3rd Sector Labs

JUNE 1, 2015

Every nonprofit needs a data management plan, especially for their donor data. The plan needs to address a variety of topics, such as data hygiene and enrichment , data usage in various communications activities , input/output management, and more. To help with your donor data management planning, we have created a Donor Data Management Dictionary to help you make sense of all the data jargon as it applies to the nonprofit organization’s business needs.

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3rd Sector Labs

MARCH 1, 2015

Is your organization is a donor data hoarder? Data hoarding extends far beyond just your donor data and CRM software. It applies to outcome measurements, web traffic, social media data, emails, image files, document versioning, backups, backups of backups, etc. All data needs to be managed. Email data is overwhelming corporate America. But for our purposes, let’s narrow the focus to donor data. The costs of managing too much bad data.

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3rd Sector Labs

APRIL 28, 2014

If you’ve migrated donor data from one CRM to another, no doubt you have dealt with a lot of difficult decisions. In fact, our donor data migration clients often express surprise at the number of decisions they have to make. In this post, we discuss our list of Top 10 Tough Donor Data Migration Decisions. We hope this provides guidance that will help you plan all aspects of your next data migration. ’ It’s a critical part of any data management plan.

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3rd Sector Labs

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Let me offer one piece of advice: let’s not get distracted by the story and instead focus on the epilogue – the Ice Bucket Epilogue: it’s about the data. It’s true – Mashable reported this amazing data milestone in September. It’s all about the data. From “Found Money” to “Found Data” With the $100M windfall came something just as important – 2.4 That data is the Ice Bucket Challenge Epilogue.

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Connection Cafe

DECEMBER 13, 2019

In working with hundreds of nonprofits , we routinely encounter the same problem: while annual giving has become a data-driven science, quantitative data and insights around planned giving is extremely scarce, even for the most sophisticated organizations. Using the Data.

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EveryAction

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Working in major gifts means tracking relationships, points of contact, and data with multiple high-level donors. While building a long lasting relationship with your major donors is the hallmark of any good major gifts team, those relationships can fall flat without solid data behind them to keep you organized and to inform your strategy. This data can help a user determine the appropriate ask amount for major gift prospects. Use data to your advantage.

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3rd Sector Labs

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

How do you know when your organization is storing and using too much data? In fact, being in the nonprofit data services business, we get asked lots of questions about how to obtain more donor data, better data, the right data. Few customers ask us “When is there too much data?” Let’s use donor data for our discussion. Too much data vs data hoarding. There is a difference between too much data and hoarding data.

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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. The most damaging data management paradigm – one that is commonly found among nonprofits – is what I call “the daisy chain of bad data management.” But they always check our data for leads. What this client is describing is the “daisy chain of bad data management.”

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 11, 2014

The world is undergoing a data revolution, and the social sector is no exception. Social enterprises are collecting more and more data: data about social problems; data about intervention outcomes; data for collective impact; data for learning; data for dashboards to better operate their enterprises; data for funders; and the list goes on. Yet, social enterprises arent typically made up of data geeks.

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3rd Sector Labs

JULY 16, 2014

When it comes to nonprofit data, especially donor data, there’s a running debate. Which is more important, data quality or quantity? 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). Donor data quality must come first.

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Connection Cafe

JANUARY 3, 2017

In the Age of Big Data, countless companies are turning their wealth of data into an extremely valuable asset. Unfortunately, the same is not true for many nonprofits and their data. In my bestselling book, Data Driven Nonprofits , I call this the Nonprofit Data Paradox: the more you have of something valuable, the less valuable it becomes. In the book , I explore how nonprofits struggle with maximizing the value in their data. The data piles up and up.

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3rd Sector Labs

MAY 14, 2014

Fundraising data analytics is becoming more popular – and more necessary in today’s philanthropy marketplace. Nicole Wallace at The Chronicle of Philanthropy wrote a terrific piece this week, ‘Fundraisers Reap Millions by Using Data Gold Mine’ Fundraising data analytics is the equivalent of mining the gold in our own nonprofit backyards. Admittedly, for many of us in the sector, the very mention of ‘data analytics’ sounds intimidating.

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3rd Sector Labs

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Nonprofits everywhere are struggling to get their hands on reliable, useful workplace giving data from corporate giving programs. Who remembers the days of charities arguing with local United Ways over the donor data? “We own the workplace giving data,” was the typical United Way response to charities wanting to know more about the donors supporting them, “because they are United Way donors – our donors.” What about the data?

