How to Make Better Decisions with Less Data

Posted on by proppec

Are you drowning in analysis paralysis? Having data to back up your decision making is good, but sometimes there is just too much!

Sometimes people often struggle to convert data into effective solutions to problems. The problem isn’t lack of data; the vast amount of data means managers struggle to prioritise what’s important. In the end, they end up applying arbitrary data toward new problems, reaching a subpar solution.

Here, Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson discuss how you can make better decisions with less data.

https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-make-better-decisions-with-less-data

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Retention is the New Acquisition

Posted on by proppec

While organizations focus on their development goal and raising money through major gifts, events, direct mail, grants and online, it is often stewardship and retention that fall by the wayside.

According to Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay, a 10% increase in donor retention can enhance the lifetime value of your donor base by up to 200%.

Those are sobering statistics and make it pretty clear what we should be focusing on. Here, Danielle J Vermenton provides 10 tips on how to embrace donor retention.

https://npengage.com/nonprofit-fundraising/retention-is-the-new-acquisition/

Donor Retention: What Do We Know & What Can Nonprofits Do about It?

Posted on by proppec

Retention is one of the Big 5 KPIs to measure, but why is it so important?

A 10 percent improvement in attrition can yield up to a 200 percent increase in projected value, as with lower attrition significantly more donors upgrade their giving, give in multiple ways, recommend others, and, ultimately, perhaps, pledge a planned gift to the organization.

In this sense the behavior of “customers” and the value they generate appear to mirror that reported in the for-profit consumer sector, where similar patterns of value and behavior emerge. Indeed, the marketing literature is replete with references to the benefits that a focus on customer retention can bring.

Adrian Sargeant explains more in this article.

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/donor-retention-nonprofit-donors/

The BIG 5 in fundraising performance metrics

Posted on by proppec

Reinier Spruit discusses how we’re in the relationship building business and how we need to measure and register every response.

Ironically, we must quantify the relations with our donors, so we can improve the quality of the contact we have with them.

There are a ton of metrics we can track, and should track, like email open rates, sign-up rates per hour, one-off cash donations and appeal response rates. But there are 5 that are simply much more important. Mainly because they are the building blocks for making sensible decisions for the longer term.

I call them the Big Five. The Big Five are Volume, Expenditure, Income, Retention and Return on Investment.

Find out more by clicking the link below:

https://101fundraising.org/2014/05/big-5-fundraising-performance-metrics/

Why crowdfund?

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Philippa Christoforou has been part of the OxReach team at Oxford University Innovation since 2016. Since then over £200,000 for social good projects originating at the Uhttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-crowdfund-philippa-christoforouniversity of Oxford has been raised.

But why crowdfunding? Why not just apply for grant applications? What is the benefit to the project in watching the pledge count slowly creep towards the target, whilst the anxiety builds that we might not make it?

Here, Philippa describes her experience of crowdfunding and the benefits gained.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-crowdfund-philippa-christoforou

Colleges are going online to crowdsource donations, and they’re raising millions

Posted on by proppec

Getting alumni, especially younger graduates, to donate is a challenge for many colleges and universities, especially those that rely on approaches that could end up in voicemail or the rubbish bin.

Crowdfunding models are increasingly popular for students to undertake peer-to-peer and social fundraising on behalf of a fundraising program to bring in new donors.

In this article in the Washington Post, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel provides a number of real life examples of crowdfunding campaigns and the impact they’ve had on college and university fundraising.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/04/19/colleges-are-going-online-to-crowdsource-donations-and-theyre-raising-millions/

How to plan a major nonprofit crowdfunding campaign

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Crowdfunding campaigns aren’t just successful by chance. They require a lot of planning to ensure you’re reaching the right people to propagate your message.

In this essential guide, Jonathan May from hubbub provides excellent tips on how to plan your crowdfunding campaign.

https://www.hubbub.net/blog/how-to-plan-a-major-nonprofit-crowdfunding-campaign

Should you be Crowdfunding?

Posted on by proppec

Crowdfunding isn’t a new concept; it’s been around for nearly two decades. However, it has recently become more prominent as an alternative tool for the Higher Education sector.

In this blog, Eliott Falvert-Martin explains how Crowdfunding gives donors a unique opportunity to get interested in a cause on an emotional level and becomes an acquisition tool.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-you-crowdfunding-elliot-falvert-martin

Charity governance, finance and resilience: 15 questions trustees should ask

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To deliver against their duties, charity trustees need to be able to identify the critical issues – the charity’s purposes and plans, its solvency, its resilience and quality of governance – and to be able to review these at regular intervals.

In this post, the Charity Commission has designed 15 questions to help charity trustees carry out such a review and decide what they need to focus on.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-trustee-meetings-15-questions-you-should-ask/charity-trustee-meetings-15-questions-you-should-ask

Funders can unlock good charity governance

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Boards play a crucial role in helping a charity achieve its mission and deliver the greatest impact possible. Sonali Patel discusses that when charities follow best practice in governance, they are more effective, forward looking and efficiently run.

Funders of charities require good governance for a charity to be effective. While there are exceptions, it is therefore surprising that there are not more funders who provide investment for charities to improve governance.

https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/funders-can-unlock-good-charity-governance/