Guiding Donors’ Journeys With Your Database System

First, you need an understanding of what journeys the supporters have historically taken with your organization. To do this, you need three things: your donor database, a reporting tool such as Excel and some imagination. Your donor database should have a complete giving history over at least the last five years or so for each donor. And for each gift, you need to know the date and value, and whether or not it was part of a recurring commitment. You also need a record of the other significant events in a donor’s history such as a planned gift.