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Davenport & Barr

 Beyond Philanthropy Vol.1, Issue 8

                              May, 2012

Davenport & Barr welcomes LeadingAge™ Missouri as a new client!

Click Here to learn more about the innovative program Davenport & Barr is offering LeadingAge™  State Associations. 

Riches or Ruin: Where Will Your Data Lead You?

By  Mike Gaito, Director of Information & Analytic Services, Spencer Group

Just as every donor has value to an organization, so does every piece of donor information you collect. Accurate tracking of this information can lead to endless opportunities for your organization, while inattention can lead to wasted dollars and squandered possibilities.

Many organizations avoid the topic of data management - brushing it off as something "too technical" or something they let the IT department worry about. In actuality, data management is less about technology and more about developing data entry standards and implementing workflows that ensure accurate collection of your donor data. Also, since the development team members are the ones who are going to be using the data for solicitation and segmentation purposes, their input on how it is stored and organized is essential.  

Here are a few simple tips that can help improve your data management procedures:

• Create a data entry manual - even if it is only a one page Word document. This will allow for consistent entry for anyone entering data. Even a single day volunteer could help with address updates if there are rules and policies to guide them. 

• Make sure all your data is being entered in a consistent and timely fashion.

Is staffer A entering email addresses in the same place staffer B? Is the whole team clear on how gifts are to be credited to donors?

• If you don't already have one, consider investing in a donor management system. A donor management system will help you manage your data in a quick and efficient way. There are a number of high quality, low cost donor management systems on the market. We work with and recommend Little Green Light - www.littlegreenlight.com. 

• Clean up your data before you migrate.

If you do decide to migrate to a donor management system, for the first time or to just a new system, examine your data for issues and solve them BEFORE you import data into the new system. As the old saying goes, "Garbage In, Garbage Out".

Every donor has value. The more you invest in your donors, the higher the possible return. Investing time and resources in data management procedures and tools allows for additional analysis and reporting that will help with goal setting and prospect identification that will help your program grow. Ultimately, good data allows you to know your donors better and the better you know your donors the better they will be to you.

See Mike Davenport's article about the BEN donorPortrait in this issue to learn more about the opportunities that a good set of donor data can provide.

Initiating or Enhancing Your Planned Giving Program?

By Mike Davenport 

Whether an organization is initiating a new planned giving program or planning to enhance an existing one that seems to be languishing, the most important asset, which is often overlooked, is the data that exists in the organizations donor file. Every donor is an asset, and every donor has a definable value. Do you really know what is in your donor file? Do you know how well your annual appeal is performing? Can you measure how loyal your donors are? The answers to these basic questions will provide the most useful information in determining how to structure and promote planned gifts. In fact, information that already exists in your data file can be far more valuable to your organization than any effort to determine the wealth of the folks in your organization's service area.

Having a BEN™ Donor Portrait analysis conducted of your data file is perhaps the most cost effective way to determine the possibilities for increasing planned gifts and developing the most effective plan to begin having conversations with your most loyal donors - those who have demonstrated consistent patterns of giving to your annual appeal. You have made significant investments in acquiring this most valuable asset - your donors. Now is the time to plan for their most effective use. Click here to learn more. 

Feelings...Nothing More Than Feelings

    By Karen Davenport     

Is your organization in the midst of preparing for a spring appeal? If you are still looking for ideas for a compelling and persuasive appeal letter . . . forget about sharing statistics and facts with your donors. Instead, deliver a moving message.  

A British researcher found that emotional material, not factual material, made messages more persuasive. The message in advertising is irrelevant, new research shows. Dr. Robert Heath, from the University of Bath's School of Management, found that high levels of emotional content enhanced how people felt, even when there was no real message. On the other hand, messages low on emotional content, but high in news and information, had no positive effect on how the public reacted. As fundraisers, we must move people to take action. And to move someone, we must inspire them; once we have hit that emotional tie we can begin to form a connection. Facts can play a supporting role -- Many people, having been emotionally motivated to give, may try to talk themselves out of it - facts can help overcome that and close the gift.  

According to a 2007 Guidestar   ARTICLE that quotes Tom Ahern, author and CEO of Ahern Communications, Ink, the seven top emotional triggers worshiped by the direct mail industry in the United States are: Anger, Exclusivity, Fear, Flattery, Greed, Guilt and Salvation.    

A choice of emotions that diverse should be more than enough to suit any fundraising occasion!