A great database manager can be the difference between amazing data processes and analytics that make your fundraising easier, and a nightmare of bad data, inaccurate reports, and inconsistent processes. When you are looking for someone to manage your organization’s donor data, here are five attributes you should seek.
Are you ready to implement or improve prospect management in your fundraising office? If 3 or more of these 5 things are true, it’s time to think about your prospect management system.
Paying attention to the “biographic” data you track about companies can help you step up your corporate fundraising game. This is data that lives in the biographic section of your database, along with names, addresses, communication preferences, and the like – but instead of being related to an individual, it’s related to a company.
I decided to make a positive example out of an embarrassing business mistake by writing about standard operating procedures, or SOPs. Though not glamorous, SOPs are critical for awesome data management. Documenting how you accomplish your business processes reduces errors and inconsistencies and saves time.
Accurate and timely gift entry is a critical piece of donor stewardship. Are you prepared to handle the various types of gifts your organization receives? Be sure by doing a gift process audit.
Have you ever sent two pieces of mail to one household? It’s frustrating! Not only have you wasted paper and postage, but you also missed a chance to recognize the relationship between your donors. This is one of the reasons that setting up your donor database to handle households correctly is so important.
Data hygiene problems tend to fall into one of the following six categories. Each has their own challenges, and their own methods for fixing.
If you’ve had your donor database for any length of time, you’ve probably got some funky, dirty, broken or missing data. You’ve also probably got some new processes and tools you’d like to implement. And you probably have far more data projects on your hand than you have time. When you are deciding what to tackle first, how do you prioritize?
Capital campaigns thrive on data analysis, but where do you begin? Check out Fundraising Nerd's guest blog post on capital campaign analytics from simple to sophisticated, over at Above Goal.
If you want to be more efficient and less stressed at work, studies suggest you should consider limiting how often you check your email.
Spring event season is well under way in fundraising land. If you are not yet using your database to track event attendance, or you’d like to improve your tracking, then read on!
The last Fundraising Nerd blog post was about collecting email addresses using incentives, a.k.a. content marketing. Let’s talk about the nuts and bolts of setting this up in your fundraising shop. With readily-available technology, it’s fairly easy to set up a system that will automatically collect email addresses and deliver content to people who are interested in your organization.
What does your organization have to offer that will make people happily share their email address with you?
Check out the new fundraisingnerd.com. The site has a totally updated look and feel to match our updated mission.
Happy holidays! Amidst celebrating the year-end holidays, Fundraising Nerd will be completing a major website remodel.
It's that special time of year where the gift date you record can make a big difference for your donors. For donors seeking a tax deduction in 2017, gifts must be out of their hands before midnight on December 31.
Here are 7 stats you can output from your donor database to help you plan for 2018.
Here’s an easy project you can use to identify a short list of your best donors so you can send them a little extra bit of holiday cheer, like a special holiday card signed by your program participants or your board. Or, you might use this method to identify donors you want to get in touch with to share your organization’s plans for 2018. Not coincidentally, this project will help you uncover some of your best major giving prospects.
Today is the last day to participate in Fundraising Nerd's Your Donor Database and You Survey. The survey takes about 5 minutes, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win my new book, Donor Database Fundamentals, due out this spring.
Thank you.
If you are reading this, I am grateful to you. You are a part of a generous community of colleagues and friends who have taught me so much and given me a ton of support over the years.
Why your donor can’t use their donor advised fund to purchase tickets to your nonprofit event
#GivingTuesday is right around the corner. Are you set up to know what worked for you?
A lot of #GivingTuesday action happens online. What’s great about this is you have the opportunity to test out your messaging. What’s most successful at bringing people to your website? What’s most successful at not only bringing people to your website, but bringing people who give?
It’s asking season! Let’s talk about some ways to measure your solicitation success.
