.

It’s not enough to assert that the majority of students are admitted without favor from the financial influence of their families. All things being equal, it’s great that those with means can and will give to support higher education. There are many generous families whose children are admitted legitimately. But taking a gift upfront and admitting a student who does not merit admission, serves neither the student nor the university’s mission.

I will continue to support education both through my work and my own philanthropy. It’s my way of honoring my family’s values and influencing affordability and accessibility for those that work hard, but struggle financially. Great power can come from the collective if we so choose. For example, if all 109,000 alumni of my alma mater made a gift of $25 annually, each year 109 of the students with the greatest financial need could attend and graduate with no debt. That’s a powerful way to keep the educational front door open and the great social elevator moving in the right direction.

Donor Fatigue Syndrome

Symptoms

Donor Fatigue Syndrome (DFS) is a condition characterized by lapsed or decreased giving.

Causes

Experts believe that DFS is caused by:

• Asking too frequently

• Asking too much while giving too little in return

• Keeping poor records about donors

• Overwhelming donors with too much information that lacks a compelling narrative

• Failure to show appreciation

• Failure to show impact of giving

• Failure to engage in a meaningful relationship on a human level

• Failure to communicate

• Failure to listen

Diagnosis

DFS is characterized by desensitization to a repeated appeal to give and a complete refusal to give.

Treatment

There are several treatment approaches to DFS, depending on the severity.

• Rehabilitation of your stewardship program

• Daily doses of donor gratitude and recognition

• Illustration of the specific way gifts are being used and the impact on those in need

• Two parts stewardship to one-part solicitation – mix and serve with grace

• Ask good questions and listen carefully to donors

• Offer appeals that are emotionally compelling, action-oriented, and specifically impactful

• Provide meaningful ways for donors to give feedback

• Track retention rate overall and within specific segments (e.g. young donors, donors of $x-$x)

• Honor and celebrate donor loyalty

• Treat your donors the same way you would care for your best friends

Outlook

The outlook is positive if treatment methods are followed.

How to Launch an Annual Giving Club Participation Challenge

If you have an alumni club system, here’s an idea to engage new and lapsed donors. Organize a club challenge in support of scholarships. The club that achieves the largest increase in participation year over year wins a scholarship in the name of the club, designated for a student from that geographic region. The club members can contribute to the scholarship over time, host the student for a club event when he or she is home on break (good stewardship opportunity), and the local alumni will feel good about supporting a student from their area.

Steps to Setting Up a Club Participation Challenge:

1.      Collaborate with colleagues in Alumni Relations to develop a plan to engage club leaders.

2.      Find a challenge donor who will make a gift large enough to fund a current year scholarship or establish an endowed scholarship fund in the name of the winning club. Ideally it will be someone who has served as a leader of a club.

3.      Define the rules for the winning club(s) including the timeline for the challenge. Participants do not have to give to the scholarship fund to be counted.

4.      Recruit club leaders and volunteers.

5.      Pull the data for each participating club, establishing a baseline of participation for the prior year.

6.      Set up a way to track progress and communicate both progress and results to leaders and club members.

7.      Establish a marketing plan and remember to exclude challenge participants from your other marketing efforts or integrate this campaign into your regular marketing efforts by adding special messages.

8.      Give the club leaders a marketing kit to use locally in addition to the direct marketing done by the annual giving team.

9.      Send periodic updates to club leaders with standings and ideas to increase participation. Ideally you have a web site that tracks progress.

10.   Declare a winner and work with the winning club on local publicity and stewardship plan.

For details on how to execute this plan or more ideas to increase participation, contact Theresa@TJLPartners.com

Happy Birthday to You? Managing and Stewarding Facebook Donors

Facebook makes it easy and convenient for donors and their friends to support your non-profit, creating a new stream of revenue. The challenge is to manage and steward the donors that come through these fundraising campaigns.

How it works.

A popular and lovely trend is to create a fundraiser for one’s birthday, directing friends to give to their favorite charity in honor of the celebrant. The donations are processed by Facebook or Network for Good’s Donor Advised Fund and sent along to the non-profit in two to six weeks. Meanwhile, Facebook sends a receipt directly to the donor. To receive the funds, your non-profit does need to register with Facebook which includes providing information about your founder (DOB and address), bank information, and 501(c)(3) documentation. Thankfully, FB removed transaction fees.

Here’s the issue.

