Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies

Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies?

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In today’s business landscape, more and more companies are prioritizing corporate social responsibility (or CSR) as a core part of their mission. From environmental sustainability to community outreach and charitable giving, socially responsible companies are making a meaningful impact on the world.

As a nonprofit, it’s crucial to recognize how this trend can benefit your organization. After all, your donors may already be working for companies that offer corporate giving programs, like matching gifts or volunteer grants, that can double or even triple their impact. But are you leveraging these opportunities to their fullest potential?

In this post, we’ll explore how nonprofits can tap into relationships with companies leading the way in CSR to maximize their support and engage donors in new and impactful ways. Specifically, we’ll cover the following:

Discovering which of your donors work for socially responsible companies could unlock significant support for your mission. Ready to find out how you can do so with ease? Let’s begin with the basics.

What Defines a Socially Responsible Company?

A socially responsible company is one that integrates ethical, sustainable, and community-focused practices into its core operations. These businesses recognize that their success is intertwined with the well-being of society, and they actively seek to make a positive impact on their employees, customers, communities, and the environment.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all model of social responsibility, check out a few characteristics that generally define a socially responsible company:

Characteristics of socially responsible companies

  1. Environmental Sustainability
    Companies strive to reduce their environmental impact by adopting eco-friendly practices. This may involve reducing waste, conserving energy, using renewable resources, and implementing sustainable supply chain management.
  2. Ethical Business Practices
    Socially responsible companies maintain high ethical standards in all areas of business, from fair labor practices and diversity initiatives to transparency in governance and decision-making.
  3. Economic Responsibility
    Rather than chasing short-term profits, socially responsible companies focus on long-term growth that benefits both the business and society. They aim to create a positive, lasting impact on their stakeholders, which includes employees, customers, shareholders, and the broader community.
  4. Philanthropic Engagement
    Many socially responsible companies actively invest in the communities where they operate. This includes supporting local charities, offering volunteer time off (VTO) for employees to participate in community service, and implementing corporate giving programs like matching gifts and volunteer grants.

By embracing these practices, socially responsible companies build trust with consumers and employees, foster loyalty, and contribute to a more sustainable and equitable world. Not to mention, these efforts not only benefit society but often lead to better business performance as well.

  • CLMA badge for socially responsible companiesTop tip: Keep an eye out for the Certified Leaders in Matching Automation badge to quickly identify socially responsible companies with matching gift auto-submission enabled. These employers are devoted to making matching gifts as easy as possible, demonstrating their commitment to CSR and beyond.

10 Socially Responsible Companies to Know

As a nonprofit, familiarity with leading companies practicing corporate social responsibility is a must. After all, understanding which companies make a point to give back allows nonprofits to better engage donors who work for these businesses. And, in doing so, they can more effectively tap into additional resources such as corporate matches, volunteer support, and even broader partnership opportunities.

Check out these examples to get started:

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? Yes

CLMA badge for socially responsible companies

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a popular fast-casual restaurant chain known for its commitment to using responsibly sourced ingredients and offering fresh, customizable meals. As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, Chipotle emphasizes environmental sustainability, humane animal practices, and ethical sourcing.

The company also gives back through community outreach and charitable initiatives, including its standout matching gifts program, which allows employees to double their contributions to nonprofits of their choice. In order to optimize the employee experience within its matching gift program, Chipotle has implemented matching gift auto-submission, too, earning it the CLMA designation for Certified Leaders in Matching Automation.

Furthermore, Chipotle promotes social responsibility through its volunteer time off (VTO) policy, enabling employees to take up to 8 hours of paid time to participate in volunteer work. These efforts reflect Chipotle’s dedication to making a positive impact both in the food industry and within local communities.

Learn more about Chipotle’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Patagonia

Patagonia

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? Yes

Patagonia, a renowned outdoor apparel company, is deeply committed to environmental and social causes, with sustainability at the core of its mission. Patagonia’s CSR initiatives are broad, encompassing environmental activism, ethical labor practices, and sustainable product design.

The company also encourages employee engagement through its matching gifts program, doubling employee donations to environmental, social, and other nonprofits. Meanwhile, Patagonia supports employees in taking action through its volunteer time off (VTO) policy, allowing them to dedicate generous amounts of time to causes they care about, often with a focus on environmental restoration.

Patagonia’s commitment to CSR is rooted in its mission to preserve the planet, and it actively partners with organizations that align with this goal.

Learn more about Patagonia’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Danone

Danone North America

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? Yes

CLMA badge for socially responsible companies

Danone North America is a multinational food and beverage company known for its dairy products, plant-based alternatives, and bottled water brands. The company is dedicated to promoting health through food while driving environmental sustainability and social equity. Danone North America’s CSR efforts include a strong emphasis on environmental stewardship, sustainable sourcing, and community involvement.

To encourage employee involvement in philanthropy, Danone North America offers a CLMA-designated matching gifts program, amplifying employees’ charitable donations to eligible nonprofits. Plus, the company supports community engagement through volunteer time off, allowing employees to contribute up to 16 hours each year to causes they are passionate about.

Learn more about Danone’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _CVS Health

CVS Health

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? Yes
Volunteer time off? Yes

CVS Health, a major pharmacy and healthcare provider, integrates social responsibility into its mission of promoting health and wellness. The company’s CSR efforts focus on expanding access to healthcare, addressing public health challenges, and supporting underserved communities.

CVS Health also enhances its social impact through matching gifts and volunteer grants, allowing employees to increase their donations and volunteer contributions to nonprofits. Additionally, CVS promotes employee involvement in community service through volunteer time off, providing paid time for employees to engage in volunteer work.

Learn more about CVS Health’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Disney

Walt Disney Company

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? Yes
Volunteer time off? Yes

The Walt Disney Company is a global leader in entertainment, known for its iconic films, theme parks, and media networks. Beyond entertainment, Disney’s CSR efforts are comprehensive, with a focus on environmental sustainability, charitable giving, and promoting education.

Disney offers both matching gifts and volunteer grants to encourage employees to support causes they care about. The company also promotes community engagement through volunteer time off, allowing employees to give back during paid work hours.

Disney’s wide-reaching CSR initiatives include funding for children’s hospitals, environmental conservation programs, and educational outreach, all of which align with its mission to create positive change in communities worldwide.

Learn more about Disney’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Warner Media

Warner Media

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? Yes
Volunteer time off? Yes

Warner Media is a leading media and entertainment company recognized for its extensive film, television, and digital content production. As part of its CSR strategy, Warner Media prioritizes diversity, inclusion, environmental responsibility, and community engagement.

The company also offers matching gifts and volunteer grants, empowering employees to increase their financial contributions and volunteer efforts to nonprofits. Warner Media also provides volunteer time off, encouraging employees to give back to their communities while receiving regular pay.

Through its CSR programs, Warner Media fosters a culture of giving, social responsibility, and sustainability, aligning its corporate values with the interests of its employees and society at large.

Learn more about Warner Media’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? Yes

CLMA badge for socially responsible companies

ActiveCampaign, a marketing automation platform, is committed to making a positive impact through its CSR initiatives, which focus on community development and employee engagement.

The company encourages its employees to give back through a CLMA-designated matching gifts program, doubling charitable donations made to eligible nonprofits more easily than ever before. In addition, ActiveCampaign offers volunteer time off, allowing employees to dedicate paid time to volunteer with organizations that align with their values.

These programs reflect ActiveCampaign’s belief in the power of community and its desire to empower employees to contribute to causes that matter to them, both financially and through volunteer service.

Learn more about ActiveCampaign’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Toyota Connected

Toyota Connected

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? No

CLMA badge for socially responsible companies

Toyota Connected is a division of Toyota that focuses on creating innovative connected technologies and data-driven solutions for the automotive industry. While Toyota Connected has a technological focus, it also embraces corporate social responsibility.

One way that it does so is through its matching gifts program, which doubles employee donations to qualifying nonprofits. This initiative has auto-submission enabled, allowing employees to complete their matching gift requests straight from their favorite organizations’ giving pages!

Learn more about Toyota Connected’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _Harvard

Harvard University Employees Credit Union

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? No

CLMA badge for socially responsible companies

Harvard University Employees Credit Union (HUECU) is a member-owned financial institution serving the Harvard University community and its affiliates. As part of its CSR efforts, HUECU focuses on financial education, community development, and charitable giving.

The credit union also supports employee philanthropy through a matching gifts program, enabling employees to increase their charitable donations through corporate matches. Its CLMA-designated matching gifts initiative demonstrates a commitment to supporting the causes that matter to its employees and fostering positive community impact through financial contributions.

Learn more about Harvard University’s socially responsible giving programs here.

NPO Info_Do Your Donors Work For Socially Responsible Companies _BerlinRosen

BerlinRosen

Matching gifts? Yes
Volunteer grants? No
Volunteer time off? No

CLMA badge for socially responsible companies

BerlinRosen is a strategic communications firm known for its work in public affairs, advocacy, and social impact campaigns. The company’s CSR efforts are rooted in its dedication to promoting progressive causes, diversity, and social justice.

Additionally, BerlinRosen encourages employee giving through its matching gifts program, multiplying employee donations to a wide range of nonprofits and schools. And with auto-submission functionality enabled, it’s quick and easy for its employees to get involved!

Learn more about BerlinRosen’s socially responsible giving programs here.

Get support from socially responsible companies with 360MatchPro.

Identifying Socially Responsible Companies in Your Network

The above companies form a representative sample of socially responsible employers. But there are tens of thousands more businesses participating in CSR⁠—and it would be impossible to list them all.

That said, there are a few strategies that can be employed in order to uncover top companies devoted to CSR with existing connections to your donor base. These include the following:

Manual Research

The first step you might want to take is to perform a series of manual research tasks. For example:

  • Screening publicly available donor information to uncover employment insights (often using LinkedIn or other online resources).
  • Reaching out to donors directly to request employer information (e.g., sending an optional survey via email).
  • Visiting the websites of identified companies to explore their CSR or corporate philanthropy sections.
  • Engaging with donors to request information about their employers’ giving programs, community engagement efforts, and more.

While it requires significant investments of time and resources to conduct this research on your own, keep in mind that it’s possible to uncover some invaluable insights this way.

Workplace Giving Software

The next option involves automating the processes of collecting and leveraging employment information using the right tools in your tech stack. Specifically, by implementing (and integrating) a workplace giving platform like Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro, you can glean employment insights directly as donors give.

