3 Ways To Analyze Data

Prospecting for donors has some similarities to what the Gold Rush prospectors did in the the 19th century. Back then, it was enough to shake a pan of gravel in the water and look for what nuggets stayed behind.

Fundraisers are doing the same thing now when combing through data, but it's no longer good enough to use that old-fashioned approach.

Prospecting is a much more sophisticated process these days and, according to Helen E. Brown, Jennifer Filla and Debbie Sokolov, it can pay much bigger dividends than before. Speaking during the AFP 50^th International Conference on Fundraising, they said that fundraising can be improved through prospect research, and that consists of three main components: data analytics, relationship management and donor research.

Looking more closely, they are:

• Data analytics. This includes electronic screenings, data mining, donor modeling and graphing. It helps identify new prospects, segments donors and prospects quickly and efficiently, and, illustrates division/department/individual progress toward goals.
• Relationship management. This means prospect tracking. It makes sure no potential major donor gets lost between the cracks, measures activities to show the board and donors how close the organization is to its goals, and, provides continuity with donors even though staff changes.
• Donor research. This gives the organization the confidence to ask for a stretch gift, finds the links between donors, prospects and the organization, allows the organization to set up a personalized strategy around each major gift prospect, and, keeps the organization current on public events in a prospect’s world.

9 Ways To Measure Nonprofit Data

We live in a society where it's easy to be overwhelmed by data. It seems as if there are statistics about virtually everything, making it hard to figure out which numbers are actually important. Nonprofits are among the groups that are gathering more data  than ever, but not all of them are using the information they gather, or are not using it as well as they can.

Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye Paine wrote in their book, "Measuring the Networked Nonprofit," that it is more important to evaluate impact than to gather and store numbers. They offered nine suggestions on how organizations can get the most out of the statistics they gather:

• “Likes” on Facebook is not a victory. Social change is a victory. Proper measurement keeps organizations focused on results rather than the tools they use.
• Measurement helps nonprofits understand and improve their social networks. It helps them listen to and engage with constituents.
• Measurement means data for decisions, not for data’s sake. It isn’t numbers to dump on the board’s desk.
• Measurement makes an organization plan for success. Measurement leads to smarter investments and smarter use of those investments.
• Good measurement is good governance. Credible evaluation reports and demonstrations of impact are crucial.
• Data without insight is just trivia.
• Measuring failure is part of the path to success. If an experiment bombs or a great idea isn’t really so great, learn from it, and learn why it happened.
• Incremental success is no failure. Victories often come in baby steps.
• Measurement is valuable at every level of functioning.

Is Your Nonprofit's Data Safe?

Chances are your nonprofit's database has a plethora of files containing sensitive donor information. With hackers constantly in the headlines, it's important that you keep your data secure.

There is no foolproof way to completely secure your files from hackers, but there are ways to significantly reduce the risk of data breach. Jon Biedermann, vice president of Softerware Inc., recommended five practices that can be used when information is stored on an organization's own computers or with a hosted backup provider.

The five practices are:

• Backup, backup, backup. The greatest risk is not because of hackers; it’s data loss from computer failure, fire or other accident. Complete backups should be performed every day.
• User ID and password security. Some of the most stringent requirements are used by the healthcare industry under the Health Information and Patient Privacy Act (HIPPA). Included in this act: passwords are at least seven characters, with a nonalphabetical character; passwords are not displayed on screen; passwords should expire and be changed every 60 days; no more than three unsuccessful log-in attempts; access to data should be limited to certain subsets.
• Audit trails. A database system should be able to provide a security audit trail of user login.
• Physical security. This includes not only computers and servers but also access to printed records.
• User security awareness training. Make users aware of “phishing” schemes.

Nonprofit Giants Make Deals To Improve Donor Data

Three of the most prominent companies in the fundraising business are in the process of growing even further and providing more convincing evidence that data is king at the end of the day. Blackbaud, based in Charleston South Carolina, is a technology firm that markets financial and online fundraising software. The company spent $17.5 million to buy public interest data in Alexandria Virginia, which provides database management services, acquisition list services and data analytics and enrichment services for nonprofits. The Internet fundraising firm Convio, based in Austin Texas, announced that it will be spending at least $5 million in order to acquire Strategic One, an analytics predictive modeling and database marketing services company located in Kansas.

Strategic One touted itself in the innovative terminology of 'business intelligence', which refers to the collection, modeling and integration of fundraising and donor information. In each of these cases the companies agreed to pay as much as $2.5 million more depending on the relevant revenue objectives. In addition to these business developments, WealthEngine, based in Bethesda Maryland, a provider of wealth identification- and information-based fundraising solutions announced that it purchased and will put to use Oracle exit-data database machines. The upgrade is expected to dramatically improve the performance, user-friendliness and scalability of its wealth intelligence solutions. The financial information related to this deal has not been released.