Online fundraising campaigns succeed on the strength of your organization’s long term support at least as much as they succeed based on your ability to bring in a wide range of new donors at all levels. To figure out how to appeal to both groups, you need to have the right fundraiser data at your fingertips. Once you are able to sort by demographics, donation frequency, and other factors, it is easier to hone in on the right messaging for your existing donor base. From there it gets easier to figure out how to reach the people who aren’t participating yet in your fundraising effort.
So how do strategize nonprofit database management? Let’s get into the NPO fundraising process in greater detail below:
Knowing How To Manage Your Data
There are a few key moves to make with your data to drive early donations to fundraisers and give your campaign a positive inertia from the beginning. They rely on reaching out to your established donors, with the earliest moves being to connect with the most frequent and reliable donors. Here are a few smart ideas for outreach you can use your data to supercharge:
• Soft launch the campaign with early outreach to your top 5-10% of donors by annual contribution, the core people who drive your success
• If you use peer to peer fundraising, use that soft launch to educate your pool of strong donors as well as your peer educator pool so they can spread the word with details about your campaign
• Link the donations with impact by providing details that match the donor group’s interests in the project, from lives transformed to economic changes enacted
• Drive participation after launch with email campaigns that remind donors about the campaign’s ongoing progress while prompting them to set up recurring gifts, which stabilize your progress toward that final milestone
• Use strong insights built from analytics about past donor behavior to figure out the best way to reach new donors at and after your official launch date
Of course, to get the insights and outreach tools you need when you fundraise, you will have to invest in the right software and the integration procedure to bring your data into its toolkit. When you do that, you can use Salesforce donor management tools and other state of the industry resources.
Linking Your Data With The Right Software
If you don’t see the tools you need in your current database management software, it’s time to talk to someone about what software you should be integrating into your data to get the right fundraiser results. Whether it’s Salesforce, Raiser’s Edge, other options, or a combination of multiple tools, you can find out more by talking to the people whose job it is to assess your nonprofit and provide solutions. Those same experts can tell you what it will take to import RE to your current system, to integrate it with existing tools, and to get the most out of it.
Once you get the right perspective on your options, it is easier to plan an upgrade path that helps you make the most of each successive fundraising campaign as your organization grows and increases its impact. Good luck with your fundraisers!