From there, the solution automatically screens against the industry’s leading corporate giving database to flag opportunities for matching gifts, volunteer grants, VTO programs, and other corporate giving initiatives.

Use workplace giving software to uncover socially responsible companies in your network

In order to drive supporter engagement with the tool, you can even embed the company search tool directly into your website, donation forms, volunteer registration pages, and more.

Employer Appends

Even after incorporating workplace giving software to collect employment information as supporters engage with your cause, there’s a good chance you’ll have some gaps in your records. For this, we recommend outsourcing your research process to a third-party data enhancement service provider like NPO Info by Double the Donation.

Here’s how it works:

  • You’ll provide the data enhancement company with the information you have about your donors (names, engagement histories, contact details, etc.).
  • The enhancement company will scan the information you provide against a series of publicly available and privately held data sources to uncover relevant information and fill in the gaps.
  • Your organization will receive the finalized employer append record, along with information about the uncovered companies’ matching gifts and other giving programs.

Use employer appends to uncover socially responsible companies in your network

Once you have the information, your team can use the uncovered insights to tailor your outreach efforts and grow your relationship with the appropriate donors and their employers alike.

Final Thoughts & Additional Resources

Partnering with socially responsible companies opens up a world of possibilities for your nonprofit or school. Whether through matching gifts, volunteer grants, or other corporate philanthropy initiatives, these opportunities allow your donors to do more with their contributions.

Don’t miss out on the potential for additional funding and support. Start building stronger relationships with your corporate partners⁠—and their employees⁠—today. Your donors are ready to amplify their impact, and with the right tools and strategies, your organization can thrive.

Interested in seeing how your team can benefit from socially responsible companies like these? Check out the following materials to learn more:

Get support from socially responsible companies with 360MatchPro.

Volunteer Time Off Programs- A Smart Nonprofit’s VTO Guide

Volunteer Time Off Programs: A Smart Nonprofit’s VTO Guide

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In today’s socially conscious landscape, companies are increasingly embracing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives that benefit both their employees and the communities they serve. One standout program that fits both criteria is Volunteer Time Off, which offers employees paid time to volunteer for causes they’re passionate about.

For nonprofits, understanding how to tap into these VTO programs can open doors to a vast pool of dedicated volunteers. This guide will help nonprofits navigate the world of volunteer time off, offering strategies to engage employees who are looking for meaningful ways to give back through their company-sponsored volunteerism. And we’ll do so by answering the following frequently asked questions:

To fully leverage Volunteer Time Off programs, nonprofits need a solid understanding of how they work, why companies offer them, and the benefits these programs bring. By exploring the answers to these key questions, organizations like yours can position themselves to attract more corporate volunteers, build lasting partnerships, and maximize the impact of VTO.

Without further ado, let’s start by addressing the fundamental question: What is Volunteer Time Off?

What is Volunteer Time Off?

Volunteer Time Off⁠—also known as VTO⁠—is a corporate benefit that allows employees to take paid time off from work to volunteer for charitable or community service activities. This time off is typically offered above and beyond any other forms of leave (like vacation or sick days), as it’s specifically designated for volunteerism.

Definition of Volunteer Time Off

VTO encourages employees to engage in community service, support nonprofits, and contribute to causes they care about⁠—without having to give up their pay or schedule around existing work commitments. This makes it easier for individuals to participate in volunteer activities, driving additional support for nonprofit causes.

Within the programs, companies generally establish policies regarding how much VTO is available per year (often between 8 and 40 hours) and may specify eligible nonprofits or activities.

Why do companies offer Volunteer Time Off?

Companies offer Volunteer Time Off for several reasons, often tied to their broader Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR) goals and employee engagement strategies.

Here are key reasons why companies implement VTO programs:

  1. Enhance Corporate Social Responsibility: Offering VTO allows companies to demonstrate their commitment to giving back to the community. It aligns their business with charitable and social causes, enhancing their CSR profile and showing that they prioritize social impact.
  2. Boost Employee Engagement and Morale: VTO empowers employees to contribute to causes they care about without sacrificing their income. This not only increases job satisfaction but also boosts overall morale and fosters a sense of purpose in the workplace.
  3. Attract and Retain Talent: Many employees, particularly those in the younger generations, prioritize working for companies that are socially responsible. VTO programs are an attractive benefit that can help companies recruit socially conscious talent and improve employee retention overall.
  4. Enhance Company Reputation: VTO programs reflect positively on a company’s public image. By showing a commitment to community service, companies improve their reputation with customers, clients, and the public, ultimately driving brand loyalty.
  5. Strengthen Community Ties: Companies that support local volunteer efforts build stronger relationships with the communities where they operate. These ties can lead to a more supportive business environment and potential partnerships with community organizations.

Overall, VTO programs allow companies to align their business objectives with meaningful social contributions, benefiting both their workforce and the communities they serve.

How do nonprofits benefit from Volunteer Time Off?

Nonprofits gain several valuable benefits when their supporters participate in Volunteer Time Off programs. These corporate-sponsored initiatives bring new resources, energy, and opportunities for collaboration. This includes benefits such as…

  1. Access to Skilled Volunteers: Employees who participate in VTO often bring diverse skill sets from their professional backgrounds, providing nonprofits with access to talent that might otherwise be unaffordable. This expertise can help nonprofits improve their operations in areas like marketing, finance, IT, and project management.
  2. Enhanced Volunteer Engagement: VTO programs encourage participation from employees who might not typically volunteer on their own. By tapping into these corporate volunteers, nonprofits can significantly expand their volunteer base and complete larger or more complex projects.
  3. Increased Awareness and Visibility: When employees share their volunteer experiences with their colleagues, friends, or others in their networks, it increases awareness of the nonprofit’s mission and activities. This exposure can attract more volunteers, donors, and supporters to your cause overall.
  4. Strengthened Corporate Relationships: Collaborating with companies through VTO programs strengthens a nonprofit’s relationship with the business community. These relationships can lead to further corporate giving opportunities, such as matching gifts, sponsorships, or event collaborations.

Secure more support through volunteer time off programs with 360MatchPro.

How can nonprofits market VTO opportunities to volunteers?

Nonprofits can effectively market Volunteer Time Off opportunities by targeting corporate employees and companies in ways that highlight the mutual benefits of the program.

Here are a few leading strategies to attract volunteers through VTO:

1. Create a Dedicated Corporate Volunteering Page:

Create a section on your nonprofit’s website specifically for corporate volunteering opportunities. Highlight how employees can utilize their VTO to support your cause and make it easy for them to sign up for upcoming events and activities.

Plus, to make identifying VTO programs as quick and simple as possible, we recommend embedding a corporate giving database directly into the page.

Marketing Volunteer Time Off - website example

2. Promote VTO in Volunteer Registration Forms:

Ensure your volunteer registration forms prominently feature Volunteer Time Off (VTO) options for corporate employees. Include an optional form field that asks whether the individual is using VTO, and make sure to collect employment information as you do so. This not only helps you track corporate volunteers but also allows you to tailor communications and deepen relationships with their employers.

To streamline the process, consider integrating your sign-up forms with a tool like 360MatchPro Volunteer Hub, making it easy for volunteers to check if their company offers VTO or other charitable programs.

Step 1)

Marketing Volunteer Time Off - sign-up form example

Step 2)

Marketing Volunteer Time Off - sign-up form example

3. Leverage Social Media:

Spread the word about Volunteer Time Off using your organization’s social media profiles! Share stories, photos, testimonials, and more⁠—highlighting past corporate volunteer groups to increase visibility and attract new supporters. (P.S. Double the Donation clients can access free, customizable marketing templates to promote VTO programs, volunteer grants, and more!)

Marketing Volunteer Time Off - social media example

You can even encourage current volunteers to share your VTO content with their networks, amplifying your outreach and increasing the likelihood of reaching more eligible supporters.

4. Send a Follow-Up Email:

After a corporate volunteer event, it’s essential to maintain engagement by sending a follow-up email to participants. In this email, express your gratitude for their contributions and share the impact of their efforts on your nonprofit’s mission. Additionally, remind them about their company’s Volunteer Time Off program and encourage them to utilize it for future volunteer opportunities with your organization (or to submit their paperwork to get credit for their most recent activity).

5. Partner with Companies:

Build relationships with businesses that have existing VTO programs. Reach out to HR departments or CSR managers and present your nonprofit’s mission and available volunteer opportunities as key ways for their employees to get involved.

For the best results, you can even organize tailored volunteer activities that align with a company’s core values or industry. For example, a tech company may be interested in hosting a coding workshop for underprivileged students, while a healthcare company might prefer to sponsor a community health fair or organize volunteer shifts at a local clinic.

Regardless, by taking a proactive approach and positioning your organization as a valuable partner for VTO, nonprofits can attract more corporate volunteers and create lasting relationships with companies that support meaningful community engagement.

Final Thoughts & Additional Resources

Volunteer Time Off supplies a win-win-win situation for everyone involved. From the companies offering the programs to the employees who participate and the nonprofits receiving their support, everyone benefits.

For nonprofits, knowing how to leverage these programs can lead to stronger community partnerships, increased volunteer participation, and greater impact. By positioning your organization as a go-to option for corporate volunteers, you not only gain valuable resources but also build lasting relationships that could lead to future support.

Embrace the potential of VTO. Then, watch your nonprofit thrive with the help of motivated, passionate volunteers⁠—and the support of their employers!

Ready to learn more about Volunteer Time Off and how you can benefit from the programs? Check out these additional resources:

Secure more support through volunteer time off programs with 360MatchPro.

A Complete Look at Volunteer Grants For Fundraisers

A Complete Look at Volunteer Grants For Fundraisers

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Picture this: A small community center faces the threat of closure due to dwindling funds. Just as all hope seems lost, a group of employees from a nearby tech company begins volunteering with the organization on a regular basis. These volunteers revamp the center’s facilities and organize programs for local youth. Taking things even further, the volunteers’ company matches their hours with generous volunteer grants, ultimately providing the funding needed to keep the center open and serving its community.

This heartwarming story exemplifies the power of volunteerism—and the impact of volunteer grant programs—setting the stage for a deeper exploration of how these initiatives drive social change. And that’s exactly what this guide is here for!

Specifically, we’ll cover the following:

Volunteer grants have the potential to transform volunteerism for organizations like yours. Ready to learn everything you need to know to target these opportunities effectively in your efforts? Let’s begin.

