Ops Insights #024 Data and Tech Innovation in Fundraising
September 29, 2023 | Read Time: 7 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
Do you feel like it’s been a whirlwind of a week? Me too, and it feels like all the conferences take place in the same few weeks. I hope you’ve had a chance to attend one. It’s a great way to connect with fellow peers, catch up on industry trends, and get motivated to keep doing the good work you are doing.
In the spirit of inviting you to the table (even if you couldn’t make it to the show), I will recap some of the presentation I gave yesterday at aasp summit.
I saw some of you there, which was such a wonderful treat. Thanks for saying hi!
Let’s dive in… The Future of Fundraising is Here - Data & Tech Innovation Deciphered.
It is an exciting time to be in fundraising as we have access to more data and innovative tools than ever before. Don't let this scare you. The devices have become much easier and more intuitive to use. Let’s unpack the definition of innovation and some buzzwords.
Innovation
Innovation, by definition, is building or developing something new. Innovation helps us constantly evolve, partly to keep pace with existing needs and partly to get ahead of future needs. Historically, fundraising has been slower to embrace innovation, but within the last five years, we have been catching up to the for-profit world with data and tech innovation. We are finally starting to take advantage of the modern advances in data and technology.
Buzzwords
Big data: You likely have some data feed to work with as new names come into you or you extract existing names to screen. Now, think of that data feed and times it by 100,000, and that’s big data. It’s large amounts of data, way more than we can handle ourselves as humans, which is where the computer or “the machine” comes into play. In fundraising, it’s thousands and often millions of data points.
Artificial intelligence: It’s been around since 1957, but it’s gained much more traction over the last decade. This is because massive data sets are more easily accessible, computers can now process way more, and there is much more knowledge sharing in the public domain.
In simple terms, AI means the computer is doing things a human would do.
Artificial intelligence was a hidden secret six years ago, and only experienced data scientists could be privy to it. However, today, it's integrated into many platforms and more accessible than ever before. You use it in your daily life without realizing it… Netflix, Amazon, that phone you carry around with you.
It’s all around us, and in fundraising, it’s become more and more integrated into our work. In the future, your CDO will be able to push a button and ask for a list of top prospects interested in giving to specific programs, and within 2 minutes, will have a list at their fingertips.
Engagement journeys: This is a way to go beyond wealth screenings. Wealth screenings only tell you part of the story of who appears to be wealthy, but they do not tell you their desire or likely to make a gift. This is where engagement journeys come into play. You take various data sets you can access and develop a scoring matrix, also referred to as a model.
I've seen fundraising offices that integrate the engagement side as the primary driver over wealth are the ones who succeed the most in securing a larger number of gifts and more significant gifts in terms of dollars.
Hyper-personalization: If I said, “Hi Molly, how was your night last night?” I’d get a generic response. However, what if I said, “Hi Molly, did you enjoy the Eagles game you went to last night, it sure looked fun?” I didn’t talk to Molly before to know what she was doing, but my notification told me she posted a picture of her at the Eagles game so I could personalize my morning greeting. In fundraising, hyper-personalization is sending more personal messages to individuals.
There is no more patience for generic, dear friend content. Now, you need to send different messages to people accommodating their preferences. In the future, it will be that every single person will get a slightly different piece based on what moves them to action.
Digital customization: This is doing hyper-personalization digitally. It asks for people’s preferences, such as sending surveys, and then sends targeted outreach materials based on those preferences. Think about those surveys you send to ask about people’s interests or opt-in preferences.
Digital personalization: This is the next level and where we are headed.
Have you ever seen those movies where it’s “choose your adventure?”
The movie will ask should I mention Paul or not mention Paul? It will pause, you make a choice, and then the movie goes in that direction. You can even choose to undo it and go back and watch the other choice. Today, it’s click what you prefer, but in the future, it will automatically know and go in that direction.
In fundraising, we need to help acquire and keep acquiring data to allow for this type of personalization. If we send a video, we will no longer send the same video to everyone; rather, everyone will get a different one. For example, if someone posted about courage today and we are sending an email tomorrow, the machine will know to pick the courage video for that person.
The future of fundraising is here! Let’s help you get ahead of the curve.
I sounded like a broken record during the presentation, repeating, “The future of fundraising is here – don’t get left behind.” It’s true; we used to be able to say I’ll learn it later or wait until it becomes more prominent, but now it’s a must get on board before it’s too late.
Here are a few steps you can take:
Try out ChatGPT. Check with your organization first, as some places have protocols on the use of it (and some places even prohibit the use of it). Review this Insight Edition to get started.
Become aware of cybersecurity protocols in your organization. By no means do you have to become an expert, but learn some of the basics by seeking out an expert at your organization who can educate you.
Learn, learn, and learn. I’m here to remind you always to be learning. Pick one of these buzzwords above and google it… become curious.
Thanks for tuning in. Good luck out there.
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