Donor Relationship Management

Recently, I said to someone that direct mail is a "melting iceberg." By that I mean that it's big, but continually shrinking due to people's habits changing. So instead of still building around direct-mail CRMs that can output postcards to different households, nonprofits need to focus on different inputs feeding a single CRM.

The person said to me that the term "melting iceberg" might offend nonprofits since so much of their income is still tied to direct mail.

At first I felt bad that it may have come across dismissive. But then I thought about Amazon.

If your lists aren't helping you build relationships, they're pretty worthless. This isn’t just a semantic difference or a slight change in strategy. This changes everything. I’m not suggesting that you burn your email list or abandon social media. They are powerful tools — and once you start building relationships, you’ll find that you increase the breadth of your engagement, as well as the depth of engagement, for each person who interacts with you. So, what does building relationships in the nonprofit space really look like?

Although content management system products are all built to produce a similar set of results, they don’t all necessarily offer the exact same features. It is important to ensure the product you choose is really going to work for your organization. The process of choosing a CMS can often take a bit longer, and be tougher, than expected, because there are so many options to evaluate. We’ve outlined a preparatory process to help guide you toward choosing the best-fit CMS for your nonprofit.

We fundraisers say we are ready to embrace insight, but the signs are not really there. If you are ready, email me now! If you are not ready, here are some recommendations.

I'm going to come out of the gate challenging all you marketers and even analysts with a brain teaser. I had to read this whitepaper three times to make sure I understood the formulas correctly — but I'm in love with the concept of "Campaign Influence."

The more I work on fundraising software procurement and implementation projects, the more I ask this question: How much does the supplier's experience of fundraising matter?

For years, this hasn't been such a relevant question, at least when purchasing packages as opposed to bespoke systems, because most new fundraising database systems were supplied by companies who either specialized in the sector or who at least had a dedicated department who did so.

This article is a must-read for people who think they are tracking long-term marketing metrics.

Fundraisers need a platform that includes a comprehensive array of fully integrated online fundraising and communications applications for donor tracking, website content management, online marketing, social networking, personal fundraising, online donations, online auctions and event management.

Nothing keeps donors engaged like timely, personal acknowledgments. If donor acknowledgment is the key to retention, what are the keys to donor acknowledgment and recognition?

Creating a culture of philanthropy within families can help ensure continued giving and engagement for generations to come.