Data Transparency: Are You a Frog in Hot Water?

The Danger
For obvious reasons we’re treading into dangerous waters with a public accustomed to a far different level of brand engagement. Take the coveted snowbirder, that deep-pocketed donor with the wherewithal not simply to flee colder winter climes, but also to donate to national nonprofits and chapters alike.
 
Except that because the chapter and national offices refuse to share that supporter’s data, he’s treated like a stranger by the very same organization to which he recently donated $50,000. We're talking dead frog here. Smaller and far more common examples of this occur countless times a day across the nonprofit industry.


The Solution
Fortunately, with a few changes that frog not only can be saved but turned into a prince (or at least princely treatment of your supporters). For comparison purposes, it’s worth noting that the commercial brands that have transitioned from channel-centric to customer-centric marketing are going gangbusters.
 
Why? Because they have a wealth of information about each customer that is shared across channels, meaning they can continually refine and improve upon the treatment of that customer—the content, the offers, the asks—with a strong (data-driven) idea of his/her response. Meanwhile, marketers and other stakeholders can work more strategically to nurture and expand that customer relationship in ways that benefit the entire organization.

So how does the nonprofit industry transition to this same supporter-friendly model of operations?

• Face the fear and forge a top-down commitment to gradually transition toward customer-centric policies
• Tear down operating silos and institute policies embracing data transparency
• Put in place new forms of employee recognition and reward that value enterprise-wide results as a product of multichannel efforts
• Implement centralized data warehouses that integrate supporter data as a single organizational asset

Happily, this is not an issue of technology. Many, if not most, of today’s major nonprofit data management systems are capable of embracing a supporter-centric operating model. The key is to develop the will to do it.
 
The alternative is to find yourself in hotter water.

This post originally appeared here. It was reprinted with the author's permission.