The focus of about 99 out of 100 conversations I’m having with nonprofits is about the democratization of nonprofit data. What democratization means is making all this supporter data we’re collecting more accessible to the nonprofit for more informed decision making. What’s happening now is you’re seeing the growth of best-of-breed peer-to-peer solutions, like DonorDrive. These platforms allow nonprofits to really engage with their supporters in a most effective way.
The Amazon Effect in fundraising
What DonorDrive has done is it has conditioned supporters to expect a superior experience. They call this the Amazon Effect, where we’ve all become so spoiled to always getting a better experience. It’s to the point that a nonprofit must use software like DonorDrive just to stay in front of their goals.
The problems of decentralized data
What nonprofits are finding is a big issue is when supporter data happens in a silo. That’s leaving opportunity on the table. You can’t really establish that whole picture of who your supporter is. Here’s an example: if someone made a $100 donation, that’s great, but if Raiser’s Edge is only showing that $100 donation, you could be seeing only part of the picture. If we don’t know that the same donor has also been fundraising in your peer-to-peer events as a participant for three years, we’re missing the whole story. So if you’re using ImportOmatic to connect DonorDrive to Raiser’s Edge, you’d know that supporter is responsible for substantially more dollars for your nonprofit.
The message changes based on the value of that supporter. Instead of just welcoming them to the club, they need a different message based on what the data tells you about them. Instead of a simple: Thanks for this donation
, we need to be saying: We appreciate your years of engagement with us. How can we help you to tell the story? How can we help you to better engage with our organization?
The data peer-to-peer fundraising provides
People need to remember the reason peer-to-peer has taken off is because of its power to spread the message of the nonprofit. Spreading word of their mission is one of the most powerful things that a nonprofit can do. Now you can pull the data in from different points of engagement to understand the different relationships. As data democratization becomes more prevalent, it reveals your supporters’ true value to your organization.
Why it’s important to know so much about your peer-to-peer fundraiser
There’s a need to treat the peer-to-peer participant differently than a donor. They’re both of great value to your nonprofit, but if you think about fundraisers, they’re a lot more involved with your organization. It’s a much bigger action to be a fundraiser than it is to go online and click the donate button.
If your peer-to-peer fundraising software is not connected to your CRM, the capacity that individual fundraiser has for vocalizing and showing their support for your mission may go unnoticed. These are people with a different level of commitment that you need to spot in your CRM. You have to treat them differently than a donor who’s supporting your organization, but not making as much effort. It’s absolutely worth strategizing differently for your peer-to-peer participants than someone who’s just made a donation at the same level.
Best practices for your data
I feel strongly that you have to get people within your nonprofit on the same page as to how they’re going to use the data as you move forward and there’s more of it. DonorDrive is tracking this incredible information, plus you’re getting data from other sources, and then we’re able to bring it together in your CRM. A lot of people understand the necessity of the integration, but what we also need is an understanding that we’re all going to use the data the same way. There’s a need to be specific and consistent in your strategy.
Compared to how it was five years ago, the growth of the data available from peer-to-peer fundraising is night and day. Nonprofits continue to evolve peer-to-peer as a dynamic and sticky strategy that generates more revenue, while amassing more valuable data. It’s the democratization of this growing data that’s going to help every nonprofit spread the mission and engage more individuals.
We’d like to thank Bailey for her expertise and insight in this article. Omatic Integration syncs data between DonorDrive and Raiser’s Edge.
Omatic Software is dedicated to integrating disparate systems and democratizing data access for today's nonprofits. Founded in 2002, Omatic has worked with thousands of nonprofits globally to remove their data barriers by integrating systems and enabling nonprofit teams to leverage their donor data rather than be burdened by it. The Omatic team has one goal - unleashing the power of data to show a complete view of your donor, enabling data-driven decision making and opportunity creation for your organization.
