Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP Global)的动态

Transcript

Hi, everyone. I'm here with Cannon Brook, Founder of Brook Solutions and Jennifer Oyer, Founder and Chief Joy Officer of Community Impact Advisors. So Cannon and Jennifer, thank you for being here today. Thanks for having us, having us be fun in April. Yeah. So in April you're going to be presenting an FBI Icon in Seattle session called Leveraging data-driven Strategies to Amplify Fundraising Success. So let's talk a little bit about that session. So as consultants, I'm sure you've seen both ends of the spectrum when it comes to how comfortable organizations are with data. So tell us a little bit about how the nonprofits you work with are currently using data and what might be holding them back from fundraising strategies that are data-driven. Well, the disparity between the organizations that we work with that know how to use the data well is huge. But I would say that most organizations do not know what kind of data to capture, or if they do have the data, they don't know what to do with it. So I believe that your data is core to how your fund development program operates. Data helps to create and drive strategy and allows you, you know, to tweak along the way. So find a good CRM that is easy to navigate and easy to use. I worked with one nonprofit who had a budget of less than $500,000 and had about 250 people in their donor database and they were using Blackbaud raisers Edge NXT. Which is super powerful and very expensive. It's not cheap and it was also very complicated. The person that was using it didn't really know how to use it so. You don't need something that complicated, so do your due diligence and find something that will be a good fit based on your size, budget, and organizational capacity. Canon. What do you think? Really good points. I would add to that SO. Initially, when he had this discussion about being data-driven, I tell my clients you want to be data informed first of all, because data performed is that you're using the data, but you're not ignoring like the hunches, anecdotes and all the things behind it, your domain expertise or data-driven as you're just going straight to the data. I'm not saying don't believe the data, but there's other pieces to that puzzle that you need to consider for analyzing the data. I see it being used a lot of different ways actually. So everywhere from forecasting to modeling to predicting your donor pool size, segmenting mailing lists and all that, I would say. Of the biggest hang ups I see with the data is well too actually the data quality but also there's a cognitive bias so many times the clients I'll see there's a story that they come in at confirmation bias where they there's a story they want to tell it doesn't matter what the data says like no, no, we're doing we're doing really super sweet right now Ignore like the ROI and the churn rates right. So you don't want to come in there with a story that you tell you wanna be open to what it's gonna tell you and yeah. So for organizations that are less experienced with data, you kind of touched on this. What's 1 strategy or analytic approach that they should prioritize and why? Canon you want you want me to take this one or Yeah, absolutely. There's a ton so. Uh, I would say tearing for, oh, there's two of them really. That's hearing and segmenting. So first of all, like the tearing is a great way to cluster your donors into groups. So if you're a fundraiser and you have a portfolio, many times I'll see there's like 150 names on there. You want to tear them like ABC 123 just so you can figure out a better way to work your list, right. And segmentation, this is for more like the broader term of the broader analysis. And we should say if you have like a target group with some sort of characteristics, so. If you want to look at like a generation like Boomers and Gen. X or whatever, or major donors, annual donors, mid level, whatever you want to say different ways, those are some ways that you can approach the prioritize your data. So on the flip side of that, what are the tech savvy organizations doing right now that will seem like kind of magic to us non data people? Ohh boy, anyone take a stab then I can. Yeah. OK. So I would say that the power of research is incredible and I believe that the most successful fundraising operation should and do invest in deep dives on what I call deep dives into a donors giving habits. Um, so much goes into securing a major gift, right? It's not just. The one-on-one visits, I think that's definitely a part of that. It is the cultivation and stewardship, but it's also the research that goes into that particular donor research I think is the magic that helps the organization understand how to convert donation oriented donors into philanthropic investors. I think research helps you to see the donors giving habits and their passions and then leverage. That with the organization's needs and their strengths. So it's really a beautiful thing when the two come together. And I think that's really where and when Cannon and I get excited about data and looking at data. So do you have any advice? I'm sorry. I was gonna say that's that's music in my ears and I gave it like a little heart there as a researcher here and that we can collaborate with the fundraisers. That's where the magic happened. And Dennis hit it on the spot right there. So thank you, Jen, for calling that out. I appreciate that. Do you have any advice for using data during a campaign to refine your strategy based on what the data says it's working? Sure, I'll jump on this one. I guess since