Database Marketing

You know you need to gather donor data. But why? And more importantly, how? And what do you do with it once you've gathered it? Are you gathering too much? Or the wrong kind?

Guest post by Donna Mehr, editor of Smart Annual Giving: Individual fundraising can be segmented and measured in countless ways. This is where things can become overwhelming with donor data. 

You need to start small, determine your most important questions and figure out how to answer them. Break it down into these five steps to start: 1. Identify and collect your most important information. 2. Calculate and measure. 3. Analyze. 4. Strategize. 5. Document.

You don't want to send your donors the wrong message or — worse — an insensitive one due to dirty donor data. So how clean is your data?

If there’s a link, we can track it. But digital fundraising isn’t bound by links. It may surprise you, but the future of digital is actually offline. It encompasses all forms of marketing, video, advertising, direct response, social, branded websites, maps, search, third-party review platforms, brick-and-mortar locations, events, etc.

How the right data can help you look beyond the numbers and figure out how and why donors connect — and stay — with you.

We fundraisers say we are ready to embrace insight, but the signs are not really there. If you are ready, email me now! If you are not ready, here are some recommendations.

In the nonprofit world, most registered charities derive the majority of their funding from donors who are individuals, businesses or foundations. Among them are those who treat their donor database systems as critical to their success. Unfortunately, there are a large number of nonprofits who treat their donor databases as an afterthought or do not have a donor database system at all.

Is this about new donors? Just about the cash? Raising awareness?

Ownership is a dangerous word — but someone typically owns it in a nonprofit. Which hands hold your data — and is it a good thing?

That's right — all that search data just went away for most nonprofits.