Collecting data is one of the most important things a nonprofit can do to be successful. But that’s only half the job! 

Your nonprofit runs various initiatives and has a lot of data to track, whether it’s about your donors (giving frequency, volunteering, giving amounts) or about your nonprofit’s growth (success of initiatives, new member growth, donor retention). That’s one advantage of using a comprehensive constituent relationship management (CRM) system.

Spending time with someone is an essential part of building a relationship, whether they’re a family member, friend, significant other, or even one of your nonprofit’s donors! 

Staying motivated and motivating your employees determines whether your nonprofit is able to complete day-to-day functions. After all, fundraising and meeting program goals can be challenging, and it’s easy for even dedicated employees to occasionally feel disengaged.

In nonprofits, employee retention is crucial in achieving the mission, sustaining impact, and growing the organization. Nonprofits rely heavily on passionate and dedicated individuals to drive their initiatives forward. 

However, due to limited resources and intense competition, attracting and retaining talent in the nonprofit sector can take time and effort. One factor that significantly impacts retention in nonprofit organizations is leadership.

Running a text-to-give fundraiser requires a lot of moving parts, from creating text donation appeals to segmenting your contacts so your messages are tailored to the individual. However, if you aren’t taking time to assess how your text fundraising campaigns are performing, you won’t know whether your communications are as effective as they could be.

Nonprofit direct marketing relies on accurate data to create highly-targeted promotional materials that appeal to donors and drive meaningful support on behalf of your cause. In this guide, we’ll explore four ways that your nonprofit can use data to make the most of direct marketing.

Imagine this scenario: 

You receive a promotional email from an eCommerce brand that you’ve purchased from in the past. You take a look at the email, learn about a special deal the brand is running, and are now interested.

Donor lapse (also known as donor attrition) is a common nonprofit challenge, but not an unsolvable one. A lapsed donor is a donor who gave to your nonprofit in the past but hasn’t donated again within a specific time period (typically 12 months).

You’ve likely heard the term “Great Resignation” to describe the trend of thousands of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs in 2021. Nearly every industry felt its impacts—including the nonprofit sector. While for-profit employees often cited the desire to find more meaning in their work as their reason for leaving, many nonprofit staff resigned due to burnout from taking on multiple roles within their organization at the same time.

This trend has led many nonprofits to reevaluate their strategies for retaining staff members. If your organization is in this position, one consideration that you’ll almost certainly discuss is compensation.

Your CRM provides your nonprofit with essential donation tools, donor management features, and campaign planning and hosting tools. While it may seem like each CRM functions similarly, it’s important to note that each provider places different emphasis on various features and may offer an entirely different suite of tools and support your organization may find useful.

With lean and mean roots, Cellar Angels opened its proverbial doors with all the drama and vigor of a sapling grapevine pushing through terra firma. They began with no professional money, relying heavily on a bootstrap model of raising start-up funds through the support of friends, family, and fellow wine enthusiasts. Despite the harrowing maze of paperwork, countless hours spent with Illinois and California-based legal experts, and a hysterically simple, yet pivotal call with California Alcohol Beverage Control, their time spent in launch-mode was not for naught. Throughout, they were given the life-shaping gift of spending time focused on their truest passion: traveling through Northern California’s Napa and Sonoma counties looking for vintners’ treasures.

You’ve probably heard it before: Not all donors are made alike. If you treat your donor base as a monolith, these differences in what donors want and need from your nonprofit can seem like a drag. However, when you recognize and identify these distinctions, they can be your fundraising program’s greatest strength.

While data research is essential across the nonprofit space—from developing advocacy campaigns to hosting events—this guide will focus on how donor data can benefit one of the most vital elements of your nonprofit: your fundraising efforts.

Data research can help you:

• Find new donor prospects.

• Personalize your fundraising communications.

• Optimize your ask amount.

• Track your fundraising success.

Ultimately, the process of data research and marketing analysis can help you determine the best way to improve current and future fundraising campaigns. With this in mind, let’s start with one of the biggest benefits of fundraising data research: lead generation.