What Are Volunteer Grants? The Basics

Volunteer grants (also called “Dollars for Doers”) are financial contributions provided by companies to support nonprofit organizations where their employees volunteer.

These grants typically match the hours employees spend volunteering (i.e., $25 for each hour volunteered), offering a monetary donation to the organization based on the volunteer time an individual logged.

This benefit encourages employee engagement in community service and enhances the impact of their volunteer efforts overall.

The Value of Volunteer Grants for Nonprofits & Schools

Volunteer grant programs offer significant value to nonprofits and schools by providing essential funding that enhances their programs and services. These grants can help…

  • Offset operational costs
  • Support new initiatives
  • Fund special projects that might otherwise be unattainable

Additionally, they encourage employee engagement, fostering a culture of giving back while increasing volunteer participation through tangible incentives. This collaboration not only strengthens community ties but also amplifies the impact of the organization’s mission, allowing it to reach more beneficiaries and achieve greater outcomes overall.

Get more volunteer grants with 360MatchPro Volunteer Hub.

Essential Volunteer Grant Criteria to Know

Tons of companies offer volunteer grants—from the Fortune 500 to your local mom-and-pop shop down the street. However, each employer that implements a program is able to establish its own unique criteria for involvement.

While it can vary from one company to the next, most volunteer grant programs consider the following guidelines:

  • Employee eligibility — While some volunteer grant programs are exclusive to current, full-time employees, others are extended to part-time and retired individuals as well.
  • Cause eligibility — Many companies will provide grants to any registered 501(c)(3) organization. However, some select or exclude particular causes (often religious or political in nature) from qualifying for the programs.
  • Minimum volunteer hours — There’s generally a set number of hours an employee must reach in order to unlock a volunteer grant. Once they reach the minimum threshold, they can request a grant!
  • Grant amount — Some employers offer lump sum grant amounts (e.g., $500 after reaching 25 hours), while others pay out volunteer grants on an hourly basis (e.g., $25 per hour volunteered). According to 360MatchPro, 80% of companies with volunteer grant programs provide between $8 and $15 per hour!
  • Submission process and deadline — Most companies require volunteer grants to be requested within a certain time frame following the volunteer activity (often a few months to a year). The request process itself can also differ and may require the individual to submit a log of their time.

In order for a volunteer to qualify for and secure a grant on your organization’s behalf, their service should adhere to the above criteria. And the easiest way to uncover this information is with a volunteer grant database! All it takes is a quick search of a company name, and you (or your volunteers) can access employer-specific program guidelines and instructions in seconds.

Marketing Volunteer Grants to Your Supporters

Volunteer grants can have a significant impact on the organizations that receive them. However, they’re often an underutilized funding source, largely due to a lack of awareness among eligible volunteers.

As a result, nonprofits and schools are taking increasingly proactive steps to market these opportunities to their supporters. Here’s how we recommend doing so:

On your website

To effectively market volunteer grants to your nonprofit supporters, leveraging key marketing channels is essential. Starting with your website, create a dedicated page explaining what volunteer grants are, how they work, and how volunteers can apply for them.

This resource should also highlight companies that offer such grants (ideally by embedding a company search tool on the page), making it easier for volunteers to check if they’re eligible and to take the next steps outlined if so.

Within volunteer sign-up forms

Your volunteers are eager to support your cause⁠—especially while actively filling out a registration form for your organization. That said, it’s the perfect opportunity to promote corporate volunteer incentives such as volunteer grants and more.

Within your volunteer sign-up forms, begin integrating messaging about volunteer grants by asking for the volunteer’s employer information. You can even place a short note within the form that explains how their hours could unlock additional funding for your nonprofit. Then, after they sign up, follow up with each eligible supporter to encourage them to request the funds.

In your email communications

Your email communications are another powerful tool for promoting volunteer grants. Sending targeted emails to your volunteer base is an effective way to educate supporters about volunteer grant opportunities.

In these emails, explain how the programs work, the potential impact on your nonprofit, and how volunteers can apply for them through their employers.

Adding reminders about volunteer grants to your regular newsletters can also help maintain awareness. After volunteers complete their service, send them a personalized follow-up email thanking them and reminding them to check if their company offers a grant, making the process feel seamless and appreciative.

Through social media

Lastly, social media can expand your reach and engage a broader audience in the conversation about volunteer grant programs. Regularly post content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn that highlights the availability of volunteer grants and the impact they can have. (Hint: Double the Donation users can access free, customizable marketing materials within the 360MatchPro platform to help you get started!)

Sharing success stories from volunteers who have secured grants can be especially compelling, driving traffic back to your dedicated webpage for more information.

By leveraging these marketing channels (and any others your organization is drawn to), your team can not only increase awareness of volunteer grant programs but also make it easier for supporters to take advantage of these opportunities. And in the end, it ultimately unlocks additional funding and deepens engagement.

Wrapping Up & Further Reading

As we’ve seen, volunteer grants can serve as a significant lifeline for nonprofits and schools, transforming hours of volunteer work into vital financial support. By understanding the eligibility criteria and effectively navigating the application process, organizations can harness these grants to enhance their programs and extend their reach within the community.

Whether you’re just starting your fundraising journey or looking to expand your efforts, tapping into the potential of volunteer grants can empower your organization to make a lasting difference. Embrace the opportunity to turn volunteer hours into impactful funding and watch your mission thrive.

Interested in learning more about how your organization can benefit from volunteer grants and beyond? Check out these recommended resources:

Get more volunteer grants with 360MatchPro Volunteer Hub.

Learn everything you need to know about wealth screening for nonprofits.

Wealth Screening for Nonprofits: The Definitive Guide

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As a nonprofit marketer, you strive to create meaningful, lasting supporter relationships, and data is a big part of that. Data-driven strategies can inform your cultivation strategies by letting you know who your donors are. In particular, wealth screening can help you determine how much someone can afford to give and how likely they are to donate to your cause based on past giving behaviors.

In a world driven by technology, donor data is more accessible and helpful than ever. You just need to know what information to collect, use the right tools to gather it, and then fold your results into your outreach strategies.

Whether you’re looking to fund a capital campaign with major gifts or level up your low- and mid-tier donors, wealth screening is a smart option. At the same time, it might seem daunting if you’re unfamiliar with the basics. This guide is here to help! So that you can tap into wealth screening, we’ll dive into these topics:

At NPOInfo, we work with all sorts of nonprofits to build robust donor profiles. With our data enrichment services, we can help you send more targeted fundraising asks and subsequently deepen donor relationships. By sharing what we know, we’re confident you’ll be equipped to leverage wealth screening at your nonprofit. Let’s get started!

Get a free quote for NPOInfo's financial data appending services.

Let's break down what donor wealth screening is.

What is wealth screening?

Wealth screening is the process of appending financial data and other wealth indicators for individuals. This process helps nonprofits identify and target prospective and existing donors with the greatest capacity to give.

Nonprofits using this service must share identifying information for individual supporters, such as their names and contact information. Then, their chosen nonprofit wealth screening service leverages public record data and propriety philanthropy databases to pull this information. When their file is returned, nonprofits can use the data to segment supporters into groups based on giving capacity and send targeted fundraising appeals.

Here's a definition of donor wealth screening.

Donor wealth screening can help you improve your fundraising efforts.

How do nonprofits use wealth screening?

Guessing who your wealthiest donors are based on hunches or inaccurate data is a risky game. Wealth screening will guarantee that you’re working with accurate data, so you can make informed decisions when planning your fundraising campaigns.

With accurate wealth data, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on the right donors, honing in on those who are likely to make a big impact on your cause. So let’s take a look at four key ways you can fold this process into your everyday marketing and fundraising.

Wealth screening helps you accomplish goals such as tapping into corporate giving and locating major donors.

1. Create realistic fundraising goals.

At its core, donor wealth screening will let you know how much your donors can give. Based on this data, you can set realistic (yet still aspirational) fundraising goals to drive your campaigns to new heights.

Otherwise, you risk underestimating your team and setting goals that are too low. Then, when you reach your campaign’s goal, support may taper off as donors won’t feel as motivated to give if they don’t think you still need donations.

On the other hand, you also risk overestimating your team if you don’t have sufficient wealth data. You may set objectives that are too far-fetched, causing your team to feel deterred when you fall short.

2. Send targeted fundraising appeals.

A well-crafted fundraising appeal is comprised of four primary components:

  • Who you’ll ask to donate
  • When you’ll ask for a donation
  • How you’ll ask for it
  • The amount you’ll ask the donor to give

Data appending allows you to address each of these areas, resulting in a higher return on your investment. Alongside other donor data, wealth screening will help you understand the individual’s giving capacity. Then, you can pair that with their communication preferences and frequency, resulting in a well-timed ask completed with a reasonable amount.

That way, you don’t risk leaving money on the table by asking for too little or much. And as we’ll explore later, you can streamline your outreach further by grouping donors with similar giving capacities, saving even more time.

3. Locate major donors.

Your organization’s major donors are the life source of your work. They’re fully invested in your cause and devote a considerable amount of their hard-earned money to keep your doors open. Donorly’s guide to major donors explains that these individuals provide your cause with its largest, most impactful gifts.

About 80% of individual donor fundraising revenue comes from just 20% of your donors.

That being said, finding these donors and cultivating relationships with them should be a top priority for your team. Wealth screening gives you the information you need to uncover them and create outreach that resonates with them.

By uncovering donors’ current assets and past giving to similar organizations, you won’t waste your time trying to level up donors who aren’t likely to give any more to your cause than they already do.

4. Tap into matching gift opportunities.

Appending financial data can provide valuable employer data, letting you know where your donors work. From here, you can research their companies, flag any that offer matching gift programs, and follow up with anyone who might be eligible.

Around 26 million individuals work for companies with matching gift programs, but only 1.31% of individual contributions made to the average nonprofit are matched, according to Double the Donation’s fundraising statistics.

Knowing this, you likely have a few matching gift opportunities within your own CRM. By finding these opportunities, you’ll double (maybe even triple!) individuals’ contributions, multiplying their impact on your cause.

There are several types of data you can gather from wealth screening for nonprofits.

What data can you receive through wealth screening?

The type of data you’ll receive depends on your nonprofit wealth screening services provider. Pinpoint the type of information you need and then find a provider who can append that data for you. To maximize results, we recommend pairing philanthropic and wealth data, helping you find donors who can give and actually want to give to your cause.

Of course, there’s no limit on how much data you can collect, but there is a limit on how much you should collect! Several factors can point to a donor’s capacity for charitable giving, and some are more valuable than others. Let’s break down the most valuable types of data you might collect. That way, you won’t get buried under unnecessary data!

