3rd Sector Labs

AUGUST 7, 2014

If your organization is fundraising without donor data to support it, then you have a problem that needs your attention. All businesses and organizations need to develop predictable revenue streams. Working with a client recently, we were drilling down on the data behind various fundraising sources. What’s that proverb?

Data 100

Data Donor Giving Fundraising 100

3rd Sector Labs

JUNE 13, 2013

A central challenge facing many of today’s nonprofit organizations is the paucity of technology solutions, as well as expertise, available for things like website development, fundraising, data migration, and so on. This data is literally the life’s blood of the organization.

Data 100

Data Open Source Drupal Alternative 100

3rd Sector Labs

APRIL 23, 2014

Based on our work in the field, the feedback was not unexpected. 1 – Does your organization have a data management plan? 2 – When was the last time your organization cleaned your donor data? 3 – Is someone in your organization responsible for data quality? Within the past 3 months = 30%. Not sure = 40%.

Data 133

Data Management Rate Benchmark 133

3rd Sector Labs

JULY 22, 2014

Furthermore, as organizations grow in size, there is a tendency to use multiple versions of the same family of software as departments develop a fondness for particular systems that meet a specific need. Every system we add to our organization requires management … and the system’s database requires data management.

Software 161

Software Data Fundraising Database 161

3rd Sector Labs

JUNE 17, 2014

” In Caity’s example, we saw an organization where a 2 percentage point improvement in its donor retention resulted a fundraising increase of over $150,000 on a donor file of 60,000. And executive leadership is left thinking that the campaign was a failure, that your tactics did not work well. CAITY: Great example, Gary.

Retention 148

Retention Donor Data Advice 148

3rd Sector Labs

MAY 29, 2014

Working with a partner, 2Dialog , we have been co-hosting a webinar series “Drive Your Fundraising Success with Strategy, Smart Technology and Better Data” The message of the program centers on the need to align strategy, tech and data. Technology and data need to be challenged, justified, and made to work FOR your organization.

Data 148

Data Technology Fundraising Database 148

3rd Sector Labs

JUNE 30, 2014

Donor data requires constant work just to maintain a basic level of quality. But your organization only knows data. When the personal relationship is interrupted, what does the organization “know” about the donor? 49% have no idea how much money their organizations will lose to donor attrition each year.

Attention 157

Attention Data Donor Retention 157

3rd Sector Labs

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Worse still, if you weren’t in “the cloud”, then your organization was exposed to all sorts of risks, problems and unnecessary costs? Not long ago, chatting with a prospective customer about their donor data storage practices, I suggested we step back and look at the organization’s bigger technology picture.

Organization 130

Organization Software Data Local 130

3rd Sector Labs

JULY 16, 2014

Like the old Miller Lite commercials, ‘ Tastes Great vs. Less Filling ‘ Your nonprofit organization needs to acquire new donors (data quantity), but you also need the ‘right’ data in order to foster better, longer term relationships (data quality). Which is more important, data quality or quantity?

Data 144

Data Retention History Government 144

3rd Sector Labs

DECEMBER 1, 2013

Robust – We aren’t big fans of this overblown word, but in the case of Open Source it works. Customizable – Again and again we’ve seen SMBs medium-sized organizations be required to invest in mammoth technologies simply because they had no other choice.

Open Source 100

Open Source Open Drupal WordPress 100

3rd Sector Labs

MARCH 28, 2015

The answer is a resounding ‘yes,’ which should be good news to nonprofit organizations concerned about recent news articles portraying the declining fortunes in walkathons and other popular team-building events. You can also cross reference these groups by the number of touch points they have with your organization.

Fundraising 100

Fundraising Retention Data Donor 100

3rd Sector Labs

JANUARY 16, 2014

The platform is a suite of fundraising tools designed for smaller organizations, clubs and associations – the sort of nonprofit that doesn’t have a large budget and leadership is primarily volunteer based, so it turns over frequently. We set out to build a Software as a Service platform for start-up company Booster Pro.

Drupal 100

Drupal Module Application Content 100

3rd Sector Labs

APRIL 4, 2014

3 – Which of the following would describe your organization’s investment of time in deploying multichannel fundraising campaigns: Not enough time = 80%. And from the Q&A at the end of the event … QUESTION: Isn’t successful fundraising ultimately connected to the quality of the organization’s work?

Data 100

Data Technology Strategy Fundraising 100

3rd Sector Labs

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

The root cause of bad data management for any organization – for-profit, nonprofit or government – can usually be found in the data management paradigm itself. Does this sound like your organization? So you will need to identify each type of data utilized within your organization. What to do.

Data 160

Data Management Synchronous Database 160

3rd Sector Labs

MAY 4, 2015

Treat your organization’s budget as status quo management. All organizations spend near all of their budget for the purpose of running programs, serving clients, communicating with stakeholders, raising money from existing donors, etc. This is called “meta data”, and it is really important to understanding your organization.

Donor 100

Donor Database Analysis Activities 100