How to Collect and Use the Data In Your Donation Form

/in , /by

Whether it’s a physical sheet of paper or a page on your organization’s website, a donation form is a crucial component of any nonprofit’s giving process.

A donation form not only allows you to accept and record donations, but when created correctly, a donation form can unlock powerful data to track fundraising trends, make informed decisions, and strategize future fundraising efforts. Moreover, donation forms can reveal valuable insights into how supporters give to your organization and how best to communicate with them in the future.

With this in mind, in this guide, we’ll answer the following frequently asked donation form-related questions:

Before diving into building a data-driven donation form to boost giving to your organization, let’s first review its core components.

What is a nonprofit donation form? 

A donation form is a key tool used by nonprofits to collect information and process contributions. Donation forms can exist both as physical forms that supporters can fill out by hand and as digital forms that supporters can fill out on your online donation page.

 

At its core, your donation form should include fields for basic contact information, gift amount, and payment details. However, many donation forms include additional fields that help nonprofits better understand, thank, and retain their donors. Below, we’ve cataloged the most essential fields to consider including in your donation forms.

What should be included in a donation form? 

  • Contact information. Ask for donors’ names, emails, phone numbers, and physical addresses to follow up with thank-yous and personalized appeals in the future.
  • Donation amount. This is a necessary field to complete a donation, but it’s also important to understanding giving trends and knowing how close you are to reaching your fundraising goal.
  • Payment information. In order for a donation to be processed, you’ll need to collect information about how a donor plans to pay. 
  • Matching gift search. Including a matching gift tool on your donation form allows donors to determine if their employer has a corporate giving program that will amplify the impact of their donation.
  • Campaign-specific survey questions. Depending on the fundraising campaign, you might ask additional questions about how donors learned about your nonprofit and why they’re donating. To make your form as streamlined as possible, consider making these questions optional.
  • Thank-you landing page. Once donors submit their donation, automatically direct them to a thank-you page that suggests other ways for them to get involved in your cause.

Using these fields to collect donor information not only helps build out your donor database but also provides vital data and insights that can improve supporter engagements and further develop relationships. 

What data should you collect from a donation form? 

Each field in your form can translate into impactful giving data. As a result, you can learn more about your donors:

    • Personal information. When someone makes their first donation, the most basic information you’ll receive is their name and contact information. As a result, your nonprofit can use this data to address donors by their preferred name and title in your future solicitations to improve your chances of receiving a response.
    • Engagement history. Assess the frequency of a donor’s contributions and their average gift amount alongside other ways (volunteering, attending events, serving on your board) that they’re involved in your organization. With this information, you can predict the timing and amount of future donations you will receive from a given group of donors. 
  • Demographic information. Information about your donors’ educational background, age, location, hobbies, interests, and reasons for giving all serve to help you better understand and connect with supporters.
    • Employment info and matching gift eligibility. An individual’s business affiliations can give you an idea of their net worth and potential connections. Plus, if they work for a company with a matching gift program, you can reach out to begin the gift match process.
    • Payment preferences. People can make donations with cash, credit, debit, online payment systems, and checks. Tracking how donors give will help you tailor your future asks and the payment options you give your donors.
  • Communication preferences. Similar to payment preferences, knowing how your donors want to receive communications from your organization allows you to target your giving requests more effectively.

Even if you’re not able to collect all of this information in your donation form, that doesn’t mean those data points are lost forever. With just a core set of basic donor data collected in your form, a third-party provider can append additional data to enhance the information in your database.

How do nonprofits collect donation form data? 

While you can certainly collect donation data with hard-copy donation forms—and some donors will prefer that!—integrated online forms and fundraising tools make it vastly more manageable for you to organize, update, and analyze your fundraising data. As a result, your team can spend less time trying to catalog data and more time responding to trends and implementing your insights.

For the most effective data-driven donation forms, your nonprofit should plan to invest in:

  • A payment processor that helps you securely collect billing information, prevent fraud, export data, and avoid hidden fees.
  • A constituent relationship management (CRM) system to ensure your donor data is centralized and accessible for both future outreach and strategic planning.
  • An online fundraising platform, such as one of these solutions recommended by Re:Charity, to easily and automatically track donor data as supporters fill out your online donation form to make their gift.

When choosing solutions to create and process your donation forms, look for those that can be integrated into your existing systems. Always customize your tools and donation forms to fit the unique needs of your organization, collect the most impactful data, and streamline the giving process. 

Once you begin collecting donation form data, you can take the next steps to use this data to optimize your form and your requests for donations. iATS’s guide to accepting donations online recommends: 

  • Removing excessive and redundant fields that can slow down the donation process and lead to form abandonment.
  • Branding your form to align with your organization’s logo, colors, images, tone, and fonts.
  • Adding suggested giving amounts and recurring gift options to encourage donors to increase support for your organization.
  • Optimizing your form to automatically adapt to be accessible across different screen sizes.
  • Automating receipts and thank-you letters to send to donors immediately after the gift is processed.

As you collect more data, continue to refine your donation form to drive more conversions and maximize gifts. Good luck!

About the Author:

This is a guest post from Peggah Azarvash at iATS Payments. Peggah is a passionate iATS Payments’ Sales Executive with 10 years of experience, providing payment solution support and guidance to nonprofits.

Why Your Nonprofit Should Be Collecting and Analyzing Data

/in , /by

As a nonprofit fundraising or marketing professional, you’re always looking for ways to connect more deeply with your donors and create outreach campaigns that resonate with them. Whether it’s your online fundraising pushes or awareness campaigns, you want to develop content that speaks directly to your supporters’ preferences and motivations. 

These outreach efforts all have one thing in common — they’d all be vastly improved with the incorporation of data analytics. 

Never before have nonprofits had greater access to high-quality data, such as charitable giving statistics, as well as the necessary tools to collect and understand the data. This information can help guide your organization’s fundraising and marketing efforts to ensure you’re making the most of every supporter interaction.

In this quick guide, we’ll discuss the three reasons why your nonprofit should be collecting data: 

  1. Data collection is no longer out of reach.
  2. Data helps you connect with your donors.
  3. Data can improve your fundraising. 

We’ll also highlight a few best practices for editing and organizing your data properly to ensure you’re using it to its full potential. Let’s get started. 

1. Data collection is no longer out of reach. 

The first reason your nonprofit should be collecting and assessing data is because the process has never been easier. Software solutions specifically built for nonprofits have made data collection and analysis accessible for organizations of all sizes.

Let’s take a look at a few of these solutions and how they simplify and streamline the data collection process:

  • Nonprofit CRM: Your nonprofit’s CRM is your most important tool for collecting and assessing donor-related data. Plenty of nonprofits turn to comprehensive systems like the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) in place of other solutions to store and assess donor data using a robust database. With your donor database, you can store data regarding donors’ names, contact information, past giving history, event attendance, and more. Then, you can leverage this data in outreach campaigns and donor stewardship efforts to build genuine supporter relationships. 
  • Donation software:With powerful donation software, you can not only accept online payments but also automatically collect information about the individuals submitting those gifts, such as their names, contact information, and even how they heard about you. 
  • Event management software: Your nonprofit probably hosts a variety of events throughout the year, from fundraising 5Ks to galas, auctions, and more. Event management software allows you to easily track metrics such as ticket sales, total fundraising amount, and attendance rate. 

You might think these tools are only available to large, well-funded organizations, but the truth is that nonprofits of all sizes can access them. For instance, the Salesforce NPSP offers free subscriptions for up to 10 users from your organization. 

Also, while you may assume these tools are complicated to set up and use on an ongoing basis, that isn’t the case. The initial set-up for some of these solutions will take some work, but once they’re up and running, they can function nearly automatically and often integrate with your existing software platforms. This can save your team plenty of time and allow you to avoid any manual data entry and assessment tasks.

2. Data helps you connect with your donors.

Getting to know your supporters is probably one of the most pressing tasks you work on daily. When you prioritize building authentic relationships, it becomes much easier to ask for donations later on down the road. 

Using donor data, you can step into supporters’ shoes to understand their perspectives and figure out the best ways to reach them on a personal level. Collecting donor data allows you to: 

  • Personalize messages: You can use tools like your online donation form and CRM to store personal information that lets you get to know your donors better. Then, you can personalize outreach using donors’ names, referencing their previous involvement, and sending them new opportunities based on their past interests. 
  • Segment donors for tailored outreach: Using the donor data stored in your nonprofit CRM, you can group donors based on shared characteristics using a process called segmentation. For example, you might create groups for new donors, volunteers who haven’t yet donated, lapsed donors, and major donors. After you’ve defined these groups, you can send messages to each segment that resonate with their preferences and interests. This makes your outreach feel more relevant and relatable. 
  • Optimize marketing content: All of the marketing platforms you use, from your email marketing system to your social media pages, collect analytics about your audience’s behavior. These metrics allow you to understand which marketing messages supporters interacted with the most and why. You can capitalize on your most engaging strategies and adjust the ones that aren’t working as well to optimize your marketing content. 

Your supporters broadcast their preferences and interests constantly through the ways they interact with your organization. It’s your job to collect these data points and assess them strategically to connect with your audience more deeply. 

Supporters will feel much more inclined to continue connecting with your organization if you’ve made a serious effort to get to know them and appeal to their interests. This can help boost your donor retention rate and develop long-lasting donor relationships. 

