Making Data Dance

Virtually all non-profit org's have a database. But very few actually make the data they collect work for them. That's why a robust data-management tool is vital these days.

In a recent article, Ken Osmond makes the same case. The money paragraph:

"Data is not merely a tool from which to make tactical mailing-list selections. It also can influence your messaging and your brand. Data can help to create models and segmentation that make you more effective and better stewards of the task with which you have been entrusted. Knowing how to use data can enable you to make appeals to your donors and potential donors that speak to their needs, interests and tendencies, to help you stir a person's soul, inspire her--or at least reach the person where the odds of doing so are in your favor. At the very least, data management can help you stop trying to convert those who cannot be turned."

It's Alive! Aggressive Data Management Can Breathe Life Into Your Development Strategy

By Ken Osmond
Since 1999, the task of raising funds for nonprofits has become increasingly challenging. Among the factors that have contributed to the situation at hand: the tech stock bubble bursting, the gradual shift of high-paying jobs overseas, and the $600 billion dollars that left our economy following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The aviation industry needed a $15 billion dollar bailout. Enron, Tyco and other business calamities have zapped pension funds and left thousands out of work and without retirement benefits. And the war on terror and a presidential election year have made 2003-2004 an even more competitive time for donations.

There is a lot at stake for nonprofits, and the resulting marketing and communications noise generated by so many institutions literally is drowning potential donors in information and requests for money. How can any nonprofit get its message out with all that competition and marketing noise? Even if you get your message heard, who's to say your appeal will be considered most worthy among all the others?

Data very well might be the answer. Most organizations view data as a lifeless and one-dimensional asset. Some don't even see it as an asset at all. The fact is, the more data you have at your disposal and the more willing you are to search for insight within that data, the more successful you will be.

Data is not merely a tool from which to make tactical mailing-list selections. It also can influence your messaging and your brand. Data can help to create models and segmentation that make you more effective and better stewards of the task with which you have been entrusted. Knowing how to use data can enable you to make appeals to your donors and potential donors that speak to their needs, interests and tendencies, to help you stir a person's soul, inspire her--or at least reach the person where the odds of doing so are in your favor. At the very least, data management can help you stop trying to convert those who cannot be turned.

Transactional and demographic data are a powerful combination that can give your research more precision, refine your message and reveal opportunities that might otherwise have been invisible to you before. A greater understanding of your donors enables you to detect your strengths and your weaknesses and quite possibly can give you an edge.

It makes sense for an organization to make the effort to get to know the people it's soliciting. After all, it's not likely that people will give your organization money until they know about you.

The difference in success can be made by accomplishing the following:
1. Know your brand and build it.
2. Get back on message and simplify your appeal.
3. Understand your transactional data and segment donors accordingly.
4. Gather demographic data that helps you understand the underlying pathology of the behavior exhibited in your transactional processes.
5. Conduct research to understand what motivates people to give you money (or pass you by).
6. Integrate what you learn from the analysis and modeling of data into your creative, your message, your brand, and your management approach.

Data is not a lifeless asset. It could very well be the lifeblood of your economic engine.

Posted by David at October 25, 2004 09:35 AM