we're going we're here. Umm, you want to and Jen touched on this a little bit. You want to clean your data regularly, like the shelf life, for example, of an e-mail is really like five to six months. So if you're in a campaign, it cams are going longer, right? It used to be like three to five years. Now it's seven to 10 and definitely it feels a good times. So those well screens that you did back when you first did in your silent face, you're gonna have to redo that every couple of years and refresh the data. Like I said, work with the company to augment your data clean it, make sure it's tip top because there's nothing worse than having messy. Data because. No matter. Whatever tools you have or whatever you're using, the researcher, there's only so much we can do with if it's junk essentially, right? So you can't really put lipstick on a pig, as the saying goes. So you gotta make sure it's clean and nice and tidy. Yeah, I would say the AB testing and the key metrics. Is important. Campaigns do bring in new donors and in many cases an organization has two to three years to build meaningful relationships with them because campaigns, you know, go on for 2345 years in some cases. So I think this is really when analyzing your first time donors is really, really critical because it helps you build a good baseline. For growth and. Again, going back to, you know what Kenny mentioned about key metrics, if you're not keeping track of that or starting to when you're in a campaign, then that's. You're not going to be able to build strategy and make tweaks along the way of your campaign. So yeah, those are some, I think. And pieces of Nuggets of information that of how to use data during a campaign. So how can fundraisers ensure that their data-driven strategies don't unintentionally limit their audience and instead promote inclusion and equity in their dinner engagement? I think that's a great question, and I think this might sound contradictory, but I truly believe that segmentation actually promotes. Inclusivity and equity and. I say that because rather than mass emailing or mass soliciting donors, segmenting them and providing targeted and focused communication and messaging to a specific group actually helps field actually helps donors feel much more included and. So it sounds contradictory, but I really believe, again, segmentation is important and you want to be able to target the right audience with the right message for specific campaigns, right? So I would say. Fundraisers can ensure that their data-driven strategies don't limit audiences if they actually segment their data cannon. What do you think? Yeah, no, definitely that and kind of what Jen said. You don't want to just do the shotgun approach. I like the donor messaging. People could sniff that out be authentic and authenticity, right. And you're she's right. Like you do want to segment into certain groups because again, what how you talking to a Gen. 0 rights not gonna say no cap to your donor. I just threw out some lingo. I don't know what that means, but you know, anyway, so you know, so yeah, yeah, you have different donor segments and you wanna make sure that you're honoring their communication styles or preferences. And that goes with the marketing too. If they have like any sort of requests where we prefer e-mail, snail mail, text messaging, whatever, it all makes sense into that. So totally agree with Jen. Hit it right on the spot on that one. So finally, in your session description, you refer to yourselves as a friend of me duo. Um, so tell us a little bit about that. And how do you think attendees will benefit from the different perspectives that you offer? Yeah, that that, that's that was me. That's a good tell. Yeah, that's total click bait. No, Jen and I love each other. We have nothing but respect. We do banter a lot. And I think that you'll see we've banter a lot. There's a lot of synergy and strategy with that. The days of the researcher being just a reactive busy body answering requests in the back, this I'm a consultant is a little different, but even at a shop are done. We are at the forefront strategy with the fundraisers where team members, we need to be at the table and we are at the table. It's starting to change now, but. It's more of just the relationship that you have with your the fundraiser and I know you'll see that with our presentation. So I think you guys look, we can make it fun, but also engaging. Yeah, we, well, I personally use that term very endearingly. When I talk about Cannon and. You know, I don't, we don't have any fundamental dislikes or rivalry or anything like that. I think maybe the only rivalry or annoyance I have with Canon is that I don't get enough of his time because he's so busy with really big clients. But the work that researchers do and the work that Cannon and I do together, it's so wonderful because he, I consider him a part of my team and. Fund development programs and teams should consider their researchers as part of their team because we wouldn't be successful if we didn't have the data and the analytics and the deep dives or the research that goes into. Truly understanding a donor so. The work that Cannon does makes me a better fundraiser, so and I think, I think. Attendees that comes to our session will learn how to better work with their researchers and research department to help them be stronger fundraisers. Alright, well thank you both for being here today. To give us a preview of the session and if anyone watching is interested in learning more about the topic, make sure you register for AP Icon, taking place in Seattle April 27 through 29th.