Category Archives: Discussion

Someone is Always Making Money

Discussion, Resource Links, , ,

As Florida waits and wonders if BP’s oil disaster is going to visit its beaches, most people are thinking about the environmental damage and the whammy it will bring to the just-thinking-about-recovering tourism industry. Those impacted the most so far, Louisiana, found people making a rush on the fresh fish markets, fearing stalls would be empty soon.

But as a prospect researcher, every time I hear of a downturn I know that someone is making money. Every crisis, every market crash, and yes, every environmental disaster means someone is going to be rolling in dough. Wouldn’t you have wanted the company manufacturing and distributing face masks during the SARS crisis to be your best donor? Well at this moment BP is paying folks to try to stop the oil leak, to clean up the spilled oil and for all of the services that wrap around those activities. Are any of those companies on your donor prospect list? I hope so!

I attended the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement-Florida chapter conference last week and was favored with a presentation by Lori and David Lawson of DonorTrends. This couple is always full of usable advice on prospect research and last week was no exception!

The Lawsons pointed out that the economy is always going up or down and that someone is always making money along the way. I’ve talked about “recession proof” businesses before such as waste disposal and funeral homes, but the Lawsons talked about those businesses that do even better when the economy is going down. Companies like repossessors, second-hand stores, junkyards and auctions are on the list. I could almost hear everyone in the room slapping their foreheads and saying “duh!” Yes, it sounds obvious once you hear it, but most of us are not viewing the economy from this perspective.

But the Lawsons didn’t just talk at us, they pointed us to some fabulous resources like Industry Trends information from a financial analysis company called Sageworks. Find out which private companies were doing the best and worst. Or maybe you have a donor prospect in one of the businesses that people are willing to indulge in when money is tight.

As a nonprofit it is in your best interest to diversify your portfolio of donors as much as possible. Prospect research can help you do this.  Take a peek into your donor database and start searching for donors whose business or industry might be doing even better right now and give them some special attention while you are waiting for other donors to recover.

Supporting Advancement

Discussion, , ,

ToolFingersHave you heard of SupportingAdvancement.com? Well, if you’re in the nonprofit world I hope so! It has been a resource I’ve had on my Favorite Link List from its inception! Here’s what the website says about itself:

“We provide resources of interest to those supporting advancement and development targeted primarily to the higher education space. However, many of the lessons, tips, tricks and techniques can be applied throughout the nonprofit sector.”

But I would put it a bit differently. I would say that Supporting advancement provides nonprofit professionals with the practical tools and real-life examples that lead to success!

And I have been honored with the privilege of being included! Check out my two contributions here:

Comprehensive Profile

Three Simple Steps to a Prospect Management System

A big, hearty thanks to Brian Dowling, Principal and Founder of Supporting Advancement!

Effective Relationship Management Systems

Discussion, , ,

SandboxA relationship management system goes beyond moves management or prospect tracking. At the Association of Fundraising Professionals international conference in Baltimore last week Lisa Howley from Johns Hopkins University presented on Effective Relationship Management Systems.

She created a system for Wheaton College in Massachusetts with a development shop of ten and is creating one at Johns Hopkins where there is significantly more staff. The relationship management system goes beyond moving major gift prospects through the giving cycle by incorporating policies, such as privacy and gift policies, actual practices, the database and overall procedures. This addresses all sorts of issues around the kind of contact any donor might receive from the organization.

At Hopkins there are complications such as multiple schools and numerous development staff touching the same donor who may have multiple interests and affiliations with the school. However, even in a small shop it can be useful to create a smaller relationship management system addressing issues such as who, if anyone, must approve a solicitation before the donor is approached, what and how much data is recorded and tracked in the database, and what role volunteers such as board members have in touching donors. Creating a policy communicates expectations to everyone affected.

I view creating a relationship management system as a way of organizing development efforts so that everyone plays nicely in the nonprofit sandbox!