3. Data can improve your fundraising. 

You may sometimes feel like your fundraising planning consists of a little bit of strategy and a little bit of luck. With data, you can make your campaigns more strategic by relying on hard facts rather than hunches or best guesses. 

Here are just some of the ways that data can improve your fundraising: 

  • Event analytics can help you determine why attendees decided to register, when they were most engaged throughout your events, and what influenced them to give to your mid-event fundraising pushes. Plus, you can collect data through event tools such as sign-up sheets or post-event surveys which ask supporters to provide feedback on their most and least favorite aspects of the experience. All of these factors allow you to plan a more engaging event next time around. 
  • Donation page data can help you determine your most popular donation amounts and donors’ preferred giving methods. Then, you can use this information to establish your suggested giving amounts and ensure that you have the proper payment processor system. 
  • Donor data can also allow you to craft more tailored fundraising requests. You can pull information from your CRM such as your donors’ names, titles, and past donation amounts to personalize your outreach and request an appropriate donation amount. 
  • Predictive data can help you conduct prospect research — the process of identifying potential major donors. NPOInfo’s guide to fundraising data explains that you can use your CRM to keep an eye on donor trends, such as donation size growth and increased participation in events and other opportunities. These trends might reveal that certain donors are willing and able to become major contributors. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how you can use data to optimize your fundraising campaigns. You can also keep track of overarching fundraising trends using data points such as your fundraising return on investment (ROI), online donation rate, and donor retention rate. All of these data points will give you a bird’s-eye view of the effectiveness of your fundraising strategies and where you should focus your energy. 

Before you can start collecting and leveraging data effectively, ensure your organization has a solid data hygiene strategy. Audit your existing data for irregularities, eliminate or correct errors, and establish standardized data entry procedures for your entire team to follow. 

Once your data is clean and organized, you’ll be able to rely on it for future fundraising and marketing campaigns. This can help boost your ROI since you’ll only be directing outreach to active supporters using their accurate contact information. 

When your organization has a clear plan for collecting and analyzing multiple types of data, you’ll be prepared to take on fundraising challenges with an informed, data-driven strategy. 

 

About the Author

Karin Tracy

Karin Tracy, VP of Marketing at Fíonta, is a seasoned designer and marketer with a passion for serving nonprofit organizations and being a small part of bettering the world. She is a certified Pardot Consultant and Marketing Cloud Email Specialist, a fan of automation and reporting, a lover of animals, and devourer of popcorn.

At Fíonta, Karin drives marketing efforts for all internal and external projects. Her direct service work is focused primarily on marketing strategy and automation for Fíonta’s MCAE (Pardot) clients.

Donor Cultivation: Top Insights from NPOInfo’s Educational Panel with NXUnite

/in /by

NPOInfo’s Brian Lacy joined Amy Boroff of Amplifi and Martha H. Schumacher of Hazen and HILT for NXUnite’s “Cultivating Relationships: Strategies for Getting to Know Your Donors” panel. Each panelist brought their industry expertise to this panel and offered valuable insights into donor cultivation. 

Over the course of the hour-long panel, the speakers shared information about building your donor base and answered questions from a live audience Q&A. The panelists provided tips for organizations new to donor cultivation, strategies for starting donor cultivation initiatives, and guidance on building sustainable cultivation practices.  

Here are three key takeaways from the discussion: 

    1. Learn More About Your Donors
    2. Highlight Donors’ Impact
    3. Reshare Key Points in Donor Communications


Learn More About Your Donors

Understanding your current donor base is foundational to donor cultivation. Amy Boroff offered suggestions for learning more about your supporters, highlighting surveys as a simple way to get to know your donors. 

Surveys can be leveraged to understand what current donors are interested in. Ask donors what kinds of programming they would like to see, and learn who has participated in past initiatives. 

This is also an opportunity to discover your supporters’ goals for your organization and what motivates them to give. Knowing what drives your supporters to give is an important aspect of conversion, from small appeals to year-end major gifts. 

Answers to your survey questions provide valuable insights into your donor demographics and interests. This information can be used to construct your ideal donor profile and focus cultivation efforts on your target supporters.

 

Highlight Donors’ Impact

Following up with your donors after an event is an essential step in facilitating donor engagement. Phone calls, handwritten notes, or thoughtful gifts are effective ways to recognize supporters. Brian Lacy of NPOInfo also described the importance of communicating an event’s success to supporters, noting that even donors who do not attend events are invested in your organization’s impact. 

Lacy suggested dividing your event budget in thirds. One-third of the budget should be spent promoting the event, and the second third should be used for the event itself. The final third of your budget should be dedicated to sharing the success of an event with your supporters. 

Talking about what happened at the event and its positive impact shows donors what your organization accomplished with their investment. This encourages them to continue their support.

 

Reshare Key Points in Donor Communications

When communicating with donors, repetition can ensure that your message reaches the most people. Brian Lacy emphasized that though nonprofit professionals see their communications every day, donors may only see them once. Repeatedly contacting donors allows them to notice and think about your messages.  

Repeated communications can be used to target specific audiences. After sending an email to a group of donors, Lacy suggests resending the same email with a different subject line to people who didn’t open the first message. 

In addition to increasing email open rate, resending emails with new subject lines provides data on which subject line is most effective. In combination with fundraising data analytics, this data can inform your approach to donor outreach.

 

Conclusion

Effective communication with current donors and ongoing outreach to potential supporters builds a strong donor base. Through donor cultivation efforts, your organization can foster an engaged donor base and expand your capacity to make an impact.

Learn everything you need to know about social media appends with this guide.

Social Media Appends: Locating Your Supporters’ Profiles

/in /by

In today’s fast-paced world, social media is one of the most direct and effective ways to reach out to constituents. In fact, around 22% of social media users spend their time online to be a part of a community that values the causes and interests they care about. The vast online space allows them to connect with global, like-minded communities and interest groups by simply joining a Facebook group or following different Twitter profiles and topics.

If you want to take advantage of the social media world for nonprofits, social media appending can help you tap into those tight-knit communities!

Collecting data through accurate social profile appending empowers you to get to know your supporters, their ever-changing interests, and what drives them to support your cause. In turn, you can form deeper, more meaningful relationships that help donors, volunteers, and other supporters feel more fulfilled in their philanthropic lives by pushing your mission forward.

To help you start reaching prospects where they already are, we’ve put together this ultimate guide to social media appending. Here’s what we’ll cover:

Here at NPOInfo, we value effective data management. While our main focus is on other types of appends, we recognize that social media is an incredible resource when it comes to getting to know your supporters. When paired with other appends like those for email and postal addresses, it’ll help your marketing ROI skyrocket!

Let’s dive in so you can learn how to take advantage of the wonderful world of social media appends!

Get started with our social media appending services.

What is a social media append?

Social profile appending is the process of updating outdated social media information and pulling new details for contacts in your CRM. This allows your marketing team to do the following

  • Invite existing supporters to join your nonprofit’s groups
  • Encourage them to follow your pages
  • Dive into their profiles to learn more about their interests

Especially when stewarding deeper supporter relationships, being able to find them online will be incredibly helpful. Constituents’ interests constantly change, so you can’t rely on the same information they provided you at the start of their relationship with your cause!

Further, turning to a professional services provider will ensure you receive accurate social profile append results. They can extract the information for you, removing the time commitment for your marketing team.

All you have to do is provide them with identifying information, such as your supporters’ names, past social media profiles, postal addresses, contact information, and any other details they’ve shared with your team. They’ll locate as many supporters on different platforms for you and share that information with your team!

Why use social media appending for your nonprofit?

Social media is a powerful fundraising tool with 32% of donors being inspired to give by social media. Plus, knowing where to find your supporters online has other obvious benefits, such as seeing what attracts them to your cause and forming connections. However, it may not be clear which social media platforms your nonprofit’s audience uses. 

That’s why we recommend turning to social media appending services. This allows you to pull supporters’ profiles in bulk by matching their data against a comprehensive database of social media profile information.

Once you have your supporters’ information from your append, you can launch your social media strategy to amplify your mission and forge deeper connections. As a result, your nonprofit will experience the following benefits:

These are the benefits of social media appends.

1. Tap into a global network.

There are more than 4.6 billion social media users worldwide, meaning your nonprofit’s content has the potential to be exposed to a massive audience. While not everyone who sees your posts will convert, social media can put you into contact with mission-oriented individuals who feel strongly about your cause. Plus, in addition to attracting a new audience, you’ll be able to connect with your current supporters to leverage peer-to-peer marketing.

Peer-to-peer advocacy is one of the most effective marketing strategies available to both nonprofits and businesses with 84% of consumers stating they trust the recommendations of their friends, family, and colleagues. Logically, this makes sense. After all, if a trusted friend vouches for a nonprofit’s work, it’s easy to extend the faith you have in that friend to the nonprofit they’re advocating for, especially when compared to cold outreach where you have to take an unknown organization at their word.  

Social media outreach creates this same level of social proof, as supporters see their friends talk about their own giving habits. When supporters follow your pages, share your content, or comment on your posts, this information will pop up in their followers’ newsfeeds or notification centers. This spreads awareness of your cause and presents your nonprofit as an organization new supporters can trust.

2. Send targeted appeals and create tailored program offerings.

Social media users curate the content shown to them based on who they follow, what topics they state they are interested in, and the posts they regularly interact with. By analyzing your supporters’ social media profiles, you can get a strong sense of your target audience’s likes, dislikes, and overall preferences. 

