Why Don’t We Use Box Files for Donors’ Record?
Not joking, this is the unexpected comment from one of the executive committee members of a local charity. I was sitting in their Exco meeting as an independent advisor when their Executive Director made the proposal for a cloud-based database for recording all constituents’ information and relationship history. I was caught off guard when that Exco member enquired why can’t they use box files for the purpose and she believes it’s cheaper to acquire and operate, no training required, easier for everyone to access the information on file. I’m afraid it is the 21st century already and I seriously hope they are not still operating out of pigeon posts, facsimile or telex. A bit of background for your reference before we go on. The organization did not have a proper, centralized database. Each department has their own version and each one captured different information of essentially the same group of stakeholders, worse, in many cases; such information is not aligning or even contradicted. This is the reason the ED urged to have a single, centralized one for everyone. At other times, I found quite a number of small to medium-sized organizations are still using simple excel file as their sole database, which captures mostly and only names, contact information, last gifts/supports they gave. Yes, a database is for storing data as the name suggested of which box files can serve, but it should able do far more than that.
In today’s environment, an appropriate database is indeed an all too important tool in managing the relationship with all your constituents, namely prospects, donors, volunteers and other supporters, which helps in bettering the donor journey and experience. Hence, in addition to data storage, a proper database should able to contribute to the organization in the following ways, at least:
1. Streamlining and facilitating communications: For example, it reminds you of important dates of a particular donor/organization with an advance reminder to alert you in taking the corresponding action, such as send a greeting card, make a follow-up call, and etc. In addition, some database has the function in integrating emails platform with internal instant messaging groups, i.e. Whatsapp or Slack; in better organizing of internal communications. On the other hand, it helps in external communications too. Rather than broadcasting to all in the database, it can be targeted to a specified segment with a personalized message, which has the capabilities in tracking open rate, click rate, click-through rate, rebound rate; whereas all the in and out-going messages were captured. Meanwhile, it should able to allow you to schedule future emails.
2. Provide a detailed picture of the relationship: It can help in capturing of all the interaction and relationship history between the organization and each of these constituents, for example, when and who at the organization emailed, called, mailed, met who; what is the purpose that specific interaction, the outcome, what’s the subsequent actions/respond required, what was scheduled for the future. Or vice versa. So that, at time of staff turnover, your organization won’t lose sight of the relationship while succeeding executives can easily, instantly get the full picture of the relationship built over the years with any constituent.
3. In addition to daily connection, an electronic database can do a lot of behind the scene analyzing and reporting that enable the organization to do a better job in fundraising and friend-raising. The more sophisticated your database, the more it is capable to doing various analyzing and reporting in supporting of evaluation and planning, such as the overall giving trends or the trend among particular donor groups, changing in giving over a defined period, ROI of a certain campaign, tracking the expenses of a specific campaign, statistical reports on gift size and frequency or alike, periodical fundraising financial reports, and…
4. Identifying of specific donor groups for given campaigns, for instance, a donor upgrading campaign for donors who gave over a certain amount of money continuous for more than five years, or a campaign in re-engaging lapsed donors.
5. Donor profiling: Tracking each donor’s preference on interacting with your organization, e.g. how do they respond to your diverse communication media, message and events, how often they take the initiative in reaching out to you if any; changes of their demographic outlines, and…
6. Track donors through the fundraising funnel: Most nonprofits have only the vaguest idea where their prospects stand in relation to making a gift. They say things like, “she’s not ready yet,” or, “I probably should give him a call.” That’s not tracking… that’s guessing. Nonprofits that always hit their fundraising goals tend to have, and use, a clearly defined donor funnel of which a database is a crucial tool in enabling it to happen.
All of these are considered as the basic feature for a proper electronic or cloud-based database. As the sophistication level lifts, you can also rely on it for, say, lead generation, marketing automation and integration, meeting scheduling, fundraising event ticketing/RSVP, fundraising budgeting and a lot more. One challenge encountered by organizations and their fundraisers today is the urge to get into the brain and heart of their supporters. A suitable database is indeed a pair of new lens through which the organization achieve so in getting to know its prospects, donors and other supporters. Well, so back to the two cases I quoted upfront. Don’t you still think a set of box files or an excel spreadsheet can accomplish all these mentioned functions for your organizations effortlessly?