3 Insights From Donor Data that Unlock New Opportunities

Did you know that every interaction your nonprofit has with supporters produces an extremely valuable asset?

That asset is data. Your donor data contains the blueprints needed to identify advantageous opportunities, pinpoint donors’ giving motivations, and create targeted communications. And while the technology you implement to collect, store, and analyze data is key, so is understanding the importance and value of this information.

To give you this helpful context, we’ve compiled some donor data basics and the areas and insights you should focus on first.

Donor Data Basics

Importance of Donor Data

Analyzing information about your supporters allows you to make informed, data-backed decisions that will strengthen your fundraising strategies, donor engagement initiatives, and marketing efforts. Data is crucial for cultivating prospective major donors, for example, as you’ll need to track their personal motivations and preferences to form a strong relationship before you make an ask. 

Understanding donor data can also enhance your connections with individual, typical donors by informing your direct response fundraising strategies. For example, you may use data to identify the supporters most likely to join your sustainer program—the donors who have a history of consistent giving, donate multiple times per year, demonstrate a strong connection to your cause, and are comfortable with automated payments. 

You can also uncover new opportunities and maximize support with these insights. For example, if you know where donors work, you can identify those with employers that offer corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs like matching gifts, volunteer grants, and volunteer time off (VTO). Then, you can create custom segments to share targeted communications that spread awareness and secure more corporate support.

Types of Data Analytics

There are three main types of data analytics, and each serves a different purpose. Here’s how GivingDNA’s data analytics guide defines each one:

• Descriptive data analytics uses current and historical data to identify trends and patterns in donor behavior.
• Predictive data analytics uses those trends and patterns to predict what might happen in the future, allowing nonprofits to forecast the outcomes of certain actions.
• Prescriptive data analytics relies on machine learning to consider all relevant factors, specific parameters, risks, and benefits and determine the optimal course of action.

You might use one type of analytics or all three for a single effort. For example, you can apply each of these methods to an upcoming marketing campaign.

Use descriptive analytics to understand and segment donors based on demographics, psychographics, and giving patterns. Leverage predictive analytics to predict which supporter segments are most likely to respond to your solicitations. Finally, incorporate prescriptive analytics by using data models that recommend the best possible timing for your donation appeals.

3 Key Donor Data Insights to Analyze

1. Giving Behaviors

Trends in donors’ giving behaviors show you which fundraising methods, formats, and tactics will resonate with them. 

For example, say you’re planning a peer-to-peer fundraiser and want to choose the format donors will like best. Bonfire recommends selecting from three different types of peer-to-peer campaigns: rolling, time-based, and Giving Day campaigns. These range from ongoing, indefinite campaigns to multi-week fundraisers to short, 24-hour initiatives. To select the best format for your nonprofit, you would need to analyze donor giving patterns like:

• Donation frequency, or how often donors give. Use this data to understand how far to space out your fundraisers to prevent donor fatigue.
• Average gift size, or the average amount donors give to your cause. How many donors do you need to engage to reach your goal? What can you do to increase this figure? Consider separating these averages by segments (smaller individual donors, mid-level donors, and major donors) for more accuracy.
• Donation timing, which reveals when donors are most likely to give. Giving often peaks around certain holidays, seasons, or affinity months related to the cause. If you notice many donors give on GivingTuesday, for instance, you might decide to host a peer-to-peer Giving Day.
• Payment preferences, or how donors prefer to give. For example, do they pay online or with cash? Make sure their preferred method is available during the campaign.
• Engagement with past campaigns, which can show which projects and messaging tactics are most effective.

These insights can reveal new opportunities for personalization, donor segmentation, major donor prospecting, and retention efforts that help you boost efficiency while maximizing donations to your fundraisers.

For instance, you might notice a trend in donation frequency—donors typically give one time or on a yearly, quarterly, or monthly basis. You create segments for each group and target them with tailored messages promoting your automated monthly giving program. Many of your monthly and quarterly donors agree to enroll in your sustainer program, boosting this source of regular, reliable funding (and reducing the resources you have to spend on fundraising!).

2. Engagement Levels

When building your nonprofit’s strategic plan, we recommend examining your nonprofit’s current state, developing clear goals and priorities, and then creating your action plan. Take the same approach when analyzing and improving donors’ engagement levels.

Engagement data indicates how often your supporters:

• Open emails or text messages from your nonprofit
• Click on links in your communications
• Attend and actively participate in events
• Follow, like, and share your social media posts
• Donate to your organization
• Participate in surveys or polls
• Visit your website
• Sign up to volunteer
• Take advocacy actions like signing petitions

Based on which areas garner the highest participation, send your donors a customized list of ways to get involved. Start with your most popular opportunities, but remember to focus on those they will personally enjoy. Implement re-engagement strategies for those who show low engagement, such as recommending a fun event related to the last project they supported.

This data also helps you tighten up your resource allocation plan because you’ll know which engagement opportunities are performing well, which have potential, and which should be removed to preserve resources. Then, prioritize allocating resources to the engagement opportunities that effectively balance performance, potential for growth, and impact.

3. Marketing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

In your marketing plans, your nonprofit likely sets goals and determines which metrics, or KPIs, it needs to track progress and measure success. Each of these metrics represents some kind of donor interaction, and they can reveal deeper insights about donors’ marketing and communication preferences. 

For example, these are some common marketing KPIs that reveal more than just engagement data:

• Conversion rate: This refers to the percentage of users who took the intended action referenced in your call to action (CTA), such as donating or applying to volunteer. Pay attention to which actions donors take as this reveals their interests and affinities. For instance, you may have some segments that almost always donate to a certain project.
• Website traffic and average session time: An increase in website visitors indicates that your messages are successfully compelling users to explore more of your content by appealing to their interests. A longer session duration means that they are interested in the content and your website offers a pleasant user experience.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS): This is the revenue that your nonprofit earns per dollar spent on advertising costs. A high ROAS indicates that your messages resonate strongly with donors, while a lower ROAS suggests a need for better targeting, segmentation, or messaging.

For these metrics to be correct and promote more efficient and cost-effective campaigns, you must ensure your marketing attribution tracking is accurate. In other words, can you properly determine which marketing tactics and channels contributed to conversions? 

Leveraging tools with attribution-tracking technology like Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a great start, but organizations with more complex needs may need help from a nonprofit marketing agency, too.

Donor data illuminates insights you need to target supporters’ giving motivations, special interests, and preferences without the need for guesswork. This means your nonprofit will save precious time, effort, and funding by implementing strategies and communications that are proven to resonate with donors. 

To get the best results possible, pair powerful data analysis technology with the experience and knowledge of industry experts.