This chart shows how we can break down wealth screening data into categories.

Wealth markers

When appending financial data, focus on these wealth indicators:

  • Business affiliations. A donor’s business affiliations hint at their net worth and give insight into potential professional connections you can use for networking opportunities. This type of data includes business partnerships, a role on a board, and other types of corporate connections.
  • Profession. Someone’s profession, along with other employer data, can help you estimate their salary and disposable income, which is especially useful if they’re in a high-paying field. You’ll need to know information like their city, job title, and company, so you can research average salaries in their career field and location.
  • Stock ownership. Although these are typically liquid assets, stocks are a reliable wealth indicator that can be used to estimate prospects’ financial capacity. Start researching stock ownership by consulting portals like the one provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which maintains records on publicly traded companies.
  • Real estate investment. The amount of money someone invests in real estate can point to their net worth and signal that they value opportunities to spend their money wisely. In fact, major giving research has found that individuals who own at least $2 million in real estate are 17 times more likely to donate to charity than the average person.

Donor wealth screening research has found that those who own more real estate are more likely to donate to charity.

These wealth indicators will give you a solid foundation to launch your prospect research forward. While they’re not surefire proof of donors’ wealth, they can give you a pretty solid idea of it. Always use your best judgment when analyzing any wealth data and formulating it into your outreach strategies.

Philanthropic markers

While wealth indicators are certainly valuable, they’re not the only indicators of a donor’s giving capacity. Philanthropic indicators that can also point to giving capacity include:

  • Political giving. Political donations can be both a philanthropic and a wealth indicator. You’ll gain insight into their beliefs by determining their political affiliations, allowing you to promote relevant opportunities that align with their values.
  • Previous giving habits. Take a look at each donor’s RFM — the recency of their last gift, the frequency of their donations, and the average monetary value of their gifts. Look at the specific projects and programs they’ve funded to see which resonated with them. While a donor’s past giving to your specific nonprofit is crucial, you’ll also want to know if they’ve given to other nonprofits. This can help you identify what drives them to give and pinpoint other philanthropic-minded donors who share similar values.
  • Past engagement history. Beyond donations, look at other areas of your cause where donors are involved. Perhaps they’ve volunteered, served on your board, participated in advocacy efforts, or joined a peer-to-peer fundraiser. Extra involvement may point to a deeper commitment to your cause and therefore a higher chance of donating.

Determining philanthropic indicators is a vital part of the wealth screening process. Pairing wealth and philanthropic markers will help you determine whether someone’s willing and able to give to your cause. From there, you can craft appeals that feature the appropriate ask amounts and point to areas they’d be interested in supporting.

Follow these tips to get more out of your wealth screening results.

Tips to Get More Out of Financial Data Appending

As you can see, wealth screening is a valuable opportunity for any organization. However, your data is only as valuable as what you do with it. So before you start collecting donor data, have some solid data management strategies in place. In turn, you’ll wind up with organized data that drives greater results for your cause.

1. Clean your database.

Your CRM can quickly become cluttered with data if you’re not careful. That’s why we suggest cleaning your database before employing wealth screening services!

To organize your donor database, we recommend taking a couple of steps, including:

  • Remove duplicate information. Otherwise, you may accidentally screen donors more than once.
  • Purge lapsed and deceased donors. Don’t spend time or money pulling data for donors who haven’t given to your cause in years or who have passed away.
  • Standardize your entries. If each constituent’s data is entered differently, it’ll be difficult to append financial data and provide results in a standardized format. Take some time upfront to put everything in a consistent format.
  • Update outdated or missing contact information. To correctly identify donors during wealth screening, make sure you have as much identifying information as possible. We recommend conducting data appends to fill in outdated or missing contact details, such as donors’ phone numbers, email addresses, and postal addresses.

You want your prospect research to start off on the right foot, and cleaner records will yield more accurate results. This is a solid first step for any nonprofit that wants to append financial data for its constituents.

2. Follow up with new business connections.

After performing a wealth screening, you’ll likely uncover insights about the individual’s business connections. Leverage these findings to form valuable partnerships with companies and expand your donor network.

Let’s look at a few opportunities your organization can use to further your mission and drive revenue:

  • Corporate sponsorship or partnership opportunities. As you complete wealth screenings, perhaps you notice several donors work for the same company—this might point to a potential partnership or sponsorship opportunity. To follow up on this opportunity, reach out to introduce yourself to the company’s leadership. Share that several of your donors work for the business when chatting about a potential partnership, indicating alignment between your values.
  • Matching gift opportunities. Some employers offer matching gift programs where they match their employees’ donations to charitable causes. Research each employer’s guidelines to pinpoint eligible donors. If your development team has enough time on its hands, you might even start conversations with companies that don’t have a program in place already.
  • New workplace giving programs. Once you’ve sparked a relationship with donors’ employers, you can recommend that they start (or improve) a workplace giving program. To make your proposal as effective as possible,  you should share research on how workplace giving correlates with higher employee engagement, improves their reputation in their local community, and helps attract new top talent. Additionally, pinpoint specific corporate social responsibility software and best practices that will make launching the program easier for them.

In addition to wealth screening findings, pay attention to the employer data of your top volunteers. Some companies offer volunteer grants to the organizations their employees volunteer with. Similar to matching gifts, making your organization and the volunteer aware of these programs can earn your mission more financial support at no cost to your supporters.

3. Segment your donors.

While certainly helpful, wealth screening is an extensive process. Segmenting your donors before conducting your financial data append can ease the workload and break down your expansive donor base into bite-sized pieces. For instance, you might segment your donors into categories such as:

  • Recurring donors
  • New donors
  • Event attendees

Screening by group will help your nonprofit focus on specific areas of your fundraising. Then, after you receive your results, you can segment your donors even further to send highly-relevant appeals. For instance, you can group donors based on their giving capacities and specific interests in your programs, making sure they receive the appeals most relevant to their needs.

4. Screen before events.

Leading up to an event, you can perform a wealth screening to increase registrations and create a memorable experience for attendees. For instance, you can leverage the data you gather to:

  • Know who to invite. Before you send out invitations, screen your donors to discover who will enjoy your event the most. For example, you might specifically invite major donors and major giving prospects to an auction where prizes start at high initial bids. Then, you may also invite major giving prospects to a more casual, family-friendly event to form connections with them in a less formal setting.
  • Create better seating charts. Managing guest lists and seating donors can be a logistical nightmare. You can group donors and put like-minded people together so that they can form meaningful connections at the event.
  • Know who to interact with the most at the event. Events are known for their networking opportunities. Make sure your team prioritizes cultivating relationships with those most likely to give to your cause again.

By folding wealth screening into your event management strategies, you’ll create positive environments for your donors, inspiring them to stay connected with your cause long after the event ends.

Carefully choose a financial data appending company with these tips.

Choosing Wealth Screening Services

When it comes to choosing a provider, finding the right one can make a world of difference. Going with an untrustworthy one may result in inaccurate data, which will cause misinformed fundraising strategies and may negatively impact your donor relationships.

First and foremost, you want a provider who works in your industry, so go with one that works in the nonprofit sector. These providers bring a unique understanding to the table that generic data management companies can’t.

In addition to providing the wealth screening services you’ll need, you’ll want to look for these key advantages:

Look for these key aspects in a financial data appending company.

  • Manual verification processes
  • High-quality customer service
  • Standardized formatting for results
  • Accuracy scores to let you know how reliable the data is

NPOInfo offers these benefits, so you can trust you’re receiving the most dependable information out there. Plus, we work exclusively with nonprofits, providing an unparalleled understanding of your organization’s fundraising needs. We’ll help you find the most impactful data points for your cause from publicly and privately available sources, helping you create robust donor profiles with all the donor data you need.

Between appending contact data and employer data, we’ll help you launch your donor relationships forward with our data enrichment services. Reach out to get started!

Get a free quote!

Continue learning about donor wealth screening and other strategies with these resources.

Additional Data Enrichment Resources

It’s time to stop expending your time and energy cultivating prospects who are unlikely to give to your cause. Wealth screening will illuminate high-net-worth people who are eager to support your work. That way, you can focus your efforts on groups most likely to contribute.

This ultimate guide should give you everything you need to get started, but don’t venture into the donor wealth screening world alone! NPOInfo is here to support all your data enrichment needs. Partner with us, build out your donor profiles, and cultivate more valuable supporter relationships with the right data.

In the meantime, keep exploring the vast world of data management with these resources from the NPOInfo team and other trustworthy sources:

Get a quote from NPOInfo and let our team handle your financial data appending.

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

Phone Appends: A Nonprofit’s Data Enrichment Guide

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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

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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.

Understand Your Data | Charitable Giving Statistics for 2022

Understand Your Data | Charitable Giving Statistics for 2024

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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.

This guide offers three tips to help your nonprofit get started with fundraising data analytics.

3 Steps to Get Started With Fundraising Data Analytics

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For the past six years, charitable donations have continued to grow. Within the past year alone, giving increased by 4.1%. However, many nonprofits still lose out on potential revenue despite this growth. How can your organization maximize revenue?

Using fundraising data analytics is a great place to start.

Fundraising analytics provide a way for nonprofits to measure the effectiveness of campaigns. Your nonprofit can develop a list of strengths and weaknesses backed up by concrete data. This makes it easier to adjust fundraising strategies based on past performances.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to getting started with fundraising analytics. After learning about the different types of fundraising analytics, you’ll read about selecting metrics and collecting the right data. Lastly, we’ll discuss how to analyze data.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

Want to know how to use data to improve your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy? Keep reading to learn more.

Contact NPOInfo to get started with fundraising data analytics.


These are the basics for the three types of fundraising data analytics.

What are fundraising data analytics?

Fundraising data analytics is the process of collecting useful fundraising data and analyzing patterns within that data. This gives your nonprofit a basis to build on current fundraising strategies by using metrics that quantify performance.

There are three distinct kinds of fundraising data analytics— descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. Each of these plays an important role in the overall fundraising data analytics process.

Next, we’ll delve into what makes these types of fundraising analytics unique.

These are the three kinds of fundraising data analytics — descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive.

Descriptive Fundraising Analytics

Descriptive fundraising analytics provides information that describes your donors’ behavior. These metrics create classifications for donors based on their past interactions with your organization.