By having your marketing team explore your committed supporters’ posts and likes, you can:

  • Create tailored outreach that speaks to their unique interests
  • Adjust your product offerings to fall in line with their values
  • Create prospect profiles to guide who your team reaches out to 

This data can also be used for marketing outside of social media. Assuming your audience as a whole shares the general values of those with active social media presences, you can incorporate what you learned from your supporters’ profiles into your email and direct email strategy.

3. Create an open line of communication.

Social media differs from other digital marketing platforms by opening the door for two-way communication. Not only can supporters like, comment, and share your nonprofit’s posts, but your nonprofit can do the same!

Through your nonprofit’s profiles, you’ll be able to do the following:

  • Respond to and like their comments on your organization’s posts. Appoint a social media manager to post on your account and interact with anyone who engages with your content. This might involve answering questions, thanking supporters who shared that they donated, or empathizing with individuals who share personal stories about how your cause relates to their lives. These little interactions make your nonprofit more memorable and can lead to future support. 
  • Like, share, or comment on anything they post about your cause. If a supporter takes the initiative to promote your nonprofit, let them know you see their posts and appreciate them. Comment to thank supporters for the shout-out and provide additional context to their posts if necessary, such as sharing specific statistics about your work or linking to your website.
  • Direct message them when relevant. Social media is a form of indirect marketing where your posts are for a broad audience rather than a specific individual. However, platforms with messaging tools let you practice direct messaging, as well. This can be useful for answering highly specific questions, listening to and resolving supporters’ complaints, and forming connections with supporters who want to share their personal stories in a more private manner. 

Putting a friendly face on your nonprofit can be a challenge, but with social media, you can establish a positive brand reputation and build connections far more easily than through other platforms. After all, while supporters may not remember every digital ad they see, the nonprofit that responded to their comment personally is likely to stick in their minds.

4. Guide your omnichannel marketing strategy.

A social media append gives you another outlet to communicate with supporters, allowing you to expand your omnichannel marketing strategy. Omnichannel marketing is an approach to nonprofit outreach that uses multiple channels to guide a supporter through their donor journey. 

While multi-channel marketing delivers the same message on multiple platforms, omnichannel takes each supporter’s specific relationship with your nonprofit into account to customize the next message they receive. 

For example, let’s say you make a post on social media about a new program you’re launching, and a supporter comments on it. You then follow up with that supporter by emailing them more information about the initiative and inviting them to volunteer. Then, after they sign up to volunteer, you send a letter in the mail thanking them for joining your volunteer program. Finally, when they show up to volunteer, your volunteer manager may mention in person how volunteers can also help out by donating.

This approach helps push donor relationships forward while also building brand recognition. With a social media append, you can add social media engagement as one more link in your omnichannel approach.

5. Re-engage lapsed supporters.

A person’s social media profile gives you insight into who they are and how their values have changed over time.

If your marketing team wants to learn why someone stopped donating or volunteering with your nonprofit, take a look at their posts and the pages they engage with online. You might be able to pinpoint why they lapsed and find opportunities to connect with them based on their current interests.

Types of Social Media Appends

Here's an overview of different platforms for which you might append social media information.

You might have an idea of which platforms are most important to your cause, but if not, it’s worth considering early on alongside your marketing team.

Depending on the social media appending services you turn to, there are different sites you might pull supporters’ information from, such as:

  • Facebook: Considering this is the most widely-used platform, you’ll likely want to append social media profiles for Facebook. Great for connecting with your boomer and millennial audiences, this platform lends itself well to local marketing and relationship building. You’ll be able to easily share photos, post links to your nonprofit’s website, post long-form posts, and livestream to your supporters.
  • Instagram: Particularly popular among Gen Z and Millennials, Instagram is a fantastic place to share photos with supporters, conduct polls on your Story, and tap into both eCommerce and organic engagement.
  • Twitter: Great for connecting with people between the ages of 25 and 49, you might want to append social media profiles for Twitter if your nonprofit often has news stories to share, wants to engage in discussions with supporters, or has a more playful voice.
  • LinkedIn: If you want to tap into more of a professional audience, consider social media appends for LinkedIn. This platform is great for learning about supporters’ professional backgrounds, identifying corporate giving opportunities, and sharing long-form content about your nonprofit’s work.
  • TikTok: Most popular among Gen Z, TikTok is great for nonprofits that want to entertain their audiences, share inspirational stories, and call attention to pressing issues that require a community to get behind.
  • Snapchat: This platform is most popular among teenagers and younger millennials. If you have a younger audience, consider social media appends for Snapchat! However, bear in mind that this platform lends itself more to paid and location-based advertising rather than organic engagement.

Before you start locating supporters online, you’ll want to determine which platforms are most important to your cause based on your target audiences. Then, find a services provider that will append profiles on those sites for you!

For instance, you may online want to append data for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In that case, you won’t have a bunch of extraneous information since that’ll only clutter your CRM. You’ll instead only append and only pay for the data you need, helping to maintain good data hygiene.

How Social Media Appending Services Work

When it comes to finding your supporters on social media, your best bet is to turn to professional social media appending services. Expert services are much more reliable than appending the data yourself or using a generic database you find online!

A professional team will help you identify only relevant accounts for your contacts and remove the ones that aren’t useful or are fake.

When you partner with a data append team, here’s how you can expect the process to go:

This graphic outlines the social profile appending process.

  1. You provide the existing data you have to your social media append team. This might include full names, email addresses, past social media usernames, or any other information that will help them identify the correct people’s profiles.
  2. They search their database of consumer and business contacts for your constituents. Often, this can be done by simply entering people’s names or email addresses. This helps them find profiles associated with that information.
  3. They return the appended social media profiles to your team. They’ll let you know whether they found a profile associated with each constituent and what their username is. They may even import the data into your nonprofit’s CRM for you.

It’s that simple! While NPOInfo doesn’t offer social media appends, we’re happy to match you with one of our partners in the data enrichment space.

As we mentioned, we also offer plenty of other data append services that will pair well with your social media strategies. Whether you’re looking to append email addresses, postal addresses, dates of birth, or phone numbers, we offer services that can take your multichannel marketing strategies to the next level!

Reach out to chat about our data enrichment services and how we can help you strengthen your customer profiles with insightful data.

Additional Data Enrichment Resources

Social media is an incredibly powerful resource for learning about who your supporters are, why they support your cause, and how you can re-engage anyone who’s losing interest in your work.

If you want to more intentionally incorporate social media into your nonprofit’s marketing, social media appends will help you do exactly that! Turn to professional services to find your supporters online and reel them into your cause.

If you want to keep learning about data-driven strategies, the NPOInfo team is here to teach you all about effective data management! Get started by checking out these educational guides:

Get a free quote for NPOInfo's social media appending services.

Learn about demographic appends with this ultimate guide.

Demographic Appends: Stewarding Relationships Through Data

/in /by

When it comes to marketing, you need to know who your prospects are and what inspires them to support your cause, so you can send tailored outreach that encourages them to get and stay involved. Demographic appends can help you do exactly that!

Demographic information is a powerful way to learn about your supporters’ backgrounds, especially when paired with other details.

From filling out donation forms to registering to volunteer, supporters share information at every corner. While you’ll naturally gather supporter data throughout their relationship with your organization, there’s much more you can do to ensure you have the complete picture just by appending demographic data.

With the right provider, a demographic append is the most reliable way to fill in any gaps in supporters’ profiles. That way, you can send targeted asks and promote the right opportunities at the right time to maximize their support. This guide will cover everything you need to know to append demographic data for your nonprofit, including:

At NPOInfo, we believe that having the correct data will help you communicate using your organization’s unique voice and truly connect with your audience. We help nonprofits accomplish this through data appending, so we’re equipped and excited to teach nonprofit marketers like yourself how to leverage the opportunity.

If you’re ready to go beyond generic appeals, let’s dive in and explore the wonderful world of demographic appends!

Get a free quote for NPOInfo's demographic appending services.

Let's answer some frequently asked questions about demographic appends.

Demographic Appends FAQ

Before you consider using demographic append services, you should understand the basics of the process. If data appends are a new subject for you, let’s answer some common questions you might have before finding the right data enrichment service.

What is a demographic append?

Demographic appending is a service that pulls essential background information on your supporters, so you can build successful and highly-targeted marketing campaigns. You provide basic information like each supporter’s name, address, phone number, and other defining elements. Then, your service provider will use this information to identify the individual in their database and fill in any missing details in your CRM.

Standard demographic data you can append includes:

  • Age and Date of Birth
  • Gender
  • Income
  • Ethnicity
  • Marital Status
  • Familial Information
  • Education Information

Demographic appending pulls essential background information on supporters.
Combined with other data, a demographic append helps you create a highly-detailed profile for each constituent, allowing you to customize their experience in ways that other nonprofits won’t be able to replicate.

How much does it cost to append demographic data?

The price of demographic append services depends on the provider you use and the number of constituents for whom you’re appending data. Prices vary considerably between providers, but you’ll likely have to spend slightly more for better-quality data.

While it can be tempting to go with the cheapest option available, it’s worth spending a little extra for access to a more comprehensive and reliable database of demographic information.

To chat about pricing for our demographic append services, contact our team for a free quote! We’ll ask you to provide some information like the types of data appends you’re interested in and how many constituent records you’d like us to append. From there, you can decide whether your custom quote makes sense for your nonprofit’s budget!