You have new donors but you may not know much about them. Facebook provides a daily transaction report listing the first and last name, the amount and if the donor offers, an email address. At best you can acknowledge the gift via email two weeks after it was given; at worst you will be unable to thank your new donors directly. This begs the question - if a donor gives and there’s no way to thank him or her, is he or she a donor? Technically, yes because you’ve received the funds as a charitable gift. Yet, no because you cannot rely on this gift recurring on any periodicity and have no way to thank the donor directly.

Creativity counts.

Sort FB’s transaction reports by donation amount and send thank you notes to your largest donors detailing the impact of their giving on your non-profit. Ask your top donors to post a thank you on their wall to their friends on behalf of your charity (provide the language about the impact of giving).  Directly thank the donors for whom you do have an email address. Monitor who is tagging your organization when they give and follow up with thank you notes on their pages. Post thank you messages on your wall and tag the donors you do know about. Be proactive with your best donors and volunteers and ask them to consider launching a birthday campaign for your non-profit. Publicly celebrate them when they do which will encourage others to follow their lead.

Re-solicitation strategy.

Create a segment for Facebook donors in your database by coding the source of these gifts. For those with email addresses, work to retain them by spending time and resources on engaging and educating them about your cause and the impact of their giving. Re-solicit via email giving them two options to give again – a link to your giving site and a link to your Facebook page which has a donate button.  If they give on your giving site, you will now have their mailing address. Track the preferred method of giving of this segment to determine future solicitation strategies.

Celebrate your retained donors like it’s their birthday!

Annual Giving: Rethinking Marketing Strategy

My Ivy League-educated friend Laura mentioned she hadn’t checked her answering machine in months and I was shocked. My obvious question was, “Do you still have a VCR?” She didn’t say no. Each of her three children and her spouse have cell phones and yet she keeps her landline but doesn’t use it. That got me thinking about the tools we use to reach our constituents. Just because the channel is available, doesn’t mean the message is being received.

In Annual Giving we are appealing to a mass market which, by definition, are products or service appealing to a large number of people. Yes, we appeal to a large number of people, but we aren’t appealing – meaning exciting or attractive – to them. The proof is in the declining participation rates, most of which were already low before the significant decline began. The majority of alumni do not make a gift annually. So why are we mass marketing when we know the majority of the alumni will not respond? Because we are desperate to gain even one donor more than we had last year. It’s not working.

It’s time to rethink the strategy. Stop appealing to the masses and start being more appealing to these three groups in ways that will resonate:

1.  People who give to you annually.

·     These are your loyal donors – your best friends – and you should treat them as such. How do you make your best friends feel? How do you treat them when you see them? Do you write to them, send them notes, think about them often, and do something nice for them on occasion?

·     Segment these donors into categories and appeal to them in precise ways. It’s worth the time and effort. Find out what marketing channel they prefer and use that one to connect with them. Learn when they give and why they give and use that knowledge to appeal to them. It’s like Starbuck’s knowing your regular order. It’s impressive and you feel known.

·     How many times have we called a loyal donor from our phone room and they say they will mail in a check? We don’t listen, we try to bend their will and convince them that giving tonight, by credit card, is better for the university. But is it better for the donor? No. And when they hang up they aren’t feeling the warm glow of appreciation and love. You probably aren’t getting that check after all. You’ll tell yourself that it was because you didn’t get the gift when you had the chance. I’ve done that. The truth is we didn’t listen, trust, and respect the answer. That’s like the barista talking you out of your regular chai latte because pumpkin lattes are the flavor of the day.

2.  People who have given to you before.

·     These are your next best bets. These are people who have tried you out and quit you for one reason or another. Ask them why and what conditions it would take to get them back as a donor. Was it your indifference when they did make a gift? Did they give to a particular campaign, a reunion, or just once, a long time ago?

·     Segment these donors into categories including when and why they gave up on you and why they may return. Appeal to those who gave to you more recently and stopped giving for reasons that can be overcome. Create the conditions that will appeal to the donors who told you they would come back to you if…

3.  People who would give to you if you were genuinely appealing.

·    You have people who have never given to you and would if you set the right conditions and you were truly appealing. Unfortunately, these are the majority of your constituents. Once you find out who is who, ignore those that have told you to ignore them savings significant resources in the process.

·     So how to narrow the pool and pick out the ones who will give? Look for the characteristics and traits among this group that match those who do give and then ask this subset of your non-donors why they don’t give (sometimes people claim to be donors when they are not – which means they are inclined), what it would take to get them to give, and how they would like to give. Be artful and direct in how you ask these questions and respect the answers.

