Happy July AFP Friends.

I’m excited to jump in on this month’s newsletter as AFP-WNC’s Treasurer and resident Advancement Services professional. During June’s professional development topic Beyond CRM Data, our presenter Philip King asked an interesting question, “Who are pre-donors?” or put another way, “What are the actions a person takes before they make their first donation to your organization?” I wanted to share the resources that Philip outlined and provide some database tips and tricks for capturing pre-donors.

Here is my first tip. Ask yourself if there are data sources that you can add to your database. For example, event attendance, newsletter sign-ups, volunteer participation are all indications that a person has an interest in your mission. I would encourage you to add individuals from each of these sources.

My second tip relates to the first. Consider taking a systematic approach to adding data. Pick a day each month that you look at new newsletter sign-ups and move them over your database. Create a template for adding event attendance. Document your process so that when you add your next fundraiser’s attendees, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

These are some methods for identifying and adding constituents to your database. Philip shared with us some incredibly powerful tools to help identify pre-donors before they are added to your database. Here is a summary of what he shared:

  • Google Analytics – Use to measure your websites audience. Get your IT folks involved in implementing this.
  • Google Ad Grants – Apply for this grant to use on Google Ads. Get your interns involved in preparing this application.
  • Performance Max Fundraising Campaigns – Use to market your organization across all of Google’s platforms, including, google search, google images, and YouTube.
  • Fundraiser Up – Use to start integrating AI to help you raise more money online.

It’s important for us to capture donor data because donors are our partners in achieving our mission. I would encourage you to think about the sources of data that you could add to your database, along with leveraging new technology to help you identify pre-donor outside of your CRM. Who will your next donor be?

Onward,


Andrew Nelson
Board Treasurer, AFP-WNC