Prospect Research

All Donors As Major Donors

Popular Fundraising Models
From Penelope Burk to Terry Axelrod, there are a lot of different models and fundraising programs out there. Many development shops base their fundraising programs on one of these models. I’d love to hear back from you on what model you use and what you’ve found to be successful. Donor Centered Fundraising- Penelope Burke: Focuses on personalizing your appeals and proposals to each individual donor. Benevon- Terry Axelrod: Focuses on event fundraising using a tried and true program format. At the center of the event program is a compelling donor story.

Getting Started with Social Media Volunteers
After working for six months as the social media coordinator at Puget Sound Blood Center, I’ve learned valuable lessons about cultivating a base of social media volunteers. The social media community has an impressive commitment to volunteerism and nonprofit fundraising that. The Blood Center’s own social media volunteers send alerts via Twitter and Facebook during emergency blood shortages, educate friends through blog posts, leverage their social networks to fill blood drives, and donate special skills such as graphics design. Before recruiting your own social media volunteers, be sure to have the following

Key Pieces of Database Info
Earlier this week I talked about the importance of knowing where to put donor information in your database. Today I want to talk about what information I’ve found to be the most inconsistent and, by keeping that data relevant, how much more powerful your database can be. Most of the inaccuracies I find are in simple contact and personal information: addresses, phone numbers, and emails. How many donors have you lost touch with because you don’t have any way to get a hold of them anymore? Have you ever made a follow-up call only to find out the person you’re calling for is now deceas

How Well Do You Know Your Database?
Every organization I’ve worked for has always had a hard time using their database to capture donor information and keeping it up-to-date. Many will say this is because they don’t have the staffing to properly update the database. But I think that most often staff just don’t understand how it works. Every organization should make sure that they are training their new employees as to where donor information lives in their system. Most databases have multiple ways you can record and keep information and I’ve found that organizations hardly ever do everything the same way. Take 30 minutes with your staff and help them understand how to update a donor record and where to input

How Long to Hold a Lead
I wrote earlier this week about “What’s a Lead” and today I’m going to talk about responding to these leads. When you come back from an event you attended, what do you do with your leads? Does it take months before any of these people ever hear from you again? I’ve found that people have very short-term memory when you first meet them. There are so many nonprofits, so many networking events, and so many people to meet. If you wait too long, people start to forget who you are. I try to send an email within a day of meeting someone new. That way they still remember who I am, and it gives us another ch