Get a free quote!

How long does a demographic append take?

Similar to pricing, the time it takes to append demographic data depends on your service provider and the number of records you’re appending. You’ll usually receive results pretty quickly, but your turnaround time will also depend on how thorough the provider’s checking process is.

How can I increase the accuracy of my demographic append results?

Provide as much identifying information about your supporters as possible. This data might include full names, postal addresses, contact information, and education level. The more details you provide, the easier it’ll be to verify that you’ve found the correct individual’s information.

Moreover, you’ll also want to consider the quality of the demographic append services provider you choose. Those with a more reliable and complete database will increase the accuracy of your results.

What types of demographic data can you append?

You can pull a wide range of demographic information for each of your constituents. We gave a brief overview earlier, but there are plenty of other background details you can pull for your supporters.

To give you a sense of how they might play into your strategies, here are just some demographics that you can pull:

  • Net worth
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity and race
  • Income
  • Marital Status
  • Presence of Children
  • Religion
  • Lifestyle attributes such as hobbies, interests, and occupations
  • Buying behaviors such as online product purchases and online gift registries

These are the most common demographics that nonprofits append.

Remember that the data points your team will find most useful depend on your organization’s needs and strategies.

For instance, advocacy organizations may want to verify that people are of voting age or have particular political views to ensure they’re sending the right advocacy opportunities. On the other hand, an organization that wants to expand its fundraising may want to group donors based on their income levels to send more targeted asks.

Appending demographic data offers plenty of benefits for nonprofits.

Why You Should Append Demographic Data

Demographic appends can help enhance your constituent data, tailor your marketing capabilities, and take your relationships with supporters and prospects to the next level.

If you’re considering appending demographic data but aren’t sure whether it will truly benefit your organization, here’s how the process can impact your organization beyond simply filling in missing fields in your CRM:

  • Create detailed buyer personas: Create a holistic picture of each supporter and identify common trends between groups. That way, you can create buyer personas based on different types of supporters to understand what drives people with specific attributes to get involved in your cause.
  • Shape content strategy: Knowing specific characteristics allows you to deliver relevant content and appeals to supporters, rather than sending generic outreach to your entire constituent database. For instance, donors who have lower incomes likely wouldn’t be good candidates for major giving. Or, if you have a volunteer opportunity that benefits a particular area in your community, you might target former residents.
  • Increase marketing ROI: When you have the necessary information to create targeted marketing opportunities, your marketing team will spend fewer resources creating generic appeals that don’t yield results. Instead, they’ll be able to create highly targeted outreach based on specific characteristics of different constituent segments.
  • Identify intent opportunities: Based on the buyer personas you create using appended demographic data, you can see if anyone in your database might be an excellent fit to upgrade their support. For instance, maybe family-oriented individuals commonly participate in 5Ks and other events that welcome younger audiences. Predicting this behavior will allow your team to nudge the right opportunities to the right supporters.

A demographic append can be incredibly impactful for your cause. Best of all, the right service provider can ensure you receive the most accurate, complete data in a timely manner, so you can start experiencing these benefits as soon as possible.

The demographic append process is straightforward.

The Demographic Append Process

Like any data append, appending demographic data is incredibly straightforward. You just need a knowledgeable provider who leverages a comprehensive database and has a reasonable turnaround time.

After finding a reliable demographic append services provider, here’s what you can expect from the process:

This chart outlines the process for a demographic append.

  1. You share a list of constituents’ names, postal addresses, emails, and other identifying characteristics with your service provider.
  2. The service provider searches their database for any missing demographic details for supporters.
  3. They’ll add missing demographic information and replace any inaccurate data.
  4. After a thorough verification process, they’ll return your constituents’ data with the appended demographic information.

If you turn to a full-service data appends provider like NPOInfo, they may also offer other services like phone numbers, postal addresses, and employer appends. That way, you can verify all existing details and fill in any missing gaps all at once, rather than turning to different providers for different services.

To run an append without a demographic append services provider, you’ll need to pay for access to your own database of demographics. You’ll need to find software that will extract the information for you. However, this isn’t as reliable as having an experienced provider who can manually verify each constituent’s demographic information and deliver the details you need.

Getting started with demographic append services is easy.

How to Get Started with Demographic Append Services

The experts here at NPOInfo strive to make demographic appends (along with other data appends) as seamless as possible for organizations!

Plus, we work exclusively with nonprofit organizations, so we understand the specific data types you need to push your mission forward. That way, the appended data won’t clutter your CRM with unnecessary details.

When you rely on NPOInfo for your demographic append needs, here’s what you can expect:

Here's an overview of NPOInfo's demographic append services.

  1. Select the data append services you need. To help you make the most of your marketing efforts, we offer a range of data appends beyond demographic appends. Let us know which data you’d like appended: phone number, emails, employer information, or postal addresses.
  2. Receive a custom quote. We’ll tell you how much our data append services will cost based on the number of records you’d like appended and the types of data you’d like us to append.
  3. Send us your constituent records. We’ll let you know what information we need, like constituents’ names, contact information, and so on. Ideally, the more details you can provide us, the better. That way, we can verify that we’re pulling information on the right individual.
  4. Wait while we conduct the data append. Our experts will conduct a thorough verification process to ensure we provide you with the correct demographic information.
  5. Receive your appended demographic data. We’ll return your information to you in an easily understandable format. We’ll let you know if we found any additional demographic information, what those details are, and how confident we are that we found the correct information. If you have any questions, our experts will be happy to answer them. We can even help you import the information into your CRM.

That’s all there is to it! We’ll set you up with all the correct demographic information. That way, you can drive deeper connections with supporters and boost your marketing ROI in no time.

Ready to get to know your supporters better so you can launch your mission forward? Reach out for a free custom quote! All you need to do is share a few details, such as how many profiles you’d like to append and whether you’d like us to append any other data for you!

Get a free quote!

Check out these great additional resources for data management beyond demographic appending.

Additional Data Enrichment Resources

Your constituents are unique, and to cultivate genuine relationships with them, you need to treat them as individuals. That means going beyond speaking to them using the same generic voice. A demographic append is a reliable way to understand what messages they actually want to receive from your team.

Knowing everything from constituents’ ages to their income levels allows you to send relevant appeals and keep everyone connected to your work. Remember, NPOInfo is here to help fulfill your demographic appending needs! Reach out for a free quote to start gathering meaningful information that will take your cause to the next level.

If you’re striving to continue improving your data management strategies, there are plenty of helpful resources out there. To help, check out this list of helpful resources we’ve put together:

Get a free quote and elevate your nonprofit marketing with demographic append services.

3 association event tools and how to leverage their data

3 Association Event Tools and How to Leverage Their Data

/in /by

Association events can be some of the most financially taxing one-time investments that your organization makes over the course of a fiscal year. Of course, your event content may remain on-demand through a paywall on your association website. However, the event itself and the bulk of its initial engagement and financial potential are usually concentrated in just a single afternoon or a few days.

This can create a lot of pressure for your team, as you try to not only exceed your initial investment but also thoroughly engage members and provide them with valuable experiences. That’s what makes it so important to ensure that you’re using whatever tools are available to you to boost attendance, maximize engagement, streamline operations, and make the most of your association events.

In particular, we’ve identified three important software solutions that no association event should go without and necessary features to look out for. From interactive event platforms to effective data hygiene practices, make sure that you come prepared with these tools for your next event:

Ready to supercharge your in-person, hybrid, or virtual association events? We’ll begin with the most powerful software solution: event management software.

event management software

Event Management Software

Event management software is a broad set of tools that helps your organization plan, promote, and manage your events. This software has a hand in virtually every step of the event lifecycle, from facilitating multichannel marketing to generating post-event reports, and it’s built to make the event experience better for both the people organizing it and the attendees who register for it.

That being said, some event management systems are more comprehensive than others. If you’re looking for a robust, all-in-one platform to help your team improve the creation and execution of your events, the Fonteva guide to event management software names top providers that you should consider, as well as the features of a strong event management solution. For example, keep an eye out for:

  • The ability to plan and manage all event formats—virtual, hybrid, and in-person
  • Easy-to-use, mobile-optimized registration forms to streamline registration
  • Seamless data integration with your association management software
  • Reports on event and attendee data
  • Management capabilities for vendors, sponsors, speakers, and exhibitors

Additionally, if you want to ensure that your event management software has your specific needs and requirements in mind, then opt for a platform from an association-specific software provider.


An event platform

An Event Platform

As virtual and hybrid events continue to grow in importance, it’s essential for you to invest in an online event space where all attendees can enjoy everything that your association has to offer.

While there are plenty of free conferencing apps floating around with basic streaming and discussion features, a dedicated event platform gives you the power to effectively interact with virtual attendees, encourage greater member engagement, and facilitate networking and community-building.

This Re:charity article on updating your association tech strategy dives deeper into the topic of community-building and networking, explaining how they are the backbone of any association—particularly those made for professionals in the same industries. This makes it critical to invest in tools that support these member-to-member activities, especially during your events.

In particular, seek out an event platform that offers:

  • Live chat and reaction features
  • Virtual community and committee creation features
  • Viewable attendee profiles
  • Chat or video invitation capabilities

These tools aren’t only important for virtual attendees, but they can also help in-person attendees use their mobile devices to connect with others and enjoy a fuller, multi-faceted event experience.
membership data software

Membership Data Software and Resources

Events provide a notable opportunity for associations to better connect with their members. If done correctly, your association can even grow your donor community. However, this is only possible with high-quality membership data management.

