I’ll say it every day – there is no greater tool in a nonprofit’s toolbox than their data. This statement remains true, regardless of the size of your organization. Capturing good data and maintaining healthy records are healthy habits that every organization should aim to instill in their employees. Let’s take a look at some of the most important information inside a donor record and how to use it:

Donor Name

One of the most obvious – you need to know what to call your donors. Many organizations stop at first and last names but many donor softwares include other fields. Personally I find the most important field to be Preferred Name.

A preferred name is, obviously, the name in which your donor prefers to be called. For example, if you have a donor named James Johnson and he goes by JJ, it’s good to have that on record so you can use it when contacting him. 

Another name field that is often available is Prefix, including Mr. Ms. Mrs., etc. A prefix that allows for formality without linking an individual to one gender or another is Mx. (you can read my blog post about it here). I highly recommend including Mx. as an option for donors to identify with when filling out forms or making a donation. 

Gift Amounts & Dates

Again, the importance of this information is pretty obvious. You want to know how much someone has given and when they made their gift. In the past, it was common for donors to make their donations around the same time every year. This still happens, especially with older generations.

Nonprofits can use this information in their solicitation strategies. If a donor has been giving consistently every year in November and it’s mid-December and you haven’t received your gift, it might be a good time to reach out to them and remind them how important their donation is to your organization. Some organizations make it a standard to send email solicitations to donors on the ‘giving day’ of last year’s gift as a reminder to renew their commitment. 

There are many other ways to use this data. Segmenting appeals and varying language for first time donors and consecutive or multi-year donors is also common practice among many nonprofits. Remember, the key to an effective appeal is to make it feel as specific and connected to a donor as possible. 

Contact Information

Address and email are, of course, one of the most vital pieces of information an organization can keep because it’s how we contact our donors most frequently. 

Phone numbers remain vital as well, especially for stewardship efforts. I’ve worked with an organization whose Executive Director made time at the beginning of every month to reach out and call first time donors from the previous month directly. They thanked them for their generous support and got their story on what encouraged them to give, plus gave a brief sentence on how to stay up to date. 

Some donor databases have started adding fields to enter social media handles such as links a donor’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Social media can be an excellent tool for fundraisers to learn more about donors before meeting them. If your database does not provide a specific field for social media handles, I recommend finding an unused field or utilizing the notes section to capture this information when possible.

Last Contact

Every time you reach out to a donor, it should be recorded. Whether they were sent a direct mail or email appeal, survey, etc. Knowing how and when they were last contacted by the organization can help you identify if they’re being contacted too often or even not enough. It can also be a great lead for a conversation. Next time you give a donor a call, consider starting with “I wanted to make sure you got our last direct mail appeal, the story inside made me think of you because…” 

Miscellaneous Details

For a fundraiser, the miscellaneous details or notes sections in databases are often left empty. Fundraisers keep their own files and often forget to transfer that information over to the database. However, this means if an employee leaves, they take all of that knowledge and information with them. 

You can use these sections to take notes on the donor’s original reasons for getting involved with the organization, details on their family or other interests they have that you may be able to connect back to the organization, and so much more.  

Your data tells the story. 

Your database is a mountain of information just waiting to be used to help you have more genuine and authentic communication with your donors. Your appeals, stewardship efforts, and marketing are only as good as your data allows them to be.  Learn more about segmenting your data in my blog post, Segmentation 101. I encourage every organization to give all employees a method of updating records, whether it is direct access, filling out a form to submit to someone else to input, or sending an email. Every detail can be used to make your fundraising efforts better. 

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