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Bring your databases together to open up communication opportunities
Jonathan Poisner, Jonathan Poisner Strategic Consulting
Once upon a time, there was a world in which all the fundraising nonprofits did was “off line.” People would mail you checks or hand them to you in person. You would log them in your database.
Then came the internet and email. Suddenly, you could communicate with people electronically and they could make a donation online.
A whole slew of companies emerged who developed products that allowed organizations to accept online donations. Others formed to let you build email lists and generate actions by those contacted by email.
Suddenly, organizations were faced with the threat of having multiple databases – one for fundraising and one for online advocacy. Plus, another for online fundraising, unless you figured out a way to move data from the online donation database into your offline fundraising database. Some groups also kept track of their volunteers separately.
By now, most organizations have figured out that that world sucked. (Or sucks for those still living in it). Or more appropriately, that world creates a bunch of extra data entry, and, perhaps more importantly, fails to fully seize the synergies within your organization.
Today, every organization should be working towards the day when their offline and online fundraising, as well as their email/internet advocacy, are integrated.
Here are six examples of communications opportunities you would not easily have if you don’t bring your databases together:
· You’re an Exec. Director meeting with a major donor. As you head to the meeting, you can glance at the summary record in your database and see that she is subscribed to your email advocacy list and regularly takes action. You instantly have a conversation starter around which to learn more about what issues prompt her action.
· You’re a volunteer recruiter looking at a list of past volunteers. But now, your list can also indicate not just their history of volunteering, but also whether they’ve attended any of your fundraisers and/or donate.
· You’ve just pulled a list to mail a request for renewed membership. The next day you can pull the same list and fire off a quick email to the same list giving them the heads up that their renewal will be arriving in the mail.
· You’ve just scheduled your big annual dinner. You can easily pull a list to email anyone who’s bought tickets (or attended) your event in the last 3 years, so you can send them a “save the date” message.
· You’re sending an email fundraising appeal (either stand alone or as part of a 3-4 part “campaign”). You can easily remove from the list people who’ve just given (in the last 4-6 weeks) or who you are pursuing with a personal solicitation at that particular time.
· At the beginning of each month, you can send a special “welcome” email to all people who became first time donors in the last month, letting them know other ways they can get involved. Or, better yet, some systems now will let you set it up to send such an email to any donor automatically, exactly 5 days (or however many you select) after you log their first donation.
Obviously, when selecting a database, there are many basic questions you need to answer about its capabilities to track different types of fundraising so that you can analyze what’s working and make appropriate future fundraising requests.
But once you’re satisfied with the database at that level, you should map out in a more detailed way your top priorities for integrating online and offline fundraising, along with electronic advocacy and volunteer recruitment.
Then set up business systems to take advantage of those communication opportunities.
Oh, and don’t forget to relentlessly train your staff about the system’s capabilities, so that they don’t fall back into a pattern of treating each of these functions in a silo.
Jonathan Poisner helps organizations thrive through consulting and training, focused on strategic planning, fundraising, communications, and other organizational development challenges. You can read more about Jonathan at www.poisner.com