Tag: Analytics & Insights

Understanding your fundraising data

Guide to Annual Giving Donor Segmentation

Posted on by proppec

For most advancement shops, annual giving is the black hole of fundraising: a generic ask to a mass audience. But what if you could deliver a meaningful, personalized experience for all of your donors—without increasing the resources needed or time and energy spent?

In this whitepaper, you’ll learn how to segment your constituents to personalize your annual fund outreach in an efficient, scalable way.

Featuring original research from Greta Daniels, Director of Development at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, the whitepaper will cover:

  • Why segmentation needs to be part of your playbook in the noisy charitable marketplace of today
  • How to gather the right data, create donor segments, and test their effectiveness
  • Three case studies of segmentation in action at nonprofit and for-profit organizations

Get it all for free by filling out the form on the following webpage:

https://get.evertrue.com/annual-giving-donor-segmentation

Which traits predict graduates’ earnings?

Posted on by proppec

Which university graduates will go on to earn the most money? Labour-market observers should not be surprised to find that both the subjects people study and the universities they attend are strong predictors of career earnings.

A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a think-tank, provides further clarity on this question by matching tax data with the academic records of university graduates in England.

This chart and insight by The Economist’s Data Team presents two important takeaways.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/06/15/which-traits-predict-graduates-earnings

More Than Just Data: Why Actionable Insights Matter

Posted on by proppec

There’s no question that customer experience (CX) is a data-driven discipline. After all, at the foundation of most CX programs are close-ended surveys designed to capture and analyze customer feedback.

Yes, metrics are a crucial element of every successful CX program. With metrics, you can establish a clear performance baseline and track trends based on actions you take over time.

But how do you know in advance if the actions you take will be the right ones? Wouldn’t it be great to have a crystal ball that lets you know exactly what to do to have the biggest impact on your anchor metrics?

Here’s some good news: You don’t need to have psychic powers to excel at CX. Instead, you need to use predictive analytics to clarify expected returns before you take every step—and to ensure you have clean data to power your CX metrics program. Only then can you take meaningful action based on your customer data.

In this blog, Richard Boehmcke shares how predictive analytics can benefit your business and therefore fundraising successes.

https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/59294313/posts/21031

Big Data Analysis

Posted on by proppec

Big Data is not just the ability to store large amounts of data, more important is what we can do to the data in that large volume, how we use the data with such large volumes.

One of its uses is for data analysis needs. Big Data Analysis can be done in order to assist the decision making process (Decision Support) and strategy (Strategic Business) of an organization, business institution, or company.

Jeefri A. Moka explains more below.

https://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/big-data-analysis

Business intelligence vs. business analytics: Where BI fits into your data strategy

Posted on by proppec

Traditionally, enterprises have focused their data strategies around business intelligence (BI), but the rise of predictive and prescriptive analytics platforms, in part thanks to machine learning and artificial intelligence, is changing the equation. Even business intelligence itself is evolving, tipping in capabilities previously exclusive to business analytics platforms.

Analysts and consultants agree that understanding the distinctions between business intelligence and other analytics platforms, as well as the value each brings to the enterprise, matters significantly in getting your data strategy right.

Read the blog by Mary Pratt below on how business analytics is evolving.

https://www.cio.com/article/2448992/business-intelligence-vs-business-analytics-where-bi-fits-into-your-data-strategy.html

What’s the difference between data, analytics and insights experts?

Posted on by proppec

Utilising data to make better business decisions is on the agenda for the majority of organisations, with almost three-quarters (74%) saying they want to be “data-driven,” according to a study by Forrester. However, data is only valuable if it transpires into meaningful actions – only 29% of organisations said their data efforts have led to actionable insights.

While there are many platforms out there that offer inbuilt analytics and insights, more often than not you’ll end up with a hefty amount of data – very little of which you can actually put to good use. To measure your data, analyse it and produce worthwhile, data-driven actions, you’ll need a team of experts to take the reins.

Generally speaking, there are three functions that fit under the data umbrella; collecting data, analysing it and producing actionable insights.

This blog by Noa Muratsubaki explains the differences between these three functions.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-difference-between-data-analytics-insights-noa-muratsubaki/

Experts on How Technology Is Changing the Future of Fundraising

Posted on by proppec

Five key figures in fundraising tech reflect on how technology has changed fundraising and what’s next. With contributions from Mike Gianoni (President and CEO, Blackbaud), Bill Strathmann (CEO, Network for Good), Mike Geiger, M.B.A., C.P.A. (President and CEO, Association of Fundraising Professionals), Steve Spinner (CEO, RevUp Software) and Jean-Paul Guilbault (President and CEO, Community Brands).

https://www.impactingourfuture.com/ngo-management/experts-on-how-technology-is-changing-the-future-of-fundraising/

