Auctions are one of the ultimate donor data management challenges. You’ve got IRS regulations, specialized software requiring data integration, and event data tracking. In this post, we’ll focus on IRS rules that impact donated items, auction purchases, and event ticket donations.

Your data entry process documentation is one of your most important data hygiene tools. Good documentation helps ensure that information is entered accurately, thoroughly and consistently. It’s a buffer against staff turnover, and the first step toward process improvement.

You’ve implemented your fundraising metrics. How do you make sure they are working? Check out these six questions to identify what’s working, what needs adjustment and some things to consider when making tweaks to your metrics. And if you don’t have metrics yet, read through to identify some pitfalls to avoid during your design phase.

Cleaning up your data will not only yield better database screening results, but it’ll also help with overall donor relations and reporting. So get ready, we’ve got some sure-fire best practices coming your way!

Increasingly, there are tons of specialized software tools that nonprofits use in addition to their primary donor database, like auction, email or volunteer management software. Are you trying to decide whether to adopt a third-party tool and get it to play nicely with your donor database? Read on for some tips to make your software play nicely.

Do you feel like you are reinventing the wheel every time you analyze your fundraising performance or pull a solicitation list? Are you concerned that you are getting inconsistent results? Then you need a standard list of go-to reports to keep you on track and make your operations easier.

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.

Data hygiene problems tend to fall into one of the following six categories. Each has their own challenges, and their own methods for fixing.

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.

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?

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.

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.