How do you train and mentor staff on affinity rating?

1 Define affinity rating

The first step is to make sure your staff understand what affinity rating is and why it is important. Affinity rating is a measure of how likely a prospect is to give to your organization, based on their personal and professional background, values, hobbies, affiliations, and other indicators of their alignment with your cause. Affinity rating is different from capacity rating, which is a measure of how much a prospect can give, based on their income, assets, giving history, and other financial factors. Affinity rating helps you focus on the prospects who are most passionate and engaged with your organization, and who are more likely to respond to your cultivation and solicitation strategies.

2 Explain the rating system

Explaining how to assign affinity scores to prospects is the next step. Depending on your organization's preferences and resources, there are various ways to do this. Popular methods include using a numerical scale (i.e. 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, with higher numbers indicating higher affinity), a letter scale (i.e. A to E or A to F, with A being the highest affinity and F the lowest), or a color scale (i.e. green, yellow, red, with green being the highest affinity and red the lowest). It is important to have clear and consistent criteria for each level, which should be documented in a rating guide or manual for staff reference. Additionally, it is necessary to review and update the rating system regularly as goals and priorities may change over time.

3 Demonstrate the rating process

The third step is to demonstrate to your staff how you rate prospects, using real or hypothetical examples. You should walk them through the sources and methods you use to gather and analyze information, such as online databases, social media platforms, news articles, internal records, and external contacts. Explain how you weigh and combine different factors to determine the overall affinity score, such as frequency and recency of contact or involvement with your organization, level and type of giving or support to your organization or similar causes, personal or professional interests or passions related to your organization's mission or vision, membership or leadership in relevant groups or networks, and recognition or awards for philanthropic or social impact. Additionally, it is important to highlight any challenges or pitfalls you encounter in the rating process such as lack of data or information, bias in interpretation or judgment, and changes in prospect's behavior or circumstances.

4 Provide feedback and support

The fourth step is to provide feedback and support to your staff as they practice and apply the rating skill. You should create opportunities for them to rate prospects on their own or in groups, followed by reviews and discussions of their results. Encourage them to ask questions, share insights, and learn from each other. To do this, consider conducting regular meetings or workshops to review and update the rating system and criteria; assigning rating exercises or quizzes to test and reinforce the rating knowledge and skill; creating a rating checklist or template to guide and standardize the rating process; establishing a peer review or mentoring system to exchange feedback and advice on rating cases; and celebrating and rewarding rating achievements or improvements.

5 Monitor and evaluate the rating outcomes

The fifth step is to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of your rating efforts, and use them to inform and improve your fundraising strategies. You should track how affinity ratings correlate with actual giving behavior, as well as collect feedback from prospects and donors on how they perceive their relationship with your organization. To do this, you can create a rating dashboard or report to monitor and compare the affinity scores and giving levels of your prospects and donors. Additionally, you can conduct a donor survey or interview to assess and enhance their satisfaction and loyalty. Post-gift analysis or debriefs can be used to identify and replicate the factors that influenced their giving decision, while lost-gift analysis or debriefs can help identify and address the factors that prevented or deterred their giving. Lastly, a donor retention analysis or report can measure and improve the retention rate and lifetime value of your donors.

6 Keep learning and improving

The sixth and final step is to continuously learn and improve your rating skill and system, as well as that of your staff. Affinity rating is an ongoing and dynamic process; you should be open to new and better ways to collect and interpret data about prospects and donors, and adjust your rating criteria and methods accordingly. Additionally, you should look for feedback from other sources and experts. Reading books, articles, blogs, or newsletters on prospect research and affinity rating, attending webinars or workshops, joining online or offline communities of prospect research professionals, or consulting external consultants or trainers on prospect research and affinity rating are all great ways to gain knowledge.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?