10 Most Effective Communication and Fundraising Tools, According to Non-Profits

Posted on by proppec

Survey respondents for the 2018 Global NGO Technology Report were asked to rate the effectiveness of the most commonly used communication and fundraising tools. Their answers provide valuable insight into which tools NPOs, NGOs, and charities should prioritize in their communications and fundraising strategy.

http://techreport.ngo/2018/03/28/10-effective-communication-fundraising-tools-according-nonprofits/

Alumni Engagement: What We’ve Gotten Wrong And How To Fix It

Posted on by proppec

At some level, every fundraiser knows that alumni engagement is an important driver of alumni giving. At the same time, the advancement profession seems perpetually perplexed by how to measure engagement and apply those measures to increase philanthropy. Why is that?

Generally speaking, advancement offices have access to a pretty accurate picture of who alumni were as students, but very little information on who they are now.

As a result, advancement professionals are primed to treat alumni as former students instead of getting to know them as mature adults. This leads to false assumptions about current alumni needs and the relevant steps a school might take to increase engagement by addressing those needs.

Different from alumni affinity, Dr. Jay Le Roux Dillon describes “Alumni Role Identity” in this series of blogs – a measure of a graduate’s level of connection to their alma mater and an indicator of their inclination to donate to same.

Part 1: https://www.salesforce.org/alumni-engagement-weve-gotten-wrong-fix/

Part 2: https://www.salesforce.org/higher-education-fundraising-culture-sameness-busting-3-massive-myths/

Part 3: https://www.salesforce.org/alumni-role-identity-new-way-alumni-donor-psyche/

Part 4: https://www.salesforce.org/past-webinars/alumni-engagement-scoring-science-tell-us-webinar/

Creating a DIY wealth spreadsheet

Posted on by proppec

Wealth advisors need to understand wealth trends in relation to their client’s investment strategies. Their companies have the necessary resources to provide that insight for them in the form of studies and surveys. Surveys dealing with wealth allocation are particularly useful for estimating wealth.

In this blog, Kenny Tavares has come up with a list of three resources that can be accessed for free to begin creating your own wealth estimates. Aside from having the data we crave, these reports provide great information on current wealth trends.

https://www.helenbrowngroup.com/creating-a-diy-wealth-spreadsheet/

GDPR note: Just because data is available in the public domain does not necessarily mean that it can be harvested and used for other purposes. Although you may not have to obtain consent to use it, please check with your data protection officer or seek legal advise before undertaking prospect research.

Countdown to CCPA: Updating your Privacy Policy

Posted on by proppec

The California Consumer Protection Act requires businesses and charities to make disclosures in their public-facing privacy policies and to update annually such disclosures, starting January 1, 2020.

To comply with the CCPA, the privacy policy must include the eight points listed in this useful guide.

https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/news-and-insights/ccpa-privacy-policy.html

Attention marketers: in 12 weeks, the CCPA will be the national data privacy standard. Here’s why.

Posted on by proppec

The California Consumer Privacy Act will effectively be the US national data privacy standard for consumer business and brands when it takes effect on January 1, 2020. (Although enforcement by the California attorney general has been delayed until June 2020, individual and class-action law suits may begin immediately.)

As of this writing, that’s precisely 12 weeks, or no more than 55 working days, allowing for the holidays. Given how many companies were radically unprepared for the GDPR given two years for preparation, this implies that lots of companies need to do lots of work lots of fast.

There are three interrelated and inescapable reasons why CCPA-compliant data practices will quickly become the standard across the US, even for companies that don’t do business in California. Here, Tim Walters, Ph.D. explains more.

https://contentadvisory.net/attention-marketers-in-12-weeks-the-ccpa-will-be-the-national-data-privacy-standard-heres-why/

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): What you need to know to be compliant

Posted on by proppec

The California Consumer Privacy Act could have more repercussions on U.S. companies than the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect in 2018. The California law doesn’t have some of GDPR’s most onerous requirements, such as the narrow 72-hour window in which a company must report a breach. In other respects, however, it goes even farther.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) takes a broader view than the GDPR of what constitutes private data. The challenge for security, then, is to locate and secure that private data.

CSO, which serves enterprise security decision-makers and users with the critical information they need to stay ahead of evolving threats and defend against criminal cyberattacks, shares an excellent guide on what CCPA means to you.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3292578/california-consumer-privacy-act-what-you-need-to-know-to-be-compliant.html

Here Comes America’s First Privacy Law: What the CCPA Means for Business and Consumers

Posted on by proppec

On January 1 2020, a landmark new data law comes into effect, subjecting U.S. businesses to a sea change of privacy regulations. After that date, Americans will be able to demand that charities disclose what personal data they have collected about them, and also ask them to delete that data. The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) will severely impact tech giants like Google and Facebook, as well as retailers like Macy’s and Walmart.

