Fundraising - Managing Your Prospects & Donors
Prospect and donor management requires a strategic approach to communicating, coordinating, streamlining day-to-day operations, and ultimately improving bottom line results.
According to Anthony J. Powell, CFRE, vice president of consulting services for Blackbaud in Charleston, S.C., every organization is unique, and there are a number of different -- and equally effective -- approaches to donor and prospect management. Regardless, there are a few key elements to an effective program:
- Program and pipeline management: Like every nonprofit, your organization wants to turn prospects into donors. Do you have a formal process for managing the identification, qualification, cultivation, and solicitation of key donors? How do you identify your best prospects and ensure they are being engaged appropriately?
- Information management: If you don't already do so, start with a single system of record keeping for tracking and managing contacts and activities with donors. Often referred to as a constituent relationship management (CRM) system, this alone will help coordinate activities between different departments and solicitors within your organization and can provide the platform you need to collect, analyze, and report on results.
- Strategic analysis: Evaluating your programs in light of specific, quantifiable goals and success criteria can help to measure progress and identify opportunities for improvement. This information is critical to making smart decisions about your fundraising strategy and improving results over time.
According to Powell, this all sounds great in theory, but how do you get started? Begin by assessing your organization in each of the three areas above, What is working well? Where do you have room for improvement? Do you have the staff, training, and tools necessary to move donors through your pipeline effectively? Every organization is different, and the process and activities you employ to move donors through your pipeline must be closely aligned with your specific goals, objectives, and mission.
A successful prospect and donor management program increases the success rate of every solicitor action, communication, and appeal and can help your organization provide excellence in terms of responsiveness to donors, internal efficiency, and bottom-line results.
Source: Nonprofit Times.
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