Communications
With over 30 years of crafting successful, compelling fundraising materials, I can take care of all your written-word needs from social media posts to case statements.
Data & Analytics
Good data is the basis of all successful fundraising. Whether your data is in terrible shape or just needs a little TLC, let’s build a data-informed approach for your development systems and get everything functioning smoothly.
Planning
No fundraising succeeds without a plan – what to do, what to say, and who to say it to. You have to know where you’re going to get to where you need to be.
My Work Philosophy – Bringing Systems Thinking To Fundraising
We tend to think of fundraising as linear: meet a donor, make an ask, send a thank you letter, repeat. But the work that goes into that is a whole system of parts and processes and people that need to support the end goal in an inter-connected way. If one part is broken, then the whole system isn’t as effective as it could be.
Today’s tools are giving us connections we never dreamed possible before. A smoothly functioning system that supports fundraising goals, takes care of donors, and fuels your mission makes those connections deeper and, yes, helps you raise more money.
Let’s talk about taking a Systems-Thinking approach to your fundraising.
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
- Paul Batalden
What’s a Database Audit
(and why do I need one?)
Donors are data. Within a database we find not only their names and contact information, but how they give and what they give to. A database isn’t an analytical look backwards, it’s an informed way of looking forward to see what’s possible and who your donors are.
It’s the first step in creating a true fundraising plan that’s designed specifically to reach your goals.
An audit takes a deep dive into all the information and details you have on hand for your donors and prospects. We look at every element in your database – name fields, addresses and contact information, demographic details – how much do you know about your donors and are you able to contact them?
Then we dig deep into the metrics and look at giving trends over time. We measure renewal rates and upgrades, second gift conversion and consistency of giving. We identify segments based on behavior and trends, taking as much information as we can about their giving to create a 360 degree view of your donors and their giving history.
From there we know who they are, how they give, what channels they use and what resonates with them – and that defines the path forward. Having a data-informed strategy gets you out of the guessing game of what donors might give to and confidently into a plan that drives a fully engaged donor journey.