This information provides key insights into donors’ giving habits and behaviors. Common information found in this category includes metrics like donation amount, donation method, and demographic information.

Predictive Fundraising Analytics

Predictive fundraising analytics build off of the foundational data provided by descriptive fundraising analytics, identifying patterns and trends. These patterns in donor behavior are used to predict donors’ future behaviors.

There are a few things to look for when performing a predictive analysis. The point of predictive fundraising analytics is to reveal patterns in your data, so you should keep an eye out for pattern indicators. We’ll talk about this more later, but common pattern indicators include donation growth and fundraising return on investment.

Prescriptive Fundraising Analytics

Prescriptive fundraising analytics combines the information gathered from descriptive and predictive analytics. Here, donor classifications and predictions about their future behavior inform a nonprofit’s future fundraising strategy.

Prescriptive fundraising analytics provides concrete measurements about past and future fundraising campaigns. The insights gathered inform a nonprofit of its unique needs and how to address them. Nonprofits also walk away with a better understanding of key donor information like giving capacity, which can help maximize fundraising efforts.

A great example of prescriptive fundraising analytics is prospect research. This research focuses on finding prospective major donors based on their giving capacity and affinity.

Giving capacity refers to a prospect’s financial ability to make a major gift— something that can be ascertained using descriptive fundraising analytics. Giving affinity refers to the likelihood that a prospect will want to make a major gift, often ascertained by examining their past giving behaviors— a predictive analytics practice. The combination of the two, prospect research, is the ideal example of prescriptive fundraising analytics.


These are the three steps to using fundraising data analytics.
Getting Started with Fundraising Data Analytics in 3 Steps

The most important steps for getting started with fundraising analytics are choosing your metrics, gathering the right data, and analyzing that data. We outline how to accomplish each step and some best practices to keep in mind.


Learn how to select metrics when analyzing fundraising data.

1. Selecting Fundraising Metrics

Metrics are the foundation for all the insights you gather, so understanding them is key. We’ll cover what fundraising metrics are, list some common examples, and explain how to choose the right ones.

What are fundraising metrics?

Fundraising metrics, sometimes called key performance indicators (KPIs), are data points that are used to measure the strength of fundraising performance. If your nonprofit uses the Google Ad Grant program, you may be familiar with performance indicating metrics such as click-through rate and conversion rate.

Metrics can highlight growth from one campaign to the next. On the other hand, they can also point out weaknesses or stagnation.

8 Common Fundraising Metrics

There are many different metrics to consider, and choosing them depends on your organization’s goals. This list is far from exhaustive, but it gives you a starting point with fundraising metrics.

Here are eight common fundraising metrics:

  • Donation volume: This metric references the number of donations your nonprofit received within a designated time frame.
  • Average gift size: Average gift size reflects how much a gift is on average. You can measure the average gift size from individual donors or the overall average within a given time period. Both of these variations will provide useful insights.
  • Gift recency: This metric refers to how recently an individual donor made a donation.
  • Gift frequency: Similar to gift recency, gift frequency indicates how often a donor donates.
  • Demographics: Demographics are characteristics or traits of your donors. These can include age, gender, and location.
  • Wealth markers: These factors are similar to demographics. However, they are indicators of a donor’s financial ability to make a gift. This includes things like real estate ownership, job title, and stock ownership.
  • Affinity Markers: These reference how willing the donor is to make donations. This includes factors such as past donations, volunteer history, and more.
  • Return on investment (ROI): ROI represents the total revenue your organization gains from promotional activity over the total cost. A promotion could be something like a fundraising campaign or event. ROI is a great metric for determining efficiency.

Metrics like these can help you evaluate your fundraising strategy from an objective perspective. By using these concrete performance measures, your campaigns should improve as you identify strengths and weaknesses.

Common Website Analytics

Your website can give you insight into fundraising performance. With tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics, you can monitor all sorts of data.

However, some metrics are more useful than others. Here are a few website analytics we recommend keeping an eye on:

  • Traffic Sources: How do people find your website? For instance, organic traffic refers to people who land on your site through Google or Bing, while referral traffic refers to visitors who land on your site from another website. Then, you have social traffic, which allows you to see which social media platforms drive users to your site. This can provide insight into how to best connect with prospects.
  • Ad CTR: If you’re using a platform like Google Ads to promote your website, keep an eye on your click-through rate. This is the number of people who click your ads divided by the number of impressions (i.e. people who see your ad).
  • Conversions: Your conversion rate describes how successfully your site turns visitors into supporters. A conversion might refer to a donation, volunteer registration, petition signature, or newsletter sign-up. Poor conversion rates might indicate poor CTA wording or placement.
  • Session duration. How long are people staying on your site before leaving? If they immediately leave, your website might not provide sufficient information to meet visitors’ needs. If certain landing pages have a high bounce rate, re-evaluate whether you meet the searcher’s intent for its ranking keywords and then revamp the content.

Especially if you’re promoting your website with Google Ads, partner with a Google Ads agency to monitor these metrics. You can integrate your Ad Grants account with Google Analytics to monitor your ad campaign metrics alongside other site data. Not to mention, having an expert on your side will help you interpret that data and make positive changes to your website and its ads.

Work with our recommended Google Ads manager.

How to Choose the Right Metrics

Knowing which metrics to track is half the battle when it comes to fundraising analytics. The most important thing to remember are your goals as a nonprofit.

With this in mind, here are a few helpful tips for choosing the right metrics:

  • Set goals that are tied to metrics. When you are creating goals for a fundraising strategy, select goals that are connected to specific metrics. For example, make it a goal to increase donations and use a metric like average gift size to measure your success.
  • Use metrics that will benefit future fundraising efforts. While you should have goals specific to each campaign, it is also a good idea to identify overarching goals for your nonprofit. Note consistent weaknesses for your organization and choose metrics that measure those areas. That way, you can track strong and weak performances across different campaigns.

With so many metrics to choose from, narrowing them down can be overwhelming. These tips will prepare you for data analysis and ensure your insights are useful.

This explains how to collect donor data.

2. Collecting the Right Data

After you choose metrics for your fundraising strategy, you’ll need to collect the data to analyze.

How do you collect data?

Fundraising data analytics relies on gathering fundraising metrics. This data can include information about your donors and information about your campaigns themselves.

Data collection happens at every touchpoint your nonprofit has with a donor. For example, when a donor makes a donation, your nonprofit gains access to several data points. Things like gift size, frequency, recency, and donation method can all be derived from one touchpoint.

The data your nonprofit collects is both automatically collected by software and added manually by staff members. Online interactions are easy to add automatically, but some donor touchpoints require manual input. Logging interactions and contact information at an event, for example, will need to be added by hand.

Supplementing Your Data

While there are many metrics your nonprofit can capture on its own, there are often gaps in what you can collect. Data append services like NPOInfo are a great investment for filling in those gaps. NPOInfo is tailored to helping nonprofits and offers a wide variety of quality services.

For example, NPOInfo offers the following services:

  • Employer appends: With an employer append, NPOInfo provides your nonprofit with information about your donors’ employers. The key data points like employer name, job title, and matching gift information clue your nonprofit in to more fundraising opportunities. This data can be difficult to append on your own, and the insights gained can directly increase fundraising revenue.
  • Email appends: Emails are one of the most important donor touchpoints to maintain. However, if you are missing donor emails, it can be hard to know where to start. NPOInfo offers highly accurate email appends to foster meaningful communication to donors.
  • Date of birth appends: Demographic information like age can help your nonprofit understand your donor base. But, gathering birth dates on your own can be difficult and time consuming. Consider NPOInfo as a simple, hassle-free option.

NPOInfo helps nonprofits append the data they need to create the best possible fundraising strategy. Contact us here to learn more about our data append services!

Data Collection Best Practices

Use this checklist to optimize data collection.
Here are some best practices when collecting data:

  • Only collect data relevant to the fundraising metrics you identified in the previous section. Collecting useless data limits the efficiency of your data. For example, if your goal is to increase gift frequency, collecting data related to your ROI will not be helpful. Carefully select data points so you only have to work with the data you need.
  • Optimize your constituent relationship management (CRM) platform. This is where your fundraising data will live, and it should include a full picture of all of your organizational data. If your CRM is disorganized or unable to integrate with your other software solutions, it’s worthwhile to look into upgrading your solution.
  • Link CRM software and fundraising software. Connecting the two can reduce manually inputting information. New information is exchanged automatically between the softwares when they are connected, reducing the amount of work you have to do.
  • Configure data before it enters your database. Before loading any data, set up any tags you would like to track. This could include things like donor name, gift data, and donation source. Setting up tags helps you stay organized, especially when dealing with a lot of data.

These strategies should help you collect accurate, useful data. Keep them in mind as you collect these pieces of information so that your database remains organized.

This explains how to analyze data.

3. Analyzing Data

Now that you’ve selected the metrics you want to analyze and collected the corresponding fundraising data, you can get started analyzing the data.

Identify trends in your data.

Use predictive fundraising analytics to identify trends in your fundraising metrics. Your nonprofit can use these trends to create possible predictions for future campaign behavior.

For example, you might look for trends such as:

  • Growth in donation size: If the amount of individual donations is increasing across your campaigns, consider what caused the change. Pinpoint the reason for the change, like a new donation appeal strategy, and note the impact it had. This will allow your nonprofit to replicate the positive results in the future and see more increases in donation size.
  • Participation: Participation from supporters, which you can measure through things like event attendance, marks how invested donors are in your nonprofit. Note the impact any changes have on participation and plan to replicate any successes. If marketing events on Instagram doubles attendance, market all future events this way.
  • Fundraising ROI: Return on investment is an important measure of efficiency. This will tell you how much you spent on a fundraising campaign versus how much you made. As you experiment with different fundraising strategies, observe how ROI changes. Retire strategies that impact ROI negatively and continue using those that increase it.
  • Online donations: More specifically, this metric tracks what percentage of your total donations come from online sources. Marketing to a younger audience, for example, could bring in more online donations. Note this success and continue to market to them while planning for how to increase these donations even more.

By identifying trends in your nonprofit’s overall fundraising, you can predict outcomes for future campaigns. Your future campaigns will reflect your hard work through increased revenue, participating, and ROI.

Form a strategy.

The final step in analyzing your data is forming a strategy. Your strategy should be based on the information gleaned from organizing donors and identifying donor relationships and focus on growing your nonprofit by building connections, establishing a clear goal, streamlining internal operations, and generally improving your fundraisers’ performance. Creating an effective strategy that will yield strong fundraising performance results is the ultimate goal in fundraising data analytics.