Having software to manage your membership will make it easier to continually learn more about your members and greatly enhance your follow-up phase after the event is done. Prompting your members to sign up with detailed and up-to-date contact information is a must. This goes for their guests, as well. Using membership management software is the best way for your association to keep detailed records at your event so that you always know how to contact your members afterward.

Unsure what data you should be targeting? Here are some suggestions for what data you should collect:

  • Preferred name
  • Age
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Physical address
  • Employment status and employer
  • Educational background

You can collect more detailed data as well, but these are simple metrics that you can collect on a sign-up sheet at your event. Use membership management software in order to keep this data organized. It’s incredibly valuable to leverage in future connections with your member community.

If your nonprofit is running into roadblocks in finding content to add to your membership management software, you might want to consider appending your member data. A good indicator of if you’re in need of appends is if you’re constantly sent to voicemail when you call clients or if the mail you send them gets forwarded back to you. Having up-to-date records is critical in preserving your relationships with your members. Appending your data is also important for encouraging a strong turnout to your events. Services such as NPOInfo provide appending services so that you can build strong, long-lasting contact with your members.

Regardless of whether you’re hosting a virtual networking fair or an in-person awards ceremony, all event types and styles can be improved when the right software is powering the planning, management, and hosting processes. While you may be tempted to cut costs and avoid relying on dedicated event software, these systems are available for a reason. And by taking advantage of the software solutions and platforms we’ve highlighted, you can increase member engagement, leverage your data, raise the value of your membership program, and reduce stress for your event organizing team.

Explore this guide to learn everything you need to know about phone appends.

Phone Appends: A Nonprofit’s Data Enrichment Guide

/in , , /by

Calling your devoted supporters is one of the most effective ways to cultivate relationships with them and rally more support behind your cause. However, outdated or otherwise inaccurate phone numbers in your database can do more harm than good by wasting your staff’s time. While some supporters will regularly update their contact information with your team, many people won’t. That’s where phone appends come into play!

Phone appends are a reliable way to keep your CRM up-to-date. When you turn to a trusted data append provider with a comprehensive database of contact information, they’ll help you find any missing or old phone numbers for your supporters. In short, this is the easiest way to bring your database up to speed, so your marketing and development teams aren’t constantly sent to voicemail when they call the wrong numbers.

At NPOInfo, we strive to provide nonprofits with the data they need to create lasting relationships with those who make their missions possible. We offer data appends, including phone number appending services, so your team can successfully get in touch with its supporters and have meaningful conversations that drive value for your cause.

With this guide, we’ll answer any questions you might have about telephone appends before you start looking at providers. That way, you’ll be equipped to determine whether a phone append is a smart move for your organization and when you should get started cleaning up your database. Here’s what we’ll cover:

Phone appends pose tremendous value for your marketing and development answers. Better data means higher ROI for your marketing efforts and more engaged constituents, so if you’re ready to enrich your data, let’s dive in!

Get a free quote for our phone number appending services.

This section covers what phone appends are.

What is a phone append?

Phone appending is the process of updating or adding missing phone numbers to constituent profiles using existing identifying information.

Phone appending is the process of updating or adding missing phone numbers to constituent profiles within an existing constituent relationship management (CRM) system. It involves taking the existing identifying information you have for individuals and cross-checking it with an external, comprehensive database of contact information.

Phone append software and service providers will match the name, email address, and postal address from the contact list you share with the information in the database. That way, you can be sure you have the most accurate phone number to get into contact with supporters. This process empowers you to stay connected with your current supporters, re-engage lapsed supporters, and drive engagement to generate revenue for your cause.

A phone append will pull a few types of phone numbers.

What types of information will a phone number append reveal?

There are a handful of different types of phones available today, and chances are, your supporters have likely shared numbers for all three kinds with your organization. These include:

  • Cell phones: These probably make up the bulk phone numbers stored in your CRM. Being able to call supporters even when they’re on the go is ideal for contacting them whenever.
  • Landlines: Though less common, landlines are still useful in specific situations. In fact, there are still plenty of people who only use landlines, making it the only way to contact them.
  • Business phones: These numbers might be more useful for corporate sponsors or other socially-responsible businesspeople in your database.

The good news is that phone appending can help you verify existing numbers and fill in the missing pieces for you for all three types of phone numbers. Having all three numbers for each supporter will make it much easier to contact them.

Just consider the goal you want to achieve with the conversation to determine which numbers are appropriate to call on top of the contact preferences they’ve expressed to your organization.

The phone append process is easy to understand.

How do telephone appends work?

Phone appending is incredibly straightforward, so long as you turn to a trusted provider to handle the work for you. You provide the data, and they’ll handle the rest.

Here’s what you can expect the process to look like when you work with a phone number appending service provider:

  1. Share a list of names, addresses, and other identifying information with your services provider.
  2. They’ll use batch processing to search for any missing or outdated information for all of your constituents using their comprehensive, reliable database of contact information.
  3. They’ll remove any inactive or otherwise outdated phone numbers and replace them with the updated details.
  4. In some cases, your phone number appending services provider will manually check the phone numbers for you to verify accuracy.
  5. You’ll receive a list of contact information for everyone in your database.

This graphic outlines the telephone append process.

If you’d like to update and verify other types of contact data (like email addresses or postal addresses), full-service data append providers like NPOInfo can handle that for you all at once!

Bear in mind that no matter which provider you use, results are typically returned fairly quickly, but the more constituents you share, the longer it will naturally take.

To run a phone append on your own, you’ll need access to your own database of phone numbers, which requires you to find software that will do the phone appending for you. However, this isn’t quite as reliable as having someone who can manually check the data returned to you.

That’s why we recommend turning to a trusted phone number appending services provider. They can manually check everything and ensure you’re only given accurate and working phone numbers.

This section describes the concept of reverse phone appending.

What is reverse phone appending?

This is a specific type of phone appending. It’s when you supply only a phone number. Then, the services provider locates the name, postal address, and other supplemental information associated with that phone number.

Note that our team at NPOInfo doesn’t offer this type of appending. However, as an organization, this is likely something you won’t need to worry about since you’ll only want to append data for constituents who are already in your database.

Phone appends offer plenty of benefits for nonprofits.

How will a phone number append impact your organization?

Whether you’re a national advocacy organization or a local charity, phone appending can positively impact your organization in more ways than you might think.

For instance, you can expect these bonuses by successfully appending phone numbers stored in your organization’s CRM:

These are the key benefits you can expect from a phone append.

  • Enhanced fundraising opportunities. Calling constituents plays into a wide array of developmental efforts. Call your major donors every once in a while to strengthen their commitment to the cause. You can even use phone numbers for specific fundraising campaigns. For instance, a phonathon and text fundraising are some of the best ways to request donations from supporters. If you reach out to people who have previously supported your cause, they’re much more likely to give than if you reach out to people who don’t already have a connection with your cause!
  • Open lines of communication. Easily get into contact with your supporters by quickly calling them up. Having their cell phone numbers also opens up the opportunity for text outreach, so you can share the latest updates from your cause with anyone who prefers to hear from your team via SMS. In fact, fundraising research found that text message audiences grew by an incredible 26% last year, while text message volume grew by 14% for nonprofits.
  • More effective advocacy efforts and political campaigns. Phone and text banking make it easy to reach out to supporters who live in areas affected by a particular advocacy movement or political campaign. That way, you can get them to rally behind your policies and vote for positive change.

Enriching your organization’s data is a powerful opportunity so long as you do so ethically and effectively. In any case, know that you should always adhere to their opt-out preferences. If someone opts out of your phone solicitation, make a note of it. Otherwise, if they keep getting texts and phone calls when they’ve indicated they don’t want to, this will negatively impact their relationship with your cause.

These are the data points you'll need to share with your phone number appending services provider.

What information do you need for a phone append?

You’ll need to provide as much identifying information from your CRM as possible. The more information you can provide, the better!

Some of the information we recommend you provide includes:

  • Name
  • Postal address
  • Phone numbers
  • Email addresses
  • College/university
  • Last donation amount
  • Last donation date

Don’t worry about extra data in your file. Your phone number append services provider will know exactly what to look for, and as we mentioned, the more data you can share, the better. This helps your phone number appending services provider more accurately identify your contacts and locate the correct contact information.

The price of phone appending depends on a few factors.

How much does telephone appending cost?

Just like timing, phone appending costs vary depending on the number of constituents you have. It also depends on the phone number append service you use.

While it can be tempting to go with the cheapest option you find, bear in mind that spending a little extra often means you’ll have access to a more comprehensive, reliable, and quality database of phone numbers.

To discuss pricing with our team, reach out for a free quote! We’ll ask you to provide basic information like the types of appends you’re interested in and how many records you’d like to append. From there, you can decide whether a phone append makes sense for your organization’s budget.

Get a free quote!


Get started with NPOInfo's phone number appending services.

How can you get started with phone appending?

If you’ve decided a phone number append is a smart move, reach out to the data experts here at NPOInfo. Or, if you need more information, we’re happy to chat about how we can help!