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Wild Apricot

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

In this post, we cover the kinds of nonprofit data security breaches that are most likely to happen, and which data security practices your nonprofit can use to prevent them

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Connection Cafe

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

We know that Big Data is fundamentally changing how companies make decisions and improve their performance, but many nonprofit organizations have lagged behind in this area. Over a year ago, I set out on a journey to understand why nonprofits are not making more out of the hidden treasure in their data. What I found is compiled in the new book Data Driven Nonprofits. If you start out with bad data, then it only gets worse from there, never better.

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Data Nonprofit Influence Statistics 159

Connection Cafe

AUGUST 15, 2019

New privacy regulations, data breaches and consumer attitudes about data privacy are constantly in the headlines. But it’s not just corporations that have to worry about data privacy – data privacy regulations are a serious topic for social good organizations as well. Cameron Stoll, Principal Legal Counsel at Blackbaud, joins host Steve MacLaughlin to explore the topic of data privacy regulations in depth. The penalties associated with data breaches.

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3rd Sector Labs

AUGUST 15, 2014

Using data to drive your digital marketing campaigns is essential. Without the discipline of data, your digital marketing success is based more on hope than strategy and execution. Our corporate marketers understand the criticality of data all too well, especially retailers. For example, Epsilon, a consumer brand loyalty expert, published a short report on using data to build customer loyalty. Use small data (i.e. Data and story-telling.

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Connection Cafe

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Here are five ways I believe having the right technology and good data – no matter what platforms or software you use – makes our work lives less stressful, more productive, and happier at MaineCF. Using standardized formatting saves time in data entry and data mining.

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Connection Cafe

MAY 24, 2018

To approach the topic of data health at nonprofits, I like to start by talking about something that isn’t data (or at least doesn’t seem like it is). The actions, conversations, and even feelings that occur in that room are data points—but they need to be seen. Your digital data is the same. Here are a couple of ideas I hope you’ll remember as you read Untapped Potential: The Case for Data Health , a new report from the Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic Impact.

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Connection Cafe

JULY 27, 2016

Any discussion about nonprofit data or analytics reminds me of Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” because so many organizations have a very valuable asset left out in plain sight. The data nonprofits have is often overlooked and undervalued by them. Everything begins with data quality. Because we often call it “ data hygiene ,” people tend to tune it out. That’s why I prefer to call it “data health.”

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Data France Analysis Nonprofit 159

Connection Cafe

JULY 28, 2017

At Blackbaud, where I serve as Chief Technology Officer, one of our core tenets has been to design an open, cloud-based software and data architecture. Looking at it from a different angle, open ecosystems also yield data and analytics that enable everyone who is part of it to gain more insights and intelligence. This data can power intelligent software solutions, surface actionable events, maintain accurate and current data assets, and generally drive more results for users.

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3rd Sector Labs

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

Have you completed your fundraising data checklist? What are we talking about – a fundraising DATA checklist? But as we have pointed out before via a cataloguing of more than 150 recommendations for improving fundraising appeals , most charities are making the same common fundraising mistake they made last year, and the year before – bad data management. Because data is boring. Fundraising data has many touch-points throughout your organization.

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Data Time Fundraising Analysis 156

Connection Cafe

APRIL 25, 2017

In recent years, we’ve seen a major uptick in organizations across the social good sector looking at data – and how to use data – in new ways. In fact, when I was conducting research for my book Data Driven Nonprofits , I spoke with data champions in a wide variety of organizations across numerous focus areas. Data champions —whether inside a nonprofit organization or a foundation—know that data on its own doesn’t accelerate impact on its own.

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3rd Sector Labs

APRIL 14, 2014

If your data isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. – TSL data expert. And no, we aren’t simply advocating some chaos theory about data. Unfortunately, it’s true … and the only way to combat the problem is examine what’s in your data management plan. Organizations in every industry today dependent on good data to be successful. It’s no different for nonprofits, and donor data is at the top of the critical care list.

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3rd Sector Labs

JUNE 30, 2014

Understanding data is critically important to success in any business. Unfortunately, data can be boring, even confusing. Many nonprofits don’t know their donor data. If we don’t know our donor data, how can we effectively plan a fundraising appeal? So, how do we know that nonprofits don’t know their donor data? Data degrades. For starters, ALL data degrades over time. Less than 5% of the advice focused on technology and/or data.

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Attention Data Donor Poll 138

Connection Cafe

APRIL 18, 2017

The key is moving from simply collecting data to actually leveraging your nonprofit’s data in the right ways. Here are three important components to thinking like a data driven nonprofit : Find Meaning in Your Nonprofit Data. They analyzed petabytes of data and something popped in the results: Pop-Tarts. Their answers were likely to be anecdotal in nature and we should know by now that the plural of anecdote is not data.

