{"id":22033,"date":"2021-01-08T12:25:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T17:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/?p=22033"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:48:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T22:48:05","slug":"4-ways-to-use-your-fundraising-data-to-raise-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/4-ways-to-use-your-fundraising-data-to-raise-more\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Use Your Fundraising Data to Raise More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With every gift, event registration, and staff interaction, your donors are sharing fundraising data that can make your annual fundraising strategy more successful. But collecting donor data isn\u2019t enough. You have to put it to good use<\/a>! Here are 4 ways you can use your fundraising data to raise more in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Determine year-over-year performance trends<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important for nonprofits to understand where they stand in comparison to previous years. Your fundraising data is the key to determining whether you\u2019re growing or stagnating. Comparing year-over-year fundraising performance can clue you in to what\u2019s working for you and what isn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qgiv users can compare year-over-year fundraising results from the online processing overview. We\u2019ve made the process super simple. Just log in to your Qgiv account and select “Online Processing Overview” from the dropdown menu on your Dashboard (if it isn\u2019t on this view already). You can easily adjust the range to compare your performance from year to year.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Fundraising
Qgiv’s processing overview not only shows how much was raised over the given range, but when donations came in. This can be useful to measuring appeal responses and event fundraising.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

How non-Qgiv users can compare year-over-year fundraising performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For non-Qgiv users, this process can be a little tricky. You\u2019ll need to sit down with your accounting department and ask them to pull the fundraising numbers from the most recently completed fiscal year and the fiscal year (or years) before that. Then you\u2019ll need to determine all sources of revenue fundraisers were responsible for bringing in and compare these figures across the two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll likely see growth in some areas and decreases in others. Don\u2019t worry; that\u2019s normal! Seeing where you\u2019ve lost ground can inform the new fiscal year\u2019s fundraising strategy. Make a plan to win support back for that fundraising area. This can mean launching a matching gift campaign or revamping an event that lost participants. It could also be an indicator that it\u2019s time to change up your website and online donation forms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you obviously don\u2019t<\/em> want to discover is a general downward trend in all funding areas. If this happens, it\u2019s crucial to find out why you\u2019re losing supporters. Was it due to outside factors? Do you have a new competitor in your industry? Or has something about the public\u2019s perception of your nonprofit changed? Identify the problem and work to address it as part of your fundraising strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Determine what works and what doesn’t<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How much your donors give, which restrictions they give to, and how they choose to donate can shed a lot of light on what\u2019s working at your organization and what isn\u2019t. If your nonprofit uses different online donation forms for each of your restrictions or fundraising campaigns, take a look at how donors interacted with your forms. Chances are, some forms performed better than others. Fundraising events can be compared in the same way!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Qgiv\u2019s form comparison tool to compare your donation forms and event pages against one another to determine what worked and what turned donors away.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Qgiv's
This view of Qgiv’s form comparison tool shows how one donation form is outperforming the other. With this insight, nonprofits can modify the underperforming form to boost its effectiveness.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Then, use that insight to refine your fundraising strategy and give donors more of what they want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can compare forms to learn whether a recent design change helped or hurt your fundraising or to determine which appeal-specific forms were successful and which came up short. You can also compare your fundraising events to learn which kinds of activities increased donations and participation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not a Qgiv user, gauging the performance of your donation forms can be trickier, but it\u2019s still worth doing! It may require some manual number crunching. Hopefully you can pull the donor data from your CRM and compare overall fundraising performance against the numbers from accounting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, you can use this fundraising data to create a strategy based on what you learned about your supporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Use your donor data for targeted appeals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How can you make your fundraising data work for you in your fundraising campaigns? Put what you know about your donors to good use! Your donor data can do more than help you gauge your performance. With proper data management, you can quickly determine a donor\u2019s giving preferences, capacity to give, and even if they work for an employer with a matching gift policy. Proper donor management also includes discarding old data and updating your records regularly. You can learn more about that here<\/a>. You can use these insights from your fundraising data to segment your donors and send targeted appeals to the right audience. Check out this post<\/a> for three ways data will help you launch more successful fundraising campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you get your data moving? By building integrations. Qgiv offers integrations with top fundraising software to make your data actionable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email integrations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Want to send an email appeal to donors most likely to give to a matching gift campaign? Export your matching gift donor data from Qgiv to an email service provider.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Exporting
Qgiv offers integration with these top email service providers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Matching gifts integrations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of matching gifts, we integrate with leading matching gift companies, HEPdata<\/a> and Double the Donation<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matching
Matching gifts integrations are a great way for donors to easily apply for matching gifts and for nonprofits to track the best candidates for matching gifts campaigns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CRM integrations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Want to pair giving information with other donor data in your CRM to determine the best supporters for your capital campaign? Qgiv integrates with several CRMs designed for nonprofits. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"CRM
Your CRM is where the bulk of your fundraising data should be. Qgiv offers CRM integrations with leading nonprofit CRMs so that fundraisers can do more with their data.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Does your accounting department need your fundraising data to reconcile incoming revenue? Qgiv integrations with QuickBooks Online. With Qgiv you can send your data almost anywhere! Especially if you use a custom integration with Zapier to take your data to the software you use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accounting software and other integrations<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Qgiv
Qgiv offers a Zapier integration, which helps to connect Qgiv to fundraising software we don’t currently have integrations with. The QuickBooks integration makes it easy to send your fundraising data to your accounting team for accurate financial reporting.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Not a Qgiv user? You can still make your data work for you if you have CRM software and good donor management skills. Your donors produce a lot of data, so it can be hard to capture it all. If you\u2019re able to track which restricted funds donors give to, how much they give, and where they work, you can use that data to determine how to maximize your fundraising appeals. How? By sending donors appeals that are most relevant to them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, when I worked for a nonprofit hospice organization, we had several restrictions donors could give to. We tracked their giving histories in Raiser\u2019s Edge then queried which donors gave to which restrictions. We built our appeal strategy around where donors were investing in our organization so they\u2019d receive appeals for the causes they\u2019ve shown us they cared about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Grow relationships with donors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, show your donors you know them. After every interaction with a donor, take notes and add them to your donor management software. Get to know your donors\u2019 reasons for giving, their likes and dislikes, and information on their friends and family. Your donor data is a great stewardship tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

W<\/em>hen donors feel like you know and care about them, they stick around longer!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Show donors you\u2019ve been paying attention by using your fundraising data to: <\/p>\n\n\n\n