This heralds the end of an era in which the U.S. defied a shift in global privacy norms, and allowed American companies to commodify consumer data.

There remains, however, considerable confusion over how the law will be enforced, and how much of a burden it will be to U.S. companies. What follows is Forbes’ plain English explanation of the law, the politics surrounding it, and how it will affect businesses and consumers.

https://fortune.com/2019/09/13/what-is-ccpa-compliance-california-data-privacy-law/

Direct Mail – Dead or Alive

Posted on by proppec

These are dark times for direct mail fundraising. Response rates are down (and have been trending lower for more than a decade). At the same time, costs of paper, printing, and postage keep going up, usually faster than inflation.

So direct mail is dead, right? The sooner you stop using it for fundraising, the better. Right?

Not so fast.

Jeff Brooks takes a sober and non-panicked look tells at direct mail to see that it isn’t dead. It’s not even sick. But it’s changing, like everything else.

https://www.moceanic.com/2019/direct-mail-dead-or-alive/

25 Facts and Stats about NGOs Worldwide

Posted on by proppec

Raising money is hard work, and sometimes, just sometimes, we need some great facts to help remind ourselves that we are doing great work to help society and the world improve.

#NGOFACTS is an ongoing online campaign that highlights important data about non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and charities worldwide.

You can join the campaign by sharing facts and stats about the NGO sector in your country using the #NGOFACTS hashtag on social media.

Facts include:
Nearly one in three (31.5%) people worldwide donated to charity in 2015 and one in four (24%) volunteered.

Click the link below to read 24 more and feel inspires.

http://techreport.ngo/previous/2017/facts-and-stats-about-ngos-worldwide.html

Data compliance officer: the next big role in fundraising?

Posted on by proppec

Fundraising charities rely on information about their supporters to survive; such as names and addresses, financial information and other private data. Information such as this will always be integral to the fundraising process, and the storage and safety of this information will be too.

GDPR’s rules around proving consent necessitate new processes at the back and front ends of data collection – and it’s going to be hard work. The fundraising sector has a lot of fundamental changes to make in a short amount of time.

Jenny Daw, editor of The Fundraiser, wonders that with so much to learn and do, there may well be a need for organisations to take on new talent and skills to push these changes through.

https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/the-fundraiser/data-compliance-officer-the-next-big-role-in-fundraising/724

New edition of What Small Charities Need to Know About CRM Systems

Posted on by proppec

Ivan Wainewright acknowledges that buying a new CRM system or fundraising database is a daunting challenge for most charities and not-for-profit organisations, so he has written this book to feature issues that smaller not-for-profit organisations need to consider and be aware of.

This free book has been written for people whose day job is not the procurement or implementation of new databases, so it’s extremely helpful for any fundraiser thinking about stepping outside of their comfort zone.

https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/02/16/new-edition-small-charities-need-know-crm-systems/

9 top tips on making Facebook ads work for fundraising

Posted on by proppec

Award-winning fundraiser Emily Casson shares nine brilliant tips to start your journey on social media fundraising advertising. Facebook advertising is a great tool to start, or grow, your digital fundraising. Emily started using Facebook advertising nearly three years ago and now recruits over 10,000 new regular giving donors a year at a positive ROI, plus many more event participants, legacy pledgers and other supporters. Follow the link for some top tips that apply whatever your budget or cause.

https://greatcharityspeakers.com/2019/04/21/9-top-tips-on-making-facebook-ads-work-for-fundraising/

Long Read: Good asking

Posted on by proppec

The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) recently launched Good Asking – a report on why charities research and process supporter information. They worked with leading academic Dr Beth Breeze from the University of Kent, to survey over 300 fundraisers to understand why they process and research information about their supporters, and what the benefits are for donors, charities and the wider public.

The purpose of this report is to shed light on the importance of fundraisers and their work. If they are to be successful, fundraisers need to conduct research to facilitate the efficient and accurate matching of donors and the causes they might wish to support, and to do so in a way that makes the experience as pleasurable as possible for the generous donor.

THE REPORT FINDINGS INCLUDE:

  • 90% of fundraisers believe that conducting research enables fundraisers to better communicate and tailor their work to the interests and priorities of donors
  • Most (88%) fundraisers believe that conducting research reduces the levels of unwanted or irrelevant mail sent out
  • A representative survey of the general UK population found that almost two-thirds (60%) of those who prefer charities to communicate in a tailored way with them, think that charities should be able to use information that is publicly available, for example doing Google searches or drawing on newspaper articles, in order to tailor their approach to their supporters.

The report also highlights that:

  • Two-thirds of major donors believe that a ‘more professional approach’ by fundraisers has been a key factor in the development of philanthropy in the UK

https://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/library/good-asking-report-2017/