·    Then, set the conditions and segment based on what would cause people to give and how they would like to give (which channel).

We don’t have to appeal to everyone, but we do have to be appealing to the right people, offering the right marketing channels, content, and causes that they care about. Ultimately, you are looking for the people with whom your cause resonates. People who say, “Of course I support you because people like us do things like this.” – Seth Godin on how non-profits can be effective.

I saw Laura again today and she told me she finally checked her answering machine. It turns out she missed a call from her classmate asking her to join a conference call for her reunion gift committee, an honor she was selected for because of her 25 years of consecutive giving. Loyal Laura mentioned she still writes checks and mails them in dutifully each year. Of course, she does.

Annual Giving Segmentation: A Puzzle Worth Solving

How can you speak to each donor in a way that has meaning when you have to appeal to so many people? It’s not easy, but it is essential to your success. Segmentation of large populations by giving behavior, age/stage, interests, activities, giving level, geography, liquidity, occupation, and connection to your cause can be like putting together a large and complex puzzle.

Like any 1,000-piece puzzle-solver knows, breaking the puzzle down into strategic and manageable steps is the way to go.

First, puzzler solvers sort by color and pattern. We can do the same for donors by defining the largest possible buckets by giving behavior – lybunts, recently lapsed, long-lapsed and never donors.

Next, find the edges and corners. The corners are the loyal leadership donors and the edges represent the loyal lybunts – there are fewer of them and they are important to the framework.

Next, begin further segmenting your color and pattern groups. Sometimes sky and water pieces look alike. It may be hard to see the pattern of non-donors or those who give to unrestricted, but it’s there. Dig deeper for the clues. Which behavioral characteristics and patterns are common? Which details are distinct? Use those to inform your communication.

Although every piece in a puzzle is made to fit, not all donors and prospects will fit neatly into a pattern. Prioritize your work into manageable segments starting with those that will yield the greatest return – from loyal leadership, to loyal, to slightly lapsed, to long-lapsed, to never donors. Within or across these larger segments, look for patterns and create sub-segments. Use variable text to craft messages with meaning to the donor.

Here are some sample appeals for scholarships using segments and variable language.

THE FUNDRAISER’S VIEWPOINT

Dear Donor, it’s been nearly a year since we’ve heard from you. We’re trying to retain you.

Dear Sometimes Donor, have you found someone else to support? We’re trying to reactivate you.

Dear Never Donor, will you ever support us? We are trying to acquire you.

THE DONOR’S VIEWPOINT

Identified Segments: Loyal, Leadership, Scholarships, Nursing <variable text>

Dear <Mary>,

Your <loyal> support of <first year nursing students> has helped <Christine> pursue <her> passion. <She> has benefitted from your <generous leadership gift> and intends to use <her> skills to become a <pediatric nurse>. The compassion you have shown to students with financial challenges means that <Christine> can test <herself> academically without worrying about overwhelming debt when <she> graduates. What a gift!

When you consider your philanthropic choices this year, we hope that you will continue to support scholarships for <first year nursing students like Christine>.

Identified Segments: Lapsed, Scholarships, Business <variable text>

Dear <Sally>,

Your <past> support of <scholarships> has helped <Michael> pursue <his> passion. <He> has benefitted from your <support> and intends to use <his> skills to become an <accountant>. The compassion you have shown to students with financial challenges means that <Michael> can test <himself> academically without worrying about overwhelming debt when <he> graduates. What a gift!

When you consider your philanthropic choices this year, we hope that you will continue to support scholarships for <business students like Michael>.

Identified Segments: Never, Scholarships, Business <variable text>

Dear <John>,

Your support for <scholarships> can help <Michael> pursue <his> passion. <He> has benefitted from <financial support> and intends to use <his> skills to become an <accountant>. The compassion shown to students with financial challenges means that <Michael> can test <himself> academically without worrying about overwhelming debt when <he> graduates. What a gift!

When you consider your philanthropic choices this year, we hope that you will <consider supporting> scholarships for <business students like Michael>.

You can adapt any of the variable language to incorporate different levels of giving or designations. This example focused on scholarships with the variable language reflecting the giving behavior and academic interest of the donor or prospect.