At NPOInfo, we understand that nonprofits have different data management needs from other types of organizations like corporations. That’s why we’ve uniquely configured our data append services to cater to the nonprofit sector. We guarantee a quick turnaround and accurate results thanks to our thorough investigation of your constituents’ contact information.

Not to mention, we offer other types of data appends beyond just phone numbers! We’ve got you covered if you need appends for email addresses, employer information, birthdays, or postal addresses.

When you turn to our experts, you’ll receive exactly what you need to strengthen your outreach methods, grow your revenue, and drive meaningful supporter relationships. Here’s what to expect:

Here's how NPOInfo's phone number appending services work.

  1. Select the services you want. Let us know which data you’d like us to find to fill the gaps in your database. Depending on what you need, we’ll search for phone numbers, emails, employers, birthdays, and postal addresses.
  2. Get a quote. Our team will take a look at the types of data you requested along with your anticipated record count. From here, we’ll reach out with a fair and accurate quote.
  3. Send us your records. Securely send your records with the information our team requests.
  4. Wait as we conduct the phone append. Our team will implement a thorough checking and verification process as we append the phone numbers for any constituents you asked us to.
  5. Receive your appends. We’ll send the appended phone numbers along with any other data you requested. We’ll let you know whether we found phone numbers, what those phone numbers are, and how accurate we think we found the right information. Plus, we’ll answer any questions about the reports and even help you import the information into your database if needed.

We make it easy to get started! Simply reach out to indicate your preferences and request a quote. We’ll contact you to discuss your needs further and get the ball rolling with your data enhancement efforts.

Get a free quote!

Check out these great additional resources to learn about phone appends and other data enrichment practices.

Additional Resources

Your constituents want to hear from you, but reaching out is challenging when you have inaccurate contact information for them! A phone append will clean up your database and ensure you’re calling the right numbers to contact donors, volunteers, sponsors, and any other constituents.

Our team at NPOInfo is happy to help whenever you’re ready to discuss your data enrichment needs! Just reach out to request a quote, and we’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. That way, you can start successfully calling your constituents again rather than dialing the wrong number time and time again!

In the meantime, explore these educational resources if you’re still curious about effective nonprofit data management:

Get a quote for NPOInfo's phone number appending services.

Learn all about email appends in this comprehensive guide for nonprofits.

Email Appends: The Complete Q&A Guide for Organizations

/in , /by

Email marketing provides an unparalleled ROI when compared to other channels. Digital marketing research estimates that for every dollar spent, you can expect an average return of $36. That’s a higher return than any other form of marketing. However, inaccurate or outdated data can negatively impact your outreach, making it challenging to get in contact with the correct recipients. That’s where email appends can come in handy.

Email addresses are only valuable to an organization if they offer a reliable communication channel. Email appending is one of the quickest and most accurate ways to verify existing information and expand your marketing lists to include missing contact information. Doing so will empower you to increase your ROI even more for your organization since you can more effectively connect with your constituents.

Even though data append services have been around for quite some time, many organizations still don’t leverage them to strengthen their marketing. To help clarify any of the confusion you have about email appends, we’ll answer these core questions:

Here at NPOInfo, we empower nonprofits to take control of their data with our data appending services. We conduct email appends for our clients and fully understand what it takes to produce accurate results. We’ll make sure you’re well-versed on everything you need to know about email appends, so you can supercharge your marketing efforts in no time!

Get a free quote for NPOInfo's email append services.

What is an email append? This section answers that question!

What is an email append?

Email appending is a near-real-time marketing strategy organizations use to verify that existing constituents’ email addresses are the most current ones. It’s also leveraged to fill gaps by acquiring missing emails based on constituents’ existing details, such as their first names, last names, phone numbers, and postal addresses. Its purpose is to provide you with the most up-to-date email addresses for your contacts and grow your email subscriber list.

Organizations that want to leverage this strategy typically outsource the work to a service provider, like our data append experts at NPOInfo. Professional data append providers have an expansive database of email addresses. You provide your list of constituent information, and your data append provider will match it against their comprehensive, updated database to make sure you have the most accurate and complete information possible.

An email append will help your organization in several ways.

Why should you use email appending?

Appending email addresses reduces your marketing costs, boosts ROI, and helps you reach your audience more effectively. It supplies you with the freshest email address for each contact, so you can be sure you’re connecting with as many donors, volunteers, sponsors, and other stakeholders as possible.

Some of the most crucial factors that make email appending services a resolution for better nonprofit marketing include:

  • Data becomes outdated. HubSpot’s marketing research estimates that email marketing databases naturally degrade by about 22.5% each year. People change their email addresses, unsubscribe from newsletters, make typos when submitting forms, and submit fake email addresses in addition to a host of other things that negatively impact your subscriber list. Email appending resolves that by finding the most valid emails for your donors, volunteers, and other constituents!
  • Improved lines of communication. Quality constituent data means that your email outreach will make it to customers’ inboxes, directly improving deliverability and engagement rates. By cleaning up your supporters’ data, you’ll see higher engagement and open rates for your emails.
  • Highly segmented campaigns at lower costs. Reduce your marketing team’s expenses by supplying them with the data they need to create targeted campaigns. Email appending allows you to fill in missing contact information based on the other information you already have. This makes it much easier to create multichannel campaigns that reach your different supporters across different channels.

These are the benefits that email appends offer.

While email address appending is incredibly beneficial, doing so yourself can eat into your already-limited time. You might have hundreds or even thousands of outdated email addresses in your CRM. Cleaning all that up by hand could take an unimaginable amount of time! Not to mention, it might not be as accurate as a professional email append services’ information.

Instead of wasting staff time by having someone update your database manually, turn to an email append services provider like our professional data appending team at NPOInfo to experience all of the benefits of clean data!

The email append process is incredibly straightforward.

How does an email append work?

One of the best parts of email append services is how straightforward the process is on your end when you turn to a professional provider. You provide relevant identifying information for each of your nonprofit’s constituent profiles, such as:

  • Name
  • Postal address
  • Region (state, city, and country)
  • Phone numbers
  • Last email address on file
  • College or university
  • Class year and major
  • Last gift amount and date
  • A unique ID number

Here are some of the identifying details you'll need for an email append.

Even if you’re missing some of the information listed above, it’s important to provide as much information as possible to increase identification efficiency and accuracy. Your email append services provider will then cross-check it against their premium database of emails. Here at NPOInfo, our team will involve automated scans and manual checks to ensure we’re only providing active, deliverable email addresses to you.

After validating the data, your provider will send the appended email addresses back to you, letting you know if they found an updated or missing email address and what that email address is. Our team will even provide you with an accuracy rating for each email address we appended. From here, all you have to do is update your CRM, and you’ll have a clean database!

Email appending helps different types of organizations in different ways.

How do email appends help different types of organizations?

Email appending can empower a wide range of organizations to pursue their different marketing goals more efficiently. While turning to a generic provider can be helpful, your best bet is to go with a data append service that targets your unique industry.

For example, our team at NPOInfo focuses on fundraising organizations. That way, you’ll receive the targeted information your team needs to push your development efforts forward.

Here are a few ways different fundraising organizations might improve their marketing using an email address append:

  • Associations. Member-based organizations like associations are often comprised of geographically-diverse members. Email is a much more efficient way to stay connected with supporters and ensure members don’t lapse.
  • Green nonprofits. What better way to communicate your mission than by exemplifying it yourself? Email outreach eliminates the need for paper and communicates to donors that you take your mission seriously. Make sure you have accurate email addresses to reduce direct mail outreach as much as possible.
  • Schools. After students graduate, it’s easy to lose touch with them. They stop checking their institutional email addresses, and their postal addresses change after they move to start the next chapter of their lives. An email append will help you stay in touch with them wherever they are.
  • Cultural organizations. Zoos, aquariums, museums, and other cultural organizations must maintain membership renewal rates by offering valuable perks such as events. Otherwise, people may let their membership expire. Accurate email addresses will ensure you can send membership renewal letters, promote perks, and share upcoming events with all past visitors.

Email appending can transform your digital marketing, strengthen your supporters’ commitment to the cause, and much more. Take a look at the exact benefits for your type of organization, and you’ll see why it’s such a widespread practice!

Email address appends are incredibly accurate with the right services provider.

How accurate is an email append?

The accuracy of your email append results entirely depends on the quality of your provider’s email address database and the data you provide them. Look for a reputable provider and share as much data with them as possible. This will make your results more accurate.

Our team at NPOInfo strives to provide accurate results, which is why we have a very thorough cross-check examination process. As we mentioned, we employ a series of automated scans and manual checks to ensure we’re providing you with the best information possible.

When returning your appended email addresses, we’ll provide an accuracy rating, demonstrating how confident we are that we correctly identified the right person and their email address based on the data you originally provided us. That way, you can confidently build your fundraising initiatives on data you trust!

These are some of the factors that play into calculate the price of email append services.

How much does an email address append cost?

Generally speaking, the price of email address appending services varies based on your number of constituent records and your provider’s rates.

Bear in mind that you’re also paying for the quality of data your provider shares, so while one service provider may offer an incredibly low rate, that doesn’t mean you’ll receive the best (or most accurate) information. Accurate and up-to-date contact information most often comes at a slightly higher append rate.

If you’re curious how much this practice would cost your team, request a quote from our experts! We’ll ask you to provide some information about your organization, the type of data you’d like to append, and how many records you’re interested in appending.

Get a free quote!

These best practices will help you make the most of email address appends.