This part of the strategy is based on prescriptive fundraising analytics. Your strategy should be based on prospect research which we discuss further here. As a refresher, here are some pieces of information you can find in this step:

  • Finding matching gift opportunities.
  • Finding major gift donors.
  • Identifying planned gift donors.

Strategy is the culmination of everything we’ve covered. A strategy based on concrete insights and carefully analyzed data could be the push that your fundraising campaigns need.

Fundraising data analytics can give your nonprofit a boost when it comes to how effective your fundraising strategy is. You can maximize fundraising revenue by gaining a deeper understanding of your nonprofit’s strengths and weaknesses through fundraising metrics. These steps are not always simple to navigate, but we’re confident that you can give your organization’s strategy a refresh using fundraising data analytics.

Gathering data can be the trickiest part of fundraising data analytics, and doing it on your own is a huge undertaking. Luckily, services like NPOInfo are great for lifting the burden of appending data off nonprofits’ shoulders. Contact NPOInfo today for a quote!

In the meantime, check out the following additional resources:

To learn more about data-driven fundraising, contact our professionals at NPOInfo.

Follow this guide to learn how alumni management software can drive success.

Alumni Management: Overview & Our Top 10 Software Picks

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Finding effective ways to reach alumni is an important task for educational institutions. Alumni management allows colleges and universities to reach alumni and encourage donations to the institution.

It’s likely that your organization already tracks data on its alumni. But with the right software, you can collect and organize that information more effectively. Alumni management software helps administrators maintain alumni contact information, plan fundraising initiatives, process and track donations, and organize alumni events.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover the basics of alumni management and alumni management software through the following points:

We’ll also discuss the benefits of working with a data append service like NPOInfo. Our team of experts can fill in the gaps of your alumni data to ensure that your fundraising initiatives are built on data you can trust. Let’s get started!

Want to put your alumni data to good use? Contact us for a quote!

Let's explore an overview of alumni management, including what it is and why it is important.

Overview of Alumni Management

What is alumni management?

Alumni management is the process that universities and colleges use to connect and engage with alumni. Alumni management is the process that universities and colleges use to connect and engage with alumni. Building meaningful relationships with alumni can drive success for your higher education program. Although most alumni move away from campus to pursue careers, they’re still accessible and eager to engage with their previous educational institutions.

 

When managed properly, alumni can become:

  • Brand ambassadors for your school.
  • Recruiters for upcoming graduates.
  • A significant source of revenue through donations and memberships.
  • A source of expertise and mentorship for current students.

Schools used to rely solely on snail mail to reach past students, making it difficult to maintain engagement. However, keeping alumni involved is quick and easy in the digital age. With the right software, you can manage alumni in a single secure platform. You can:

  1. Keep an updated database. Collect data on your alumni to determine demographics, communication preferences, engagement level, event attendance, and more.
  2. Plan reunion events. Alumni respond positively to events that reflect school spirit. Leverage nostalgia to attract more attendees.
  3. Share campus news. Share university updates, alumni spotlights, and upcoming events through a blog or newsletter. This will keep alumni invested in your school’s progress.
  4. Provide networking opportunities. Include ways to find information about classmates or other alum to build a professional network.
  5. Start a mentorship program. An alumni mentor can provide career guidance and professional contacts to students. Keep in mind that younger alumni are more likely to mentor students due to a smaller age difference.

By continually creating value for alumni, you encourage them to donate and participate in school-wide events. We’ll dive into the more benefits of alumni management in the next section.

Why is alumni management important?

Higher education programs have a critical task: making an impression on alumni. Alumni management ensures that you never lose access to alumni and can continue to engage with them long after graduation. With strong alumni management, your organization can:

  • Share alumni data. Publish up-to-date statistics on alumni, including the companies they work for and the positions they hold.  This is a powerful way to improve credibility and recruit potential students.
  • Build lifelong relationships. Loyalty is vital in this quickly changing, digitally connected world. With consistent targeted engagement tactics, you can convert one-time supporters into lifelong relationships.
  • Drive event attendance. Alumni events are wonderful professional and personal development opportunities for former students. They can also offer real benefits to the organizing institution. From receptions and galas, to reunions and career networking events, there are a multitude of ways to bring alumni together and boost engagement.
  • Increase funds. When alumni are encouraged to donate, that money goes towards supporting the next generation of students. Use crowdfunding and matching gift programs to kickstart alumni donations.

The main reason that universities prioritize alumni management is because they want to increase alumni giving. According to the top 10 US News, alumni giving rates for colleges range from about 44% to 55%. Since graduates are likely to give back, schools want to find:

  • Alumni who make a significant amount of money and therefore can make large gifts.
  • Alumni who work for companies that offer matching gift programs, so they can receive two donations for the effort of one.

If your college or university is looking to boost its revenue, consider using an alumni management system.


We'll define an alumni management system and explore how your school will benefit.

What is an alumni management system?

An alumni management system is a software solution that allows you to manage all alumni data and activities in a single space.An alumni management system is a software solution that allows you to manage all alumni data and activities in a single space. Most software offer a wide range of features created specifically for schools, universities, alumni associations, and foundations.

Universities benefit from having all their information under one umbrella. Storing data across many systems can lead to information falling through the cracks. Management software, on the other hand, streamlines the process of gathering, storing, and updating data on alumni. It provides a comprehensive view of all alumni engagement efforts and gives new and improved insights into how to increase giving.

Alumni management software eliminates most of the administrative work involved in collecting and organizing data. Rather than spending hours importing alumni data into a spreadsheet, look for a software that allows you to automatically collect and customize information. We’ll take a look at the types of alumni data that you should collect in the next section.

What alumni data should you collect?

Schools should assess what data they want to collect and filter out unnecessary information that will clutter up their database. For example, the on-campus activities that a past student took while enrolled may not provide as much value as an alum’s current job. In general, alumni systems collect:

These are the top 5 pieces of data to collect on alumni.

  • Education: Areas of study will reveal the causes that your donors are most likely to support.
  • Past Giving: Assess how recent a donor’s last gift was, how frequently they give, and how much they typically contribute. This information can help you predict the timing and amount of future donations you will receive.
  • Contact Information: To create an alumni community, you must be able to reach former students. Use address, phone number, and email address appends to maintain updated contact information on your alumni.
  • Communication Preferences: Understanding communication preferences allows you to effectively reach target audiences. Direct mail is the best way to reach donors of all ages, while younger supporters are more likely to respond to virtual outreach efforts.
  • Current Employer and Industry: 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.

Although alumni management systems can collect a wide variety of data, sometimes that information isn’t enough. Data appends can fill in the gaps in your database by providing additional information on alumni. NPOInfo’s data appends for alumni have a high degree of accuracy and can reveal what your donor base is doing after graduation.

NPOInfo is one of many systems paving the way in alumni management. We’ll explore more examples in the next section.

The following software and service providers can help you manage alumni data and maintain alumni relations.

Best Alumni Management Software

It’s important to take careful time and consideration when choosing a management platform that fits the needs of your institution. As you search for the right software for your school, consider our list of top alumni management platforms.

The following software and service providers can help you manage alumni data and maintain alumni relations. To qualify for inclusion in the list, a system must:

  • Maintain alumni data. 
  • Facilitate fundraising efforts and donation processing.  
  • Provide a means for communication with alumni. 

Let’s get started with our favorite alumni management software!

NPOInfo

NPOInfo can collect the most accurate information about the lives of your students after graduation. NPOInfo understands that the core of your donor base is alumni. Our team of professionals strives to collect the most accurate information about the lives of your students after graduation. Data appends for alumni often have the highest accuracy of all constituent groups. That’s because there are a few key data points that your organization is almost certainly able to provide upfront. And the more data points, the better matches we can guarantee!

NPOInfo offers email, phone number, address, and employer appends. Simply send us some preliminary information about your alumni, and we’ll provide the name of your alum’s employer and whether their company offers a matching gift program. Let NPOInfo empower your organization to claim the matching gift revenue your donors are missing out on!

Want to put your alumni data to good use? Contact us for a quote!

Double the Donation

Double the Donation helps organizations generate the funding needed to focus on their core missions of education. Double the Donation helps organizations generate the funding needed to focus on their core missions of education, community enrichment, scientific research, or charitable giving. Double the Donation provides the ability to add a search to your donation form to determine if a donor’s employer provides matching gifts.

This solution then provides the donor with actionable matching gift next steps immediately after the donation process. The details of the search, including any applicable gift information, is sent to Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro Platform which allows you to track match-eligible gifts and automate outreach.

Member365

Member365 is an all-in-one membership management system. Member365 is an all-in-one membership management system. On the Member365 app, you can oversee memberships, events, email marketing, payments, and more. You can also get access to all of your membership statistics through one centralized dashboard.

Easily manage all of your contacts in one database so that you have instant access to all of your relationships, including members, prospects, volunteers, and sponsors. Member365 saves you time and money, so your organization can focus on what matters most: membership engagement.

Graduway

Graduway is a 4-in-1 virtual community to recruit and mentor students, engage alumni and volunteers, and cultivate donors.Graduway is a 4-in-1 virtual community to recruit and mentor students, engage alumni and volunteers, and cultivate donors. As the world’s leading education management and engagement software provider, Graduway serves over 2,000 clients in 80 countries. Their mission is to cultivate a network of supporters for your organization.

The foundation of this network is built on engaging students, parents, alumni, volunteers and donors before asking for anything in return. It features a customized platform to engage with alumni through an online directory, event management, and data analytics. Graduway also offers automatically curated newsletters and a business directory where alumni can connect with one another.

Vaave

Vaave is a hosted platform to create an alumni portal and an exclusive alumni network for your school or college or company. .Vaave is a hosted platform to create an alumni portal and an exclusive alumni network for your school or college or company. Their system offers all the solutions that alumni managers need: data security, member database, email marketing, event management, donation processing, targeted communications, and alumni networking resources.

Vaave is a one-stop solution to launch your own interactive alumni portal to manage your alumni relations seamlessly while keeping your alumni engaged. Request a free demo and go live in as fast as 7 days.

Wild Apricot

WildApricot is the #1 rated management software used by over 300 alumni organizations across North America. WildApricot is the #1 rated management software used by over 300 alumni organizations across North America. Manage your organization in one place. WildApricot’s platform allows you to manage contacts, process donations, send emails, register event attendees, create a website, and more.