Take the time to segment by giving behavior and giving level, look for patterns and use variable language to focus on the donors’ interests within the scope of your fundraising priorities. If you like solving puzzles, this will prove to be satisfying to you and to your donors who will receive messages that are meaningful to their experience.

For help with solving the segmentation puzzle, please reach out. Theresa@TJLPartners.com

Organizing and Measuring Major Gift Performance

Major gift officers are handed prospect leads by managers – some warm, some cold and some who have no indicator whatsoever. The goal is to raise as much as possible from as many people as possible. Or is it? Yes, dollars raised is the highest weighted indicator of fundraising success. However, there are other data points that should not be overlooked by the gift officer or management.

Before you begin to measure your data, portfolios need to be analyzed and organized. Who are the best prospects in terms of liquidity and inclination? Who are those that will require more work, but have a high value if the work goes well? Where do fundraisers spend their time for the best results? The ideal portfolio size is 150 prospects which is based on Dunbar’s Number – defined as “the cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships."

Divide your 150 prospects into four tiers.

Tier One: High Capacity and High Inclination

Tier Two: Next Level Capacity/High Inclination; (VIPs such as key volunteers and long loyal donors)

Tier Three: High Capacity/Low Inclination

Tier Four: Low Capacity/Low Inclination

Develop written strategies, including timelines and specific moves for each of the prospects in Tiers 1 and 2. These can be adapted and updated as needed. Keep Tier 3 on the radar and target these prospects for qualification visits and engagement intended to improve inclination. Tier 4 are the long shots and can be watched for indications of capacity and inclination or contacted as filler visits when needed.

What are the key performance indicators for major gift officers? Many gift officers are measured by the simple metrics of number of visits, dollars raised, and the qualification of a certain number of prospects each year. In more sophisticated shops, metrics can include donor retention, asks, proposals submitted, and percent of proposals closed. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are unique to your shop and should be tied to desired outcomes. A good example comes from baseball – while a high batting average indicates a team is hitting well, it does not necessarily indicate winning.

Begin with the end in mind and study the process. The management team should decide what outcomes are most important (e.g. dollars raised, number of prospects developed, donor retention). Next, based on the desired outcomes, study the fundraisers who are most successful at achieving those outcomes. Catalogue their behaviors, actions and activities, noting anything that can be quantified. You may be surprised by what you observe and you may let go of conventional wisdom or assumptions. Use those measures to hire, develop, evaluate and promote major gift officers.

What successful major gift officers do better than others. A very good major gift officer moves prospects through the major gift cycle with intent. They listen well, articulate the mission and connect donors to outcomes that meet the vision of both the donors and the organization. Take a snapshot of the portfolio when it is created and then measure the change periodically. At the outset, there may be many more prospects in the beginning stages of identification, qualification and cultivation and, as you move to the end of a campaign, there should be more people in the final stages of solicitation and stewardship or even disqualification.

Breadth and depth. Quantify the fundraising potential of each portfolio in detail. Based on prior giving, calculated liquidity and inclination factors, what is a reasonable outcome in terms of dollars and donors? Measure the penetration into the portfolio and set expectations for some level of prospect contact. What percentage of your portfolio is active, is giving, and is engaged through events or volunteering? Is the fundraiser focusing on the same prospects year after year while making no significant progress? If those same prospects are yielding more money each year, then that may be deemed successful. Are new prospects being identified, qualified and cultivated? Are major donors being retained through cultivation, stewardship and re-solicitation?

Credit. How is credit assigned to gift officers? If an outcome you seek is collaborative fundraising, then encourage and measure collaboration. To do this, you need to work out how credit is distributed for gifts and create reports that reflect shared credit.

KPIs and Dashboards. While deciding what factors to include in your key performance indicators may be complex, the dashboards need not be. While there may be several factors that are calculated to arrive at your KPIs, your dashboards are related to business outcomes. What are the top three to five outcomes you seek? What are the top three to five behaviors that lead to those outcomes? Those are the items your dashboards should track.

Analyzing successful donors. While studying your fundraisers and quantifying their success is one dimension of your analysis, you should be doing the same with your best donors. What is the liquidity (different than traditional wealth capacity) and inclination of each donor? Which behavioral patterns do your donors display? Compare those behavioral patterns to your prospective donors and facilitate behavior that will lead to giving. You can develop KPIs and dashboards that measure donor success and learn to focus on donors and donor segments that yield best results.

Organizations who use data to analyze process and measure behavior, turn insights into strategy and action, and focus resources on successful outcomes.