Facebook and your Database

Discussion, , ,

HubSMThe Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) group on LinkedIn had a recent discussion posted. A fundraiser was wondering if there was an automated or easy way to get a list of her organization’s fans so she could add this information into the donor database.

As it turns out someone commented that his organization has a direct update from Facebook to its Harris Connect online alumni community. From there the data is exported in and out of the donor database.

Are you looking for ways to keep track of your different methods of engagement?

The Multi-Channel Fundraising Game

Discussion, Fundraising Analytics, , ,

WoodGameThe Philanthropy Journal wrote an article about the results of a new study released by Convio: The Next Generation of American Giving.  What I found most compelling is that people across the ages are responding and engaging with nonprofits through many different channels such as direct mail, website, social media, and events. My own preferences are that I enjoy getting Facebook updates, I like to attend events of interest, I receive a printed request to give and then make the gift through the website.

What does this mean for prospect research? Right now many nonprofits are struggling with how to track and evaluate direct mail and events, but movement is afoot to track and evaluate interaction across all those channels. By incorporating multi-channel interaction into the donor database, donor analytics could take on new dimensions saving time and money by allowing nonprofits to react and predict donor behaviors.

Is your organization tracking Facebook interactions in your database? How about Twitter or LinkedIn? Do you know if the commenter on your blog is a donor?

Forbes Asks: Why use a researcher when there's Google?

Discussion, , ,

Young Learners Need Librarians, not just Google is an article published in Forbes on Monday, March 22, 2010. A parallel article could have been titled – Small Development Shops Need Prospect Researchers, not just Google. Author, Mike Moran, repeatedly mentions children’s inability to discern credible sources and their inability to find the most relevant material amidst the overwhelming heap of irrelevant material. Yet many nonprofits continue to believe that they can type a donor prospect’s name in Google and find everything they need.

The reality is that prospect research was always more complex, even before the internet. When searching was done in the library it was still important to know which sources to use and how to summarize prospect information for use by a gift officer. Finding prospect information is as complex as ever.

There are many sites purporting to “mine” the web for you, and sometimes they do a decent job of digging through the massive content on the internet. Dangerously, people often assume that because the website located the information, the information is both correct and belongs to the prospect. In fact mismatches and errors abound and are endlessly repeated.

A prospect researcher verifies information from primary sources wherever possible, alerts nonprofits when information is at risk for error, and includes self-disclosed or hearsay information (think Twitter, Facebook etc) only as appropriate, identifying the sources clearly. The two most important things a prospect researcher does for you is (1) ensure that standard biographical, occupational, wealth and giving history information is not overlooked, and (2) sift through and summarize the information ethically. A really good researcher can also alert you to possible gift strategies.

Researching your prospect requires specialized technique that goes way beyond Google. That’s why Aspire Research Group is so proud to offer small and mid-size organizations professional prospect research, without breaking the budget.

Data dust is gold dust for Google

Discussion, Fundraising Analytics, , , ,

The February 27, 2010 edition of the Economist has a special report on managing information. Wow! I love the way the Economist pulls together their reports. I know that Amazon tracks what I’m browsing and offers me suggestions. I know that Facebook tracks posts and comments on fan pages. I know Google offers me alternatives when I misspell words. But I DID NOT know just how lucrative all this data dust is and how deep it goes.

As it turns out, Google didn’t just develop a spell-check, it spent several million dollars over 20 years using all the misspellings users type into a search window and then “correct” by clicking on the right result. All that dust I create when I type badly is being used by Google to create a competitive edge! And now Google is developing translation and voice recognition services using the same approach.

Even more curious about Google is that it does not have to own the data to benefit. The report mentions Google’s foray into electronic medical records suggesting that it might be able to use the data to accurately predict things like flu outbreaks. BUT users retain ownership and could take their records out of the system any time they want to.

It makes me wonder how fundraisers can use giving data “dust” to create better experiences for our donors and financially stronger organizations. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we don’t need to own sensitive data about our donors, just use its dust to give us predictors!