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How to Leverage Your Alumni Database to Drive Fundraising Success
We’ve come a long way from relying on large registry books to sprawling Excel sheets, and now to databases. An alumni database is a robust, interactive system to record alumni information as the data can be accessed, represented, and used to fuel powerful digital initiatives. That last bit is important because having a well-oiled database is only as effective as how you use it. In today’s blog, we’ll go over some ways in which you can maximize the potential of your institution’s database for higher fundraising success:
1. Prospect Research
Any good giving campaign today needs to know for sure what kind of alumni they want or can reach out to. This is where having a well-built database comes in handy. Having detailed records of past donations is a great way to guide your fundraising strategy. A regularly updated database can take your planning further to an even higher level through details such as stock ownership, business affiliations, political donations, real estate value, etc. to help you find the perfect prospects for your giving campaign.
2. Alumni Segmentation and Targeting
Modern alumni database tools are capable of automated and customizable segmentation. This can help you create more targeted giving campaigns. Take the following common segmentations for example:
- Major Donors: Alumni with high-value real estate and stock holdings.
- Recurring Donors: Alumni with a history of regular donations.
- Potential Donors: Alumni engaged in nonprofit activities but have not yet donated.
- Matching Gift Prospects: Alumni whose employers offer matching gift programs.
You can already start to imagine a more targeted experience based on the above examples. However, it is important to remember that you’ll need to ensure that your database is updated regularly for all your segmentation needs.
3. CRM Systems and Automation
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems enhance the usability of your data, enabling you to take advantage of powerful automation features that do the menial tasks such as personalizing emails based on donor segments, sending surveys, requesting feedback, etc. in a system that continuously updates with each alumni interaction.
4. Identifying Matching Gift Opportunities
Matching gifts have emerged as a great way to attract donors, amounting to 2 to 3 Billion USD of donations annually. Donors can be sure that their donations are being multiplied without any additional cost from themselves. A customizable database should allow you to segment prospective donors who have employers that provide matching gift opportunities, allowing you to create targeted communication strategies for them. On the flip side, it will be crucial to ensure your database is up to date to ensure that any career changes from your alumni are accounted for.
5. Appreciating Donors
Donor retention is crucial and making sure your donors feel appreciated is a huge part of it. A well-built database will be able to categorize donors based on gift size, location, physical presence, etc. to allow you to send gifts, emails, and other forms of appreciation in a more personalized way. This will be especially helpful for multi-channel giving campaigns where you may want to thank donors in different channels while making sure nothing feels generic.
6. Measuring results
It is crucial to look back at your most recent giving campaign (or even group a few recent ones) and see where you can improve. While you may have noticed a lot of verbal feedback, it is also important to consult your data. Any decent database will work well with tools that can visualize reports for you to easily see what you got right and where you can do better. It should also allow you to compare it with past giving campaigns.
7. Improving future fundraisers
While AI/ML technologies are very much still finding their feet in advancement, it is important to understand the potential they hold, and whether that suits you. Even for simple implementations such as a chatbot to answer potential donor questions, you want to make sure it provides the right information, and that depends entirely on the data you are able to train it on. A comprehensive, well-structured database is the foundation of any technological implementation today.
We’ve come a long way from relying on large registry books to sprawling Excel sheets, and now to databases. An alumni database is a robust, interactive system to record alumni information as the data can be accessed, represented, and used to fuel powerful digital initiatives. That last bit is important because having a well-oiled database is only as effective as how you use it. In today’s blog, we’ll go over some ways in which you can maximize the potential of your institution’s database for higher fundraising success:
1. Prospect Research
Any good giving campaign today needs to know for sure what kind of alumni they want or can reach out to. This is where having a well-built database comes in handy. Having detailed records of past donations is a great way to guide your fundraising strategy. A regularly updated database can take your planning further to an even higher level through details such as stock ownership, business affiliations, political donations, real estate value, etc. to help you find the perfect prospects for your giving campaign.
2. Alumni Segmentation and Targeting
Modern alumni database tools are capable of automated and customizable segmentation. This can help you create more targeted giving campaigns. Take the following common segmentations for example:
- Major Donors: Alumni with high-value real estate and stock holdings.
- Recurring Donors: Alumni with a history of regular donations.
- Potential Donors: Alumni engaged in nonprofit activities but have not yet donated.
- Matching Gift Prospects: Alumni whose employers offer matching gift programs.
You can already start to imagine a more targeted experience based on the above examples. However, it is important to remember that you’ll need to ensure that your database is updated regularly for all your segmentation needs.
3. CRM Systems and Automation
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems enhance the usability of your data, enabling you to take advantage of powerful automation features that do the menial tasks such as personalizing emails based on donor segments, sending surveys, requesting feedback, etc. in a system that continuously updates with each alumni interaction.
4. Identifying Matching Gift Opportunities
Matching gifts have emerged as a great way to attract donors, amounting to 2 to 3 Billion USD of donations annually. Donors can be sure that their donations are being multiplied without any additional cost from themselves. A customizable database should allow you to segment prospective donors who have employers that provide matching gift opportunities, allowing you to create targeted communication strategies for them. On the flip side, it will be crucial to ensure your database is up to date to ensure that any career changes from your alumni are accounted for.
5. Appreciating Donors
Donor retention is crucial and making sure your donors feel appreciated is a huge part of it. A well-built database will be able to categorize donors based on gift size, location, physical presence, etc. to allow you to send gifts, emails, and other forms of appreciation in a more personalized way. This will be especially helpful for multi-channel giving campaigns where you may want to thank donors in different channels while making sure nothing feels generic.
6. Measuring results
It is crucial to look back at your most recent giving campaign (or even group a few recent ones) and see where you can improve. While you may have noticed a lot of verbal feedback, it is also important to consult your data. Any decent database will work well with tools that can visualize reports for you to easily see what you got right and where you can do better. It should also allow you to compare it with past giving campaigns.
7. Improving future fundraisers
While AI/ML technologies are very much still finding their feet in advancement, it is important to understand the potential they hold, and whether that suits you. Even for simple implementations such as a chatbot to answer potential donor questions, you want to make sure it provides the right information, and that depends entirely on the data you are able to train it on. A comprehensive, well-structured database is the foundation of any technological implementation today.
Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact, and Almabase, the digital-first alumni engagement solution, have announced the expansion of their partnership to the education sectors of Canada and the United Kingdom. The partnership will provide institutions with a modern, digital-first solution to improve constituent data, drive self-serve engagement, and boost event participation.
A Unified Vision
The partnership aligns with Blackbaud’s commitment to customer-centric innovation across digital engagement, Advancement CRM, and financials.
“Partners bring integrated capabilities that extend capabilities and outcomes for Blackbaud customers. We are thrilled that Almabase’s offering, integrated with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and leveraging Blackbaud’s best-in-class payment solution, Blackbaud Merchant Services™, is now available to even more of our customers around the world.”
- Liz Price, Sr. Director of Global Partners at Blackbaud