What are some best practices for email appending?

While email appending seems like a very straightforward concept, a lot goes into doing it correctly. Between picking a reputable provider and getting your timing right, you’ll need a well-thought-out strategy before moving forward.

If you’re considering using email appending to strengthen your marketing, here’s how you can set yourself up for success:

  • Start with your active supporters who haven’t shared an email address. From here, start moving through your older records.
  • Append email addresses regularly. Whether you append monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually, regular updates ensure your nonprofit’s CRM is the most accurate and complete it can possibly be at all times.
  • Append during the off-season. If you’re launching a big fundraising initiative or project, append email addresses in advance. We recommend wrapping up your ramp-up at least one month before your organization’s peak season.
  • Only append existing and past supporter emails. You should only ever append email addresses for people who have previously connected with your organization. Whether they donated, signed up for your newsletter, or registered to volunteer, you want to make sure you’re leveraging email appending ethically.
  • Research to find the right data enhancement partner. Above all, make sure you use a reputable email append service. Get a sense of their match rate and data append process, and if possible, ask the provider to run a test batch to see how many emails they accurately append for you.
  • Follow opt-in rules and anti-spam laws. For example, if you send emails to anyone who’s previously opted out of communications, you may run into some legal trouble. Make sure to only append email addresses for those who have opted in. As a bonus tip, keeping clear records of when and how supporters opted into communications will help you steer clear of trouble.

When done properly, email appending can promote positive supporter relationships and amplify your cause. These best practices will put you on the right path toward more effective outreach in no time!

Here are the next steps you'll need to take to use email append services.

How can you get started with email append services?

Getting started with email append services is incredibly easy. First and foremost, you’ll need to research and find a provider you’re confident will deliver the results you need without overspending.

The experts here at NPOInfo are more than happy to help transform your marketing through email appending. Plus, we specialize in data appends specifically for fundraising organizations like schools, cultural organizations, and other nonprofits.

Here’s what to expect when working with our email appending team:

Here's how NPOInfo's email append services work.

  1. You’ll need to send us any data that you have. As we mentioned, this includes information like names, mailing addresses, current email addresses, educational institutions, fundraising data, and anything else.
  2. We’ll conduct a thorough email appending process. Our process involves automated scans and manual checks by our team. That way, you’ll only receive accurate and deliverable email addresses for your supporters.
  3. We’ll return the email addresses along with some supplemental information. We’ll primarily flag three things: (1) whether a new email address was found, (2) the email addresses themselves, and (3) an accuracy rating. Our accuracy rating system indicates how confident we are that we correctly identified the correct contact details.

From here, you’ll need to update your CRM, let your marketing team know, and start pushing forward with any new fundraising opportunities you see!

Note that we don’t supply reverse email appends at this time, but we’re happy to connect you with one of our reputable partners in the space! We also provide plenty of other data appends, including employer, phone number, date of birth, and postal address appends.

If you’re ready to transform your marketing and boost your ROI, get started with our email append services for fundraising organizations!

Get a free quote!

If you're looking to look more about email appends and data enrichment, check out these resources.

Wrapping Up

Email marketing has the power to produce incredible results for your cause but only if you’re sending messages to deliverable email addresses. So take the time to clean up your email marketing list with email appending, so you can reach your audiences using one of the most effective forms of communication.

If you’re looking to learn more about data appends before getting started, check out some of these great educational resources:

Reach out to NPOInfo to get started with our email append services.

Creating a Case Management Database: 3 Simple Steps

/in /by

Learn how to create a case management database for your human services agency.

Data powers the decisions that human services agencies make and helps them provide clients with the best experience possible. Client data can also help caseworkers better manage their workloads and make appointments with clients more efficient, allowing them to get the care they need. More broadly, a comprehensive database allows agencies to visualize important patterns in case data, save time, and serve more clients.

Once your agency has the data it needs, whether from data appending services or through conversations with clients, ensure that it’s accessible, organized, and comprehensive. That way, your agency’s caseworkers can easily reference information about specific cases, add new records, and modify existing ones without needing to sort through data housed on spreadsheets or across multiple platforms.

The best way to organize client data is to invest in case management software. This software can help you streamline your data management process, recording all client data in one program rather than juggling several different spreadsheets or platforms. To get started, it’s important to understand what to look for in a case management solution.

Step 1: Invest in case management software.

Case management software gives your agency one centralized platform to track important client data in. This data can include contact information, billing details, history with your organization, appointment scheduling, specific case notes, and communication preferences.

Outdated data entry and storage methods can cause heavy administrative burdens, staff burnout, and inefficient reporting that could lead to loss of funding to critically important programs. To remedy or prevent this, agencies should choose software that limits the strain on their staff and makes their programs more efficient.

As you look for case management software for your agency, make sure the options you consider have these essential offerings:

  • Progress tracking. Choose software that has a dashboard reporting feature to quickly track and visualize your agency’s progress. This can help keep your staff on the same page about their individual responsibilities, your agency’s overall performance, and how close you are to meeting goals.
  • A modern approach. Case management software should help you modernize your approach to client data. Look for a program that consolidates client data into one streamlined platform and moves away from clunky, difficult-to-use spreadsheets.
  • Access from multiple devices. Depending on who you serve, your caseworkers may need to work from the field to adequately serve clients. The software you choose should allow staff to take notes from their mobile devices so they can update records from anywhere.

Aside from these core considerations, your agency might also need more specific capabilities that are tailored to the services you provide. Disability services, for instance, may require more stringent privacy protections than workforce development programs. By equipping your caseworkers with easy access to the tools and knowledge they need to serve, you can make their lives easier and provide better client experiences.

Step 2: Keep data clean.

To keep your data clean, your agency must commit to practicing good data hygiene. Data hygiene refers to the procedures and processes an organization should regularly complete, ensuring that client data remains relevant, up-to-date, and free of errors and duplications. For human services, maintaining clean data is key to keeping up with clients’ changing needs, giving them personalized and effective care, and producing accurate reports that reflect your program’s impact.

Keeping your data clean is dependent on your staff regularly completing small tasks that limit how many errors or “dirty” data points are in your database. Consider incorporating these practices into your data management protocols:

  • Removing or clarifying ambiguous data.
  • Frequently looking for and deleting duplicate records.
  • Correcting misplaced data, like adding a client’s contact information to the wrong file.
  • Identifying and filling in missing data.

Database software can help to limit input errors and even catch duplicate and missing data for you, reducing the amount of time your caseworkers spend tracking down these errors manually. Then, your staff can get back to serving clients and extending your agency’s impact.

Step 3: Standardize the process.

By using case management software, your agency can prevent many of the data input errors associated with outdated methods like spreadsheets.

But because it’s unlikely that just one person will be entering client data into your database, human error can still result in inaccuracies that interfere with reporting down the line. An important part of data management is to train your staff to input data in a standardized format that reduces the likelihood of these errors happening.

These practices can help you standardize the data entry process and ensure that all of your information remains accurate and clean:

  • Standard formatting. Maintaining the same formatting across all case files is key for data points like names, contact information, dates, and times. By entering an address with the wrong formatting, follow-up documents and other important records may not get delivered to your client. To prevent inconsistencies, you may decide that each address should be formatted using abbreviations like “St.” rather than spelling out “street.”
  • Outline a self-editing process. Create and share guidelines for your staff to ensure that they check for any typos or other errors they might make during data entry. Consider making a helpful checklist they can reference to make sure they review each field before adding the data to the database.
  • Reference existing data before adding new records. Write detailed instructions to help staff search for potential duplicate records before creating a brand new one. In some cases, your clients may go long periods of time without visiting, and it’s important to keep all relevant records and history with your agency in one profile rather than unintentionally creating multiple.

Training staff in data entry best practices can help prevent mistakes that could cause misunderstandings both with other staff members and your clients. Maintaining clear communication with clients prevents lapses in care and leads to positive outcomes.

Not only does a well-organized database help make life easier for caseworkers and give clients better experiences, but it also helps caseworkers build deeper relationships with clients. With a robust case management database, they can reference demographic data, jot down important personal details, and follow up through their preferred contact method much more easily. A structured, accurate database allows your agency to connect and serve clients more efficiently, helping you expand your impact to others in your community.

Understand Your Data | Charitable Giving Statistics for 2022

Understand Your Data | Charitable Giving Statistics for 2024

/in , /by

Throughout the year, your organization collects data related to your donors, marketing campaigns, volunteers, and more. This information can help you decide how your organization should operate in the future. However, only examining your nonprofit’s own data is like attempting to solve a puzzle by only looking at the edges of a single piece. 

Instead, you have to benchmark and compare your performance to get the bigger picture of where your strategies are working and where they could go further.

Charitable giving statistics help organizations, from nonprofits and higher education institutions to health care organizations and associations, gain a better understanding of larger industry trends. These statistics can help organizations put their own data into a greater context, providing a benchmark for their overall performance and giving insights into how they may want to proceed moving forward. 

This report will explore a range of recent charitable giving statistics for four types of mission-driven organizations:

  1. Nonprofits
  2. Associations
  3. Higher Education
  4. Healthcare

Each section will provide a key takeaway to offer additional context for each set of statistics. Use this information to determine what the data means and how it relates to your organization. Let’s get started. 

Interested in expanding your nonprofit's data? Learn how NPOInfo's data append services can help. Learn more.

