Focus On: Data Mining: Hope is Not A Strategy
Conclusion
While the idea of recapturing lapsed donors isn’t new, the approaches, available tools and the strategic thinking are much improved. The most successful nonprofits haven’t waited for things to get better; they already have embraced this new thinking and are developing strategies.
It’s important to remember that your data files are essential tools. The data, by itself, will not give you all of the answers. It simply provides a framework that can help guide intuitive marketing strategies that can be applied to specific areas of need. By examining your data, you can stop hoping and start implementing effective database-driven strategies that will ensure not only the growth of your direct mail program, but also an increase in donors.
- Companies:
- Merkle|Domain
Greg Fox is vice president of nonprofit vertical strategy at Merkle. He joined the company in 2000 to establish a data-driven, strategic fundraising agency group. Fox is a 30-year veteran of direct response fundraising, with expertise in developing innovative fundraising marketing strategies and solutions. He has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for many of the largest and most respected fundraising brands in America, and while he has broad-based fundraising experience, he is highly regarded as a leader in the national health-charity sector. Prior to joining Merkle, Fox was a founding partner in TheraCom, a leading provider of full-service specialty pharmacy solutions and marketing strategies that served the healthcare and charitable industries. He also served as vice president of direct response fundraising at the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where he started his career and created the organization’s first national direct response program. Fox is an industry thought-leader, frequent speaker at industry conferences and an active participant in the DMA nonprofit federation. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
