It Takes Good Data to Do Good

One of the biggest mistakes we see far too many nonprofits make is not examining their data and continuing to use the same ineffective list appeal after appeal.

When it comes to fundraising, organizations would do well to think of data as the road to gold.

A 2024 Forrester study found that 72% of organizations report that their data exists in disparate silos. Hopefully, that isn’t the case with your data.

Also according to that study and an adjoining article, “The Top 7 Nonprofit Technology Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2025,” the average nonprofit uses 5 or more separate systems beyond their main CRM.

That’s crazy!

The difference between a one-time donor and a lifelong supporter often comes down to whether they feel recognized, appropriately thanked and relevantly communicated with. Fragmented data makes all 3 nearly impossible.

For a $50 million technology team, expensive CRM’s may make sense, but for a $2 million nonprofit where the fundraising staff is often 3-4 people or less, the math just doesn’t work.  

If you’re asking questions like “Who gave last year, but not this year?” “What was our retention rate?” These are the wrong questions.

You should be asking, questions that predict results, like

• “Who is likely to lapse in the next 90 days?”

• “Which donors show upgrade potential?”

• “What is the optimal amount we can ask of each donor?’

• “Which donors are most likely to respond to this appeal?”

Here’s hoping your data is in good shape and easily accessible. If you’d like to talk about using your data more effectively give us a call at 708-974-2600, ex. 104.