Their powerful cloud software makes it easy for you to stay engaged and connected with alumni. Cut out complicated paperwork by creating a  web-based, mobile-friendly  form  where alumni can provide their information and donate online. You can try a free, 30-day trial of WildApricot and set up  a professional-looking website with online event registration in a matter of minutes.

Hivebrite

Hivebrite creates an exclusive space for your alumni to find, connect, and network with each other. Their mission is to unleash your alumni community. Hivebrite creates an exclusive space for your alumni to find, connect, and network with each other. Their mission is to unleash your alumni community. Boost your alumni data, foster a sense of belonging, and facilitate fundraising with Hivebrite.

This is a great platform for providing value to your alumni data. Get real-time analytics about your alumni to increase engagement and satisfaction with your alumni. When your alumni are satisfied, your sources of funding through membership renewals, fundraising campaigns, and donations will increase.

Firsthand

With Firsthand, you can turn your alumni network into a community.With Firsthand, you can turn your alumni network into a community. Trusted by leading institutions like Harvard and Cambridge, this career-engagement platform provides mentoring, enrollment, and career engagement programs in a single space. Firsthand strives to engage with more alumni and inspire them to give back.

Alumni on Firsthand are 40% more likely to volunteer or donate. This cloud-based alumni networking platform uses mentoring programs and virtual events to reach potential donors. Administrators can create online campus communities to enlist students as ambassadors or alumni as mentors and host group discussions, open houses, and one-on-one meetings on a centralized dashboard.

Almabase

Almabase is one of the highest rated alumni management software options.Almabase is one of the highest rated alumni management software options. Their team believes that alumni should be at the center of a school’s fundraising and marketing efforts. Almabase is an alumni-centric platform that strives to build lifelong relationships.

With Almabase, institutions can acquire new donors, drive event attendance, increase digital engagement and inspire new volunteers. They provide schools with the right technology and strategy to drive success.

Raklet

Raklet is a powerful nonprofit management software that serves as an all-in-one solution for higher education fundraising. Raklet is a powerful nonprofit management software that serves as an all-in-one solution for higher education fundraising. This digital platform can power your organization through its robust CRM, fundraising campaigns, email automation, and event management. With its simple and effective technology, your nonprofit can easily drive engagement and grow your impact.

Raklet is an all-in-one platform that provides everything your organization needs to manage and grow your mission. It provides alumni associations with customized membership plans and application forms as well as private social networks to reach alumni and organize events.

 

Keep these tools in mind when choosing a management platform to fit the needs of your organization and alumni.

Whether you manage your alumni in-house or outsource it to an alumni management system, like NPOInfo, your return on investment will be positive.

Wrapping Up

Whether you manage your alumni in-house or outsource it to an alumni management system, like NPOInfo, your return on investment will be positive.

NPOInfo is a fully certified data append service here to fill in the gaps in your alumni data. Our team of experts offers free quotes and resources to help your organization plan a successful campaign strategy.

Our services include:

  • Employer Appends: Using our proprietary screening and identification methods we append employer information, and oftentimes a job role, to individual records.
  • Email Appends: Email is the most cost-efficient method to promote matching gifts to a large number of donors. In order to do so, we’ll find your alumni email addresses.
  • Phone Number Appends: Our phone number append service provides you with both cellphone and landline numbers. Use this information for both your regular donation solicitations as well as matching gift reminders.
  • Date of Birth Appends: Our Date of Birth (DoB) append service helps you add age information to your database. With average match rates of 40-70%, our date of birth appending can provide you with the month and year that individuals were born.
  • Address Appends: Our screenings ensure your organization has up-to-date mailing addresses.

In the meantime, explore these additional resources to continue your research on data appends and alumni management:

Interested in alumni management? Let NPOInfo help you make the most of your alumni data.

Follow this guide to learn how data collection can benefit your organization

What Data Should Nonprofits Collect? Overview & Top Tips

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Far too many nonprofit organizations collect data without using analytics to drive success. In an increasingly data-driven world, it’s important to evaluate your nonprofit’s facts and figures. This process of data collection will allow your nonprofit to transform data into actionable knowledge.

Data collection is essential in measuring your nonprofit’s hard work. It reveals valuable insights such as how many people you serve, how best to target your supporters, and which campaigns are the most successful.

At NPOInfo, we strive to improve your fundraising efficiency using data. We’ve written this guide to give you insight into everything you need to know about data collection, including the importance of data analytics and the types of data your organization should be tracking.

We’ll cover the following points:

When collected and managed properly, data can be an asset to your organization. Let’s dive into the benefits of data collection.

Contact the professionals at NPOInfo to get started with data append services

Why Is Data Collection Important For Nonprofits?

According to a study by NonprofitHub, 90% of nonprofits collect data. Nonprofits can better serve their communities with a comprehensive data collection plan, as data allows nonprofits to track trends, make informed decisions, strategize for future fundraising efforts, and more.

Most nonprofits already hold valuable information about their donors, campaigns, and marketing efforts in their constituent relationship management (CRM) systems. However, nearly half of nonprofit organizations are unsure how data can support their work.

Effective data collection can help your nonprofit:

Data collection can help your nonprofit build relationships, improve communication, and more

  • Update your donor database. Collecting relevant donor data allows you to regularly update your donor database and, in turn, make informed decisions about your donor retention efforts.
  • Build relationships. Nonprofits need to build strong relationships with their supporters to survive. With the right data, your nonprofit can personalize interactions with donors, increase engagement, and solicit donations successfully.
  • Improve communication. Data empowers your nonprofit to quantify and communicate your impact to the community. This both builds your nonprofit’s credibility as a trustworthy organization to which to donate.
  • Inform decision making. Make adaptive decisions based on the data that you receive. Data can answer key questions, support or refute assumptions, and assess the efficacy of campaigns.
  • Drive marketing and fundraising efforts. Data-driven nonprofits are more likely to be financially successful. Use metrics to focus your nonprofit’s development efforts and boost donations.

From driving donations to informing decisions, data collection can be an asset to your organization. However, you don’t want to collect every data point available to your nonprofit— that would quickly grow overwhelming.

7 Types of Data That Your Nonprofit Should Be Tracking

Now that you understand the importance of data collection, it’s time to review the types of data that your organization should capture and analyze. As a general rule of thumb, prioritize growth by tracking data that will lead to more funding, quantify your impact, and help target areas for improvement.

Your nonprofit should collect information on donors, campaigns, marketing efforts, finances, website traffic, and mission

To ensure data is relevant, collect information on your donors, campaigns, marketing efforts, finances, website traffic, and mission. From mailing preferences to campaign performance metrics, these details will help your nonprofit shape engagement and retention efforts. There are countless data points that you could collect, but the following list will serve as a strong foundation for your nonprofit’s data collection process.

Donor Data

It can be difficult to strengthen donor relations without collecting or understanding your donor data.

Donor metrics reveal who your supporters are and how best to reach them. Donor data is crucial in catering to your specific audience. The data that you collect can strengthen your fundraising efforts and increase donor engagement.

To better understand your donors, start by tracking the following basic personal information:

  • Name: Address donors by their preferred name and title in your solicitations to improve your chances of receiving a response.
  • Age: Direct mail is the best way to reach donors of all ages, while younger supporters are more likely to respond to marketing outreach efforts on social media.
  • Email Address, Phone Number, and Physical Address: Updated contact information allows for regular donation solicitations and matching gift reminders.
  • Employment Status and Employer: 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.
  • Educational Background: Student involvement and areas of study will reveal the causes that your donors are most likely to support.

If any of this information is missing, your organization can invest in a nonprofit data append service which will be discussed later in the guide. Once you have an idea of who your donors are, you’ll want to dig deeper to determine their motivations and propensity for giving. Consider collecting this advanced information:

  • Giving History (Recurring, One-Time, Major Gift): Assess how recent a donor’s last gift was, the frequency of their giving, and the typical amount of their monetary contributions. This information can help you predict the timing and amount of future donations you will receive.
  • Hobbies and Interests: Apply this information to your fundraising efforts. For example, if the majority of your donors are avid readers, host a volunteering event at the library.
  • Advocacy Participation: Target potential donors that have a history of donating, volunteering, attending events, or advocating for charitable organizations more generally. Consider the organizations that your prospective donors support and focus on those whose interests align with your mission.
  • Business Connections: These connections can help you leverage major gifts since donors are more likely to respond to appeals from acquaintances.

Before gathering these facts and figures, clean your donor database by removing duplicate profiles and requesting updated contact information. That way, you can more accurately identify and communicate with donors, rather than simply adding more information to a cluttered database.

Campaign Data

Chances are your nonprofit works diligently to plan and execute campaigns. Don’t let that time and energy go to waste by neglecting campaign data. This vital information can help your organization raise donations, engagement, and event attendance in future campaigns.

The following forms of campaign data will help you understand the effectiveness of your past efforts:

  • Event Attendance: Events generate a lot of data. Keep track of how many people attend your virtual or in-person events as well as how many registered in advance and opened your post-event thank you emails.
  • Supporter Satisfaction: Gathering feedback should be a top priority for your team. Information received through surveys can help supporters feel included and staff improve their efforts.
  • Donor Acquisition Cost (DAC): DAC is the financial price you pay to convince a potential donor to make a gift. To determine this cost, sum the price of appeals and marketing efforts over a given period, and divide it by the number of donors you acquired in that time.
  • Revenue: Track appeals, fundraising proceeds, matching gifts, corporate sponsorships, and online gift frequency. With this information, you can make informed decisions about your budget and strategy.
  • Campaign Conversions: Measure how many people your campaign converts into first-time donors, volunteers, newsletter subscribers, or website visitors. Use these numbers to run tests on campaign efficiency and set objectives for the future.
  • Donor and Volunteer Retention Rates: Donor retention rates reveal the successes and setbacks of your engagement efforts. Review this information with your team to discuss strategies for retaining donors and volunteers.

Campaign data is crucial in measuring the success of your fundraising and outreach efforts. Use these stats to identify trends across campaigns, manage your budget, and raise awareness for your mission going forward.

Marketing Data

Not only does marketing data clarify how best to reach your audiences, but it also assists in amplifying your mission and soliciting donations.

Nonprofit marketing encourages long-term relationships with donors and solidifies credibility. When marketing your mission, data analysis can be used to determine the appropriate marketing channels and engagement strategies for your nonprofit.

