4 Simple Ways to Make the Most Out of Your Donor Data

As a nonprofit organization, the support and donations from your donors are crucial to the running of your entity. Your donors are extremely important and there is no better way to grow the relationship between you and your donors than to know the latter inside out. It is always beneficial to know each of your donor’s giving history, intervals, interests, likes and dislikes. This may seem like a daunting task but it can be made easy with a donor management software that will keep a record of all donor information. You can then use all the information to nurture your bond with each of your donors. The following are our top picks on how you can retain your supporters using the collected data. 

1. Centralization of data

Once you make sure that your Constituent Relationship Management system (CRM) and fundraising tools are enabled for integration, you will be able to sort the donor data coming in from different tools such as emails and online donation forms, among others. For instance, GiveCentral Salesforce Sync enables nonprofits to leverage the power of two robust tools for data management and fundraising. One major benefit of centralization of data is that it will help you create automated and customized reports while reducing the risk of duplication and errors. 

2. Personalized & effective outreach

Integrating your email tools with your donor management software will enable you to learn about donation preferences, demographics and engagement history. Taking all this into account, you can launch personalized communication for your campaigns and causes. Addressing the donor by his/her name and being able to quote the amount donated last time by the person are simple examples of thoughtful and personalized communication. Your nonprofit can also segment the donors and send reminders accordingly. You can identify major donors using prospect research that again uses the information from your donor data. Lapsed donors can also be reactivated using personalized communication. 

3. Attract better prospects

While retaining your existing donors, well organized data will help you identify and attract potential donors. Although this is not a quick process, the more you learn about your current donors and supporters, the more you will understand the nature of donors that donate to your campaign. You can begin with the social media platform that your supporters are most active on and start running campaigns as you target a specific audience. Your volunteers can also act as a bridge for you to gain more donors. 

4. Thank your supporters better

When your message of gratitude clearly states why you are sending the same, it is likely to create a bigger impact, a lasting one at that. Delivering personalized thank you emails/letters is an important part of fostering a long term relationship with your donors; remind them of their importance in the working of your organization. Your communication should always show that you know your supporters well, this can be made simpler and easier by using the data gathered by your donor management software. 

Conclusion

It is ideal for nonprofit organizations to plan their campaigns and actions keeping in mind that they need to be donor-centric throughout the giving process and after. Therefore, donor data and the use of the data should be considered a priority to generate growth and sustenance.