Explore these ten charitable giving statistics for nonprofits.

Nonprofit Charitable Giving Statistics 

In 2024, many nonprofits are still recovering from the setbacks of COVID-19 in 2020. Charitable giving statistics can give us a glimpse into how well nonprofits have responded to these challenges as well as how they intend to move forward. 

Learn more about nonprofit charitable giving statistics.

  1. December is still an important month for giving, but not as much as in previous years. Reports indicate that nonprofits receive 17-22% of their total annual fundraising in December, and giving levels depend heavily on organization type. Arts, animal rights groups, and higher education institutions have a steady flow of donations throughout December, while health, human service, and international organizations receive most of their donations on Giving Tuesday and December 31st. 
  2. 61% of donors claim that they choose which nonprofits to give to based on how well the organization uses their money. 
  3. Donors care about stories. 42% claimed that personal stories from a nonprofit’s beneficiaries influenced their decision to give. 
  4. Nonprofits should educate donors about different ways to give. For example, studies conducted on planned giving found that over 40% of the donors surveyed learned about planned giving from a nonprofit organization. Studies also emphasize the importance of having conversations about planned giving early, when donors are in their 50s and 60s, rather than waiting until later in life to build long-term relationships prior to the bequeathment. 
  5. The golden rule of donating continues to hold strong: only 20% of donors give after their first gift, but donors are 60% more likely to become recurring donors after their second gift. 
  6. Despite the challenges of 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the total giving rate is predicted to continue rising in 2022, increasing by 5.7%.
  7. For affluent donors, a nonprofit’s mission and their history with an organization almost equally influence their decisions to donate. According to recent surveys, 44% of affluent donors stated the issues a nonprofit addressed were the most important factor in their decision, while 44.5% claimed it was due to the organization. 
  8. Donors often don’t give simply because they’re not asked. A survey of wealthy donors found that about 20% of participants did not give due to not being asked, while 22% didn’t give due to not having a connection with a charitable organization. 
  9. Donors who give to one organization are likely to give to several others, as studies have found that 43.3% of wealthy donors give to five or more nonprofits. 
  10. Ultimately, different nonprofits have had different experiences with the pandemic. While 45% of nonprofit leaders reported decreases in fundraising revenue, 31% reported increases in donations.  

Takeaway

While COVID-19 has impacted charitable giving for nonprofits, many well known beliefs about nonprofit fundraising, such as the golden rule and the importance of year-end fundraising, continue to remain true. Overall, statistics show that nonprofits can benefit most from creating connections with supporters to encourage increased and more frequent donations. 

Explore these 10 association charitable giving statistics.

Association Charitable Giving Statistics

Economic instability can result in multiple changes for associations. During these times, some individuals will flock to associations to improve their skills and connections in hopes of re-entering the job market with better prospects. By contrast, others will lack the funds to continue renewing their annual memberships, resulting in a decrease in overall association revenue. 

Learn more about associations with these charitable giving statistics.

  1. Due to COVID-19, 50% of associations have reported having trouble reaching their fundraising targets.
  2. Membership fees are an important source of revenue for associations, making up approximately 46% of their total revenue. Plus, another 29% of revenue comes from fundraising events. 
  3. Only 1 in 3 associations feel their association software helps them achieve their fundraising goals. 
  4. However, despite this focus on decreased revenue, less than 50% percent of associations track their eCommerce transactions. 
  5. Associations are seeing new highs in membership decreases with 47% of survey organizations reporting a decrease in members. Overall, smaller associations with limited budgets tend to experience decreases in membership more often than their larger counterparts. 
  6. Despite these challenges, the average renewal rate for new members has remained relatively stable at 72%.
  7. While some may assume that young professionals looking to improve their skills would make up the bulk of association members, reports show that Baby Boomers actually participate the most in associations, making up 34% of association members. By contrast, Millennials make up 21% and Generation Z makes up just 8%. 
  8. In terms of attracting support, word-of-mouth continues to be the most successful method with 57% of associations reporting it as one of their top three methods for attracting new members. This is followed by email (50%) and sponsored events (40%). 
  9. Half of associations believe their members stop renewing their membership due to lack of engagement with their association. And 38% of associations believe that they have trouble communicating their beliefs and values to members. 
  10. With these challenges, 62% of associations have considered adopting or have already adopted new membership models. Among new types of models, tiered is the most popular with 43% of associations changing their structure adopting it. 

Takeaway

Associations are aware of the challenges their industry faces and are actively considering how to improve their marketing, organization structure, and offerings. However, the negative trends in these statistics seem to primarily impact smaller associations, while larger organizations have the resources to continually reach new audiences despite current challenges. 

Explore these 10 higher education charitable giving statistics

Higher Education Charitable Giving Statistics 

Higher education as a whole has had to overcome the challenge of transitioning to remote and hybrid education. For many institutions, this change has resulted in reduced funding from previously reliable revenue sources, such as accommodation fees for student room and board. 

Subsequently, many institutions have become increasingly invested in relevant charitable giving statistics as they strive to stay connected with donors to continue supporting their programs while managing the long-term impacts of COVID-19. 

Check out these top charitable giving statistics for higher education institutions.

  1. Adjusted for inflation, education organizations saw an increase in total giving of 7.7% to reach an estimated total of $71.34 billion. 
  2. Approximately 3 out of 4 affluent donors gave unrestricted gifts to higher education institutions in response to COVID-19. 
  3. Online giving has become more important for higher education organizations, as reports show a 10.4% year-over-year increase in online giving. 
  4. Higher education institutions continue to rely on a diverse set of fundraising revenue streams, with approximately 9.85% coming from individual donors, 7.74% from government grants, and 3.41% from fundraising events.
  5. Higher education organizations receive the highest average individual donation of any nonprofit sector at $1,671. 
  6. Alumni are a major giving audience for higher education institutions, contributing approximately 26% of all higher education gifts. 
  7. More than 1 in 5 donors claim that supporting education-related causes is important to them.
  8. 33.4% of women claim education is one of the causes that matters most to them, compared to 25.4% of men. 
  9. Higher education has faced obstacles with online learning, and nearly 75% of university students report being unsatisfied with remote learning, which university leaders fear could lead to a generation of unengaged alumni and lower donations. 
  10. Funding sources typically categorized as “others,” specifically donor-advised funds, have significantly increased their contributions to higher education institutions as compared to other types of donors, contributing approximately 11% of total gifts. 

Takeaway

The statistics show an overall leveling off of funds with support primarily coming from alumni and family foundations with connections to specific universities. Professionals in higher education advise other leaders to be vigilant of long-term statistical trends, particularly warning universities that lack major endowments and high-level brand recognition about the potential loss of future major donors due to a lack of engagement caused by remote learning. 

Explore these 10 healthcare charitable giving statistics.

Healthcare Charitable Giving Statistics

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a resurgence of interest in supporting health-related organizations. But has this interest translated to donations? The answer has also only become more complicated as the pandemic has stretched over multiple years, as these giving statistics show. 

Explore these healthcare charitable giving statistics

  1. Most individuals prefer to give to local healthcare and basic needs organizations, as 90% of wealthy donors gave to community organizations in response to the pandemic, while only 35.4% gave to national organizations. 
  2. Contrary to assumptions, healthcare organizations as a whole actually saw a 3% decline in giving due to the pandemic. However, 42% of health service organizations saw an increase in donations. This is likely due to reduced participation in fundraising efforts for disease-specific organizations with objectives other than fighting COVID-19.
  3. In response to the pandemic, 49% of wealthy donors who gave to healthcare organizations did so to help hospitals and healthcare organizations obtain needed supplies.
  4. Wealthy donors also primarily gave unrestricted donations (74.8%).
  5. Health-related causes are the third most popular cause affluent donors give to with nearly a third of donors contributing to these organizations. This puts health-related causes behind only basic needs causes (57.1%) and religious organizations (46.9%). 
  6. Donations from individuals are an important revenue stream for health-related organizations, making up 22% of their total funding. 
  7. Healthcare-related organizations received the largest percentage of corporate gifts of any industry type at 35.3%. 
  8. Healthcare organizations have seen a reduction in donors but an increase in gift sizes for years now, with 75% seeing fewer total donations but 46% earning more in dollars raised. 
  9. Healthcare organizations tend to have lower than average donor retention rates when compared to other nonprofit sectors. However, the retention rate has been increasing in recent years. While there is only a 25% retention rate for first-time donors, this rises to a 66% retention rate for online multi-year donors. 
  10. In-kind donations are also on the rise for health-related organizations, increasing by 61% with an estimated $170 million in value. 

Takeaway 

While there is a global interest in helping healthcare organizations, these charitable giving statistics show that individuals are primarily interested in supporting local organizations they have a relationship with first. This means health-related causes can most benefit from continuing to steward their donors to improve retention rates and gift sizes. 

Resources

Wrapping Up 

Charitable giving statistics help paint a wider picture of the overall giving landscape. Leaders at a variety of organizations can use them to put their own data into context, helping them make informed decisions about their future fundraising plans. Of course, this data is only useful if you understand how it relates to your organization’s specific situation. 

Collecting, storing, and maintaining data are all continuous tasks that can take up a considerable amount of a nonprofit’s time. You can ensure your organization is maximizing its efficiency and putting its data to the best use possible with the right strategies. Here are a few resources to help your organization learn more about managing your data:

Improve your fundraising strategy by enhancing your data today.