Database Marketing

It’s impossible to target personalized messages and relevant communications to your donors if you first don’t know who they really are. But “how do you find out who your donors are?” Austin asked. The answer is crucial for identifying affluent donors for major-gifts campaigns and planned-giving prospects, as well as unearthing the proper marketing messages, corporate relationships — “Corporations want to work with organizations that have an overlapping market,” Austin said — and more.

In one of the final sessions of the New York Nonprofit Conference, the presenters described three ways fundraisers can "think about taking calculated risks in these times" using analytics.

When a donor makes his or her first gift, he or she may not realize it, but you’re hoping it’s the first step of a long journey of support for your cause. It’s your job as a fundraiser to take first-time donors through that journey and present them with opportunities to extend and deepen their support.

On-demand nonprofit constituent engagement solutions provider Convio announced a  new version of its online marketing, fundraising and advocacy suite that makes it easier for a nonprofit's constituents to leverage social media and social-sharing technologies.

"If you want loyalty, get a dog" — so said Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart. That’s the attitude of some businesses, and sure enough, their customers roam from vendor to vendor seeking the lowest price, without demanding high levels of customer service. These businesses are happy and indeed set up to comply — short-term relationships, no questions asked and no hard feelings when the relationship is over.

Technology, properly applied, can be a great enabler. But, having glimpsed the possibilities, the challenges of achieving it can be frustrating to fundraisers, who want to provide their supporters with a smarter online experience.

Lynn Edmonds, president, L.W. Robbins Associates
Loyal donors are being conservative but holding on. Since the spring, we have seen a slight increase in giving in some audiences but not all. And in certain cases, we have been able to reactivate lapsed donors by decreasing the gift asks.

LEESBURG, Va., November 9, 2009 — Nonprofit data management firm HEP Development has announced that, through December 31, 2009, all clients of nonprofit online software company Convio, Inc. will receive a 10% discount on orders for its standard-setting matching gift, wealth identification, and data cleansing/enhancement services. Convio clients can learn more by visiting HEP Development's booth at Convio Summit 2009 in Austin, TX next week.

For nonprofits involved in fundraising, segmentation is nothing new. But in the current economic climate, every activity requires review and analysis. Reviewing your segmentation strategy provides opportunity to not only increase ROI now, but to position your organization to prosper when the economy turns around.

In the late 1980s, United Jewish Communities/The Jewish Federations of North America had more than 800,000 donors. By 2009, that number had dwindled to fewer than 500,000. A steady, 20-year decline in donor numbers is a sure indication that something is wrong — something much deeper and long-term than the down economy that has been decimating donor bases across the nonprofit sector since last year.