20 Direct-Marketing Ideas for Small Nonprofits, Part 2

6. Explore homemade modeling
Build your own model with the data you have, Temeles said. Consider building your model with data such as:

• Date added
• E-mail behavior
• Event attendance
• Volunteer history
• Purchases
• ZIP code
• Gender

"Use as much data as you can to develop models to target your donors and prospects better," Temeles said. "A commercial model often has a significant outright investment, but an in-house model is cheaper. There is still a cost in time and effort, but it is a smaller investment. Don't disregard your own internal information. Put it to work."