7 Database Targets for Your Impartial Faculty’s Capital Marketing campaign

When evaluating your college’s readiness for a capital marketing campaign, database readiness may not be on the prime of the listing to your marketing campaign consultants or administration. However you and I do know it’s important to take care of a sturdy and up-to-date CRM. And for a capital marketing campaign, data-driven choices rely upon you and me, the unsung knowledge nerds working quietly within the background. We work onerous to rework primary enter into high-quality knowledge. Simply as a profitable capital marketing campaign follows outlined steps and milestones, so does the work of a database supervisor—nitty-gritty, behind-the-scenes duties to maintain the marketing campaign shifting towards its objective.  

Whether or not you’re testing the waters throughout the feasibility examine or already knee-deep in pledges, let’s work alongside the standard capital marketing campaign timeline so you may meet seven database-specific objectives to your unbiased college’s capital marketing campaign.   

Marketing campaign Step 1: Pre-Marketing campaign Planning  

Your Database Aim: Audit Your Database 

Whereas directors are busy planning want lists and the case for help, you’re involved with streamlining primary day-to-day operations, reminiscent of reconciliation with the finance workplace, constituent codes, worker items processed by means of payroll, and managing duplicate data, along with these major objectives:  

• Full audit queries. If a daily audit course of isn’t already a part of your operations, strive including a few audit queries to make sure key fields are appropriately coded to catch something that will fall by means of the cracks. An audit question might be so simple as in search of knowledge entry errors, like a current money present with a present date of two years later. This might spur new knowledge entry guidelines like proscribing a present date utilized in a present attraction to match the fiscal yr.   
• Assessment reporting. Work carefully with directors to determine studies that should be run and the metrics to trace throughout the marketing campaign, which is able to inform your fund setup and present entry course of. Agree on a report format and frequency so everybody is aware of what they should report on and the way usually.  
• High-quality-tune your fund setup. A number of organizations I’ve labored with have had Fund and Marketing campaign data arrange backward, which precipitated a battle when including multiyear pledges and producing constant pledge reminders. This could possibly be particularly troubling in a capital marketing campaign when an inflow of latest pledges shortly turns into overwhelming. It is usually immediately associated to the fund money movement studies your finance workplace will depend on.
  • PRO TIP: Comb your energetic funds and assign them with a class and sort, conforming to CASE reporting requirements as carefully as attainable. New funds created throughout the marketing campaign would require the identical therapy. In case your college participates within the annual NAIS-DASL survey, you’ll have a a lot simpler time with knowledge entry. 

Marketing campaign Step 2: Feasibility Research 

Your Database Aim: Tackle Information Well being, Prospect Analysis, and Reporting  

Whereas the broader staff is busy with the feasibility examine, you’re reviewing the outcomes of your database audit and may have a greater sense of what’s in—or is lacking from—your database. In partnership with development colleagues, search out instruments and providers that improve the standard of your knowledge.

• Add wealth screening providers. Establish main donor giving potential and assist construct the present pyramid, an important step within the first two phases of a marketing campaign. In line with the Council for Development and Help of Training (CASE), 76.8% of {dollars} acquired in 2022 got here from fewer than 2.2% of donors. Items from prospects on the highest of your giving pyramid are essential to fulfill your marketing campaign objective. Many instruments can be found available on the market, {and professional} prospect researchers suggest discovering the very best wealth-screening answer to your wants.  
• Add knowledge well being instruments. Some are a should, just like the quarterly Nationwide Change of Tackle, or NCOA updates (U.S. solely), Tackle Accelerator, On-line Information Assessment Instrument, and DeceasedRecordFinder™ knowledge hygiene instruments from Blackbaud.  
• Take a look at information alert providers. AlmaConnect or Insightful might help your division keep on prime of prospects by discovering mentions of them within the information and even discovering job updates on LinkedIn.  
• Add knowledge reporting and visualization instruments. A month-to-month report shouldn’t take a whole day to provide. Search for instruments to create no-code dynamic dashboards that replace your totals immediately. Microsoft PowerBI is extraordinarily reasonably priced with an schooling license, although it does have a studying curve.   
• Rent a prospect researcher. Bringing on or consulting a prospect researcher would possibly appear to be a luxurious for smaller outlets, however they play an important position all through the capital marketing campaign. An skilled prospect researcher is usually a nice companion to the database supervisor and transformative for the complete development division. Skilled prospect researchers might help with key processes:  
  • Organizing and sustaining knowledge  
  • Reviewing and confirming outcomes of information screening providers  
  • Including notes and context to donor profiles 

Marketing campaign Step 3: Marketing campaign Planning  

Your Database Aim: Assessment and Revise Processes 

The marketing campaign is now on the board-approval stage, constructing the steering committee and figuring out naming alternatives. You might be targeted on insurance policies and procedures. 

• Brush up on deliberate items. Deliberate items have the potential to make up a big chunk of marketing campaign {dollars} raised—30% or extra in a complete marketing campaign. Recording these main items appropriately now will assist your marketing campaign attain its objective and be sure that this particular present kind receives correct recognition and stewardship whereas your donor continues to be dwelling. Verify that signed deliberate present intentions are scanned and accessible in your database and that the items are recorded appropriately to drag into fundraising totals.  
• Assessment pledge, deliberate present, and fund agreements. You’ll need these prepared for present officers within the subsequent section. Take into account digital agreements to permit for e-signatures. In any other case, plan a course of to obtain, scan, and retailer all signed agreements. Use a safe shared drive to soundly retailer these information and any relevant backup to allow them to be accessed by your finance and development workplaces for questions or audits. 
• Clear up portfolios. In partnership with the prospect researcher, meet with present officers to determine, drop, or assign prospects. This contains conferences with board members and anybody else making direct asks.  
• Enhance proposal monitoring. When portfolios are assigned, create or overview the marketing campaign proposal course of. Your college’s directors or steering committee will count on periodic standing updates on excellent main donor proposals, and also you’ll have the ability to reply these “Are we there but?” questions.  
• Assessment, code, and group your VIPs. You already know which constituencies, reminiscent of board members and giving societies, your college communicates with commonly. Construct or overview these lists or queries for every fiscal yr. You’ll want them usually for marketing campaign occasions, updates, and future stewardship studies. 
• Assessment your present acceptance coverage. Whereas the work of making this coverage needs to be left to the marketing campaign directors/board, you’ll use it as a information to put out how marketing campaign items shall be counted and reported.  
  • PRO TIP: Let’s be trustworthy, it’s a lot simpler to level to your present acceptance coverage when a potential donor needs to “present” your college with one thing that may trigger extra bother than it’s value!