Let’s review the forms of marketing data that can be used to communicate your impact:

  • Website Traffic: Determine how many people visit your website, how they get there, and how long they stay. This information will help you to optimize your site to receive the most traffic.
  • Subscriptions: Donor retention rates increase drastically when supporters subscribe to newsletters, emails, and recurring donations. To encourage subscriptions, offer clear incentives and add pop-up forms to your website to advertise the opportunity.
  • Social Media Engagement: Social media engagement can be measured through likes, shares, comments, and link clicks. Create content that encourages the most valuable engagement.
  • Email Open Rates: According to MailChimp, the average open rate for nonprofit emails is 25%, meaning three quarters of your audience won’t open your emails. To increase your chances of reaching donors, write compelling subject lines, keep the frequency of your emails consistent, ensure subject matter is relevant, and send emails at an appropriate time.

To gather this information, conduct an audit on past marketing efforts using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, a strategic planning technique that identifies the effectiveness of your nonprofit. To learn more about incorporating data into your marketing, check out this comprehensive guide to creating a nonprofit marketing plan.

Financial Data

Like for-profit corporations, nonprofit organizations rely on data to boost revenue and cover operating expenses. Financial data allows nonprofits to assess cash flow, maintain financial stability, and strategize budgets for future fundraising efforts. Consider the following types of data associated with accounting and budgeting:

  • Expenses: From staff salaries to campaign and fundraising costs, nonprofits can easily rack up expenses. While you might be tempted to keep expenses low, it’s important to invest in your organization. In turn, you’ll see higher rates of engagement and donations.
  • Income: Nonprofits can receive revenue through donations, membership fees, selling products, and more. Examine past expenses and revenue to project growth targets.
  • Cash-on-hand: Cash-on-hand, or the total amount of money accessible at any given time from paper bills, bank accounts, and assets, will show how long your nonprofit can survive without donations or funding. Track cash flows to determine whether or not your nonprofit has enough revenue to cover expenses.
  • Volunteer Hours: Volunteer hours reveal the labor, time, and resources needed to accomplish your goals. Log these hours to secure grants and raise awareness for your organization.

Through collecting this type of data, your nonprofit can increase return on investments and improve the quality of programs.

Website Data

Most nonprofits have a dedicated website with blog content, donation buttons, contact forms, testimonials, and more. Data analytics can be used to show which content is the most popular, determine content strategies, and create a better user experience. In order to increase traffic and prompt visitors to take action, it’s important to measure how the site performs.

If you haven’t already, start tracking these three important pieces of information:

  • Traffic Sources: Potential donors can land on your site through an organic search, a referral from another site, or a redirection from social media. Once you understand how most users get to your website, you can optimize the most-trafficked referral sources to increase site visitors over time.
  • Bounce Rate: This refers to the percentage of visitors who visit your site and leave, rather than continuing to view other pages or take action on your site. If your bounce rate is high, prioritize updating your web pages to provide a better user experience.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): CTR is the percentage of users who click on a specific link to view a blog post, email, or advertisement. If you have a low CTR, revamp your calls-to-action and tailor messages to specific supporters.

You can use website analytics tools to track these details. Google Analytics is free for nonprofits through the Google for Nonprofits program. Plus, if you venture into PPC (pay-per-click) advertising like Google Ads, you can monitor site performance with this tool and tweak your ads with ease.

If that sounds too far out of reach, turn to an expert to help out. Marketing experts and paid advertising managers know how to leverage these tools to improve your website’s performance and drive more meaningful traffic.

What it all boils down to is that website data can help you convert visitors into donors. Using that data to optimize your website will boost your online presence and raise awareness for your mission. Make sure you’re using all available resources to monitor your website’s performance.

Turn to a paid advertising expert to manage your web analytics.

External Data

While collecting data from your own organization is important, harnessing information from third parties helps to promote growth and productivity. External data comes from sources outside of your organization and offers information related to your organization’s mission.

External data allows nonprofits to stay updated on field-related information. Your organization can access these facts and figures through public records or private data shared by other organizations. Examples of external data include water quality, homeless populations, and census information.

Whether a national average, industry standard, or third-party idea, external data can be used to shape decision-making and communicate your impact to the public. For example, let’s say a homeless shelter serves a community in which 56% of individuals suffer from food insecurity. That statistic becomes more powerful when compared to the national average of food insecurity, which is only 10%.

From donor data to external data, your nonprofit has plenty of information to collect, which can be overwhelming. Fortunately, we’ve created a list of best practices to help you achieve the maximum value from data collection.

Sponsors and Potential Corporate Partners 

Staying on top of donors’ business connections can help you identify prospects for potential corporate partnerships. However, while a major donor facilitating an introduction with a business’s leadership is helpful, successful sponsorship agreements need data to back them up. 

Before meeting a potential sponsor, ensure you have the following data ready: 

  • Philanthropic history. If a business has shown a positive affinity to causes like yours in the past, they may be inclined to support your nonprofit this time around. Most businesses proudly promote their past philanthropic initiatives by having a dedicated page or even an entire website dedicated to their philanthropic mission and the causes they’ve contributed to. Look for these resources and press releases from nonprofit organizations similar to yours about their recent sponsors. 
  • Giving capacity. What is a business partner able to give? When approaching potential sponsors, you should already know what you intend to request of them. Make sure this request, whether it’s a financial donation or free or discounted services, aligns with their giving history. If you’re unsure how much a business will be willing to contribute, consider presenting sponsorship tiers with pre-set benefits and donation requirements for them to choose from. 
  • The success of past sponsorships. When approaching businesses, emphasize the benefits of working with your nonprofit, and when possible, back it up with data from past successful sponsorships. This might include the number of guests that attended an event that featured sponsors or positive press coverage. 

Like with other types of data, keep careful records of your past deals with sponsors. Ideally, your nonprofit should ensure businesses always reach out to the same point of contact at your organization to build a relationship and provide consistency. If you experience turnover or expand your team, your records will be vital in maintaining business connections and avoiding disruptions in your ongoing sponsorships. 

Nonprofit Data Collection: Top Tips

Data collection is necessary for every organization, regardless of the size of your nonprofit. There are plenty of ways to gather information, from giving histories and surveys to management software and audits. Now that you understand the importance of strong data and the different types, it’s time to devise a data collection strategy.

These top tips will help you devise a data collection strategy for your nonprofit

In the next sections, we’ll introduce you to the best practices for data collection. Through these tips, you will learn how to audit data, organize your information, and identify areas where you can improve. Let’s get started!

Perform a data audit.

A data audit is a critical review of your organization’s data collection process. examine the quality of your nonprofit’s current data and data collection process.

Performing an audit can help you discover areas for improvement in your database and collect data more effectively going forward. Here are the four basic steps of performing a data audit:

  1. Gather: Collect quantitative and quantitative data from surveys, reports, interviews, emails, and donor profiles.
  2. Reflect: Consider the purposes for each dataset and how it can be used to better your organization.
  3. Assess: Evaluate your findings to determine if you’re collecting the right data to learn about and build relationships with supporters.
  4. Identify: Locate areas for improvement and work with your team to devise a data-driven strategy.

During a data audit, you might notice that your data is unorganized. That’s where the next step comes into play. You’ll need to optimize your information to more easily understand it.

Keep your data clean.

Prioritizing data hygiene will help your organization to remove inaccurate and unnecessary information and standardize the data collection process. Your nonprofit should focus only on harnessing high-quality information that will help you raise donations and awareness towards your mission.

Holding onto excessive or incorrect data is a detriment to your organization, as it overshadows valuable information. Don’t waste time and money sending marketing material to people who won’t answer your calls-to-action. In order to rid your data of useless information, you should remove:

  • Deceased donors.
  • Duplicate profiles.
  • Outdated contact information.
  • People on do not call or do not mail lists.

When you eliminate this extraneous information, you’re left with a clean database containing information about attainable donors. You should also work to standardize your data, ensuring numbers, abbreviations, and mailing addresses have the same format (i.e. St. verus street).

Store data in a database.

Now that you’ve optimized your data, it’s time to store this quality information in your customer relationship management (CRM) database. With the right features, your CRM can store data, track interactions, and share information with your team. In turn, this highly organized information will strengthen and grow your mission.

Here’s a closer look at the CRM features that can benefit your nonprofit’s data management:

  • Third-Party Integration: Integrate your other fundraising software directly into the CRM. That way, the CRM will function as the main database for your organization, holding the most comprehensive information.
  • Real-Time Data: Automatically track personal information about your supporters and organize that data through filters. This is a far quicker process than manually inputting information into a spreadsheet.
  • Data Visualization: Turn raw data into engaging visuals. Graphics and charts will help your organization tell data-driven stories.
  • Mobile Access: Access your CRM on the go to ensure you always have the updated information you need to drive your mission forward.
  • Searchability: Easily pull data and search for particular records using search features. This will allow you to quickly find important information.

The more functional your CRM is, the more of an asset it will be to your organization. Just make sure your database protects sensitive data like the personal information of donors and financial information. Work with your team to create protocols that implement data protection.

Our Final Tip: Invest in nonprofit data append services.

A data append is the process of adding new data points into an existing database with the goal of filling any gaps in the nonprofit’s information. Most data appending services will organize your data and set up automation for verifying it regularly. NPOInfo goes a step further.

At NPOInfo, we guarantee a high degree of accuracy in appending your donor data and ensuring your fundraising efforts are built on data you can trust. Take advantage of the following services:

  1. Employer Appends: Discover where your donors work to increase corporate matching gifts and deepen corporate relationships.
  2. Email Appends: We’ll maintain an accurate list of your donors’ email addresses, so that you can promote fundraising opportunities to supporters using correct email addresses.
  3. Phone Number Appends: Keep up-to-date phone numbers for regular donation solicitations and matching gift reminders.
  4. Date of Birth Appends: Get dates of birth to target donors in specific age brackets and improve your marketing efforts.
  5. Address Appends: Find out when your supporters move and update your database with accurate mailing addresses to more effectively reach your audience.

We’ll guide you through the appending process, making sure your nonprofit understands the data it’s collecting and how that information can be turned into meaningful action.

Data is power in the nonprofit sector. It allows you to attract donors, improve campaigns, and promote your mission. Collecting, analyzing, and cleaning data reveals what’s working and what’s not working in your organization.

NPOInfo’s team of experts offer services and resources to help your nonprofit organization make the most of its data. Get a quote today!

Want to continue your research on data collection or learn how to manage data more effectively? Explore these additional resources:

Get a quote from NPOInfo to enhance your collected data with a data append