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Data Donor Gift Hurricane 175

EveryAction

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

Data on Purpose 2019: “Navigating the Digital Now.”. Data on Purpose 2019: “Navigating the Digital Now.”. Nonprofit organizations have moved well past the time when technology and data were treated as standalone entities. It's finally here!

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3rd Sector Labs

JUNE 11, 2014

The topic of consumer data privacy is getting more and more attention in the media and on Capitol Hill. The topic of consumer data privacy has had the attention of Capitol Hill for some time. A few months back, we provided an update on steps taken by Senator Rockefeller’s Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to expand its investigation into the data brokerage industry. More specifically, it’s about consumer data. Is big data bad?

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3rd Sector Labs

APRIL 4, 2014

The topic – “Drive Your Fundraising Success with Strategy, Smart Technology and Better Data” – focused on the importance of aligning fundraising strategy, technology and a data in order to maximize the efficiencies of all three. Unfortunately, not every fundraising strategy, technology and data question could be answered, and so we wanted to share more of the Q&A here. How do we get “better data”?

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Data Search Fundraising Strategy 100

Connection Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

You can have all the data in the world but if it is not accurate or documented then it can be of very little use to you. Most CRM databases have the ability to track and store an enormous amount of data but unless you can link it to helping you in being strategic in segmenting out your database or implementing strategies then it is only taking up space. For example do you have birth dates or email addresses and if not you may want to consider a data appends for these items.

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EveryAction

JULY 5, 2018

Arts and culture organizations such as media companies, magazines, public radio stations, museums, theaters, and arts advocates have unique needs when it comes to data management.

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3rd Sector Labs

AUGUST 22, 2014

Third Sector Labs recently presented a data migration webinar with host Bloomerang. The topic – “10 Decisions You Will Face with Any Donor Data Migration” – focused on preparing for your next CRM or data migration while addressing 10 tough decisions nonprofits encounter along the way. As always, if you have questions about a donor data migration project, or any of your nonprofit data needs, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Data Donor Poll Analysis 125

EveryAction

JANUARY 16, 2018

From your board members requesting the latest donor stats to your digital director asking for email conversion rates, tracking your data can be hard. Here are some key tools your nonprofit should have to meet your reporting needs: Customizable reports that allow you to get roll up data and detailed data. However, you’ll be able to edit this data and add the columns that matter to you. But what about the roll up data for those big picture meetings?

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3rd Sector Labs

MAY 29, 2014

What about access to great data that helps us to understand the outcomes being produced by our programs and to know our donors and their interests better? Isn’t all this technology and data helping? 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.

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Data Technology Fundraising Analysis 132

EveryAction

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

With a dedicated email deliverability expert on staff, EveryAction releases the nonprofit industry's primary data on Nonprofit Email Deliverability each year. #4. Dig deeper by segmenting data by universe, timeframe, or source. Visualize your data like never before.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 27, 2010

Most days, data is pretty straightforward to us here at OpenIssue headquarters. But sometimes, data is political. Or, I guess more accurately, data models. For a couple of projects we’ve been working on, we’ve been getting very interested in putting together a really expanded and fleshed out data model for gender, sexual orientation, and marital status. Tags: Data Technology Zen

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2014

These stories about the needs in our communities are data points of real, positive change. Data is now a core resource. Tremendous shifts in data availability, access, and use are rapidly transforming our lives, and numbers debates are taking center stage in the development, philanthropy, impact investing, and social enterprise sectors. Here’s Benetech’s outlook: we advocate for a human-centered approach to data in the social sector. We ask the question: data for whom?

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Connection Cafe

MARCH 3, 2020

Across all sectors, there’s a push to become “data-driven” and “digitally-savvy.” This data frenzy has not just taken the commercial sector by a storm. Throughout the nonprofit world, more sophisticated CRMs , advanced analytics , and murmurs about the use of artificial intelligence in fundraising have given rise to a case of data fever in the do-good sector as well. At the same time, all this hype about “big data” can be anxiety-inducing, especially for smaller nonprofits.

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Connection Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2017

In 2017, the nation’s first open data law, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) moved from a pilot phase to full implementation. federal government spending data. At the core of this effort to increase transparency, the DATA Act gives taxpayers, watchdog groups, and the media unparalleled ability to view detailed spending information in user-friendly formats. Enter the concept of data standardization to a machine-readable format!

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3rd Sector Labs

APRIL 23, 2014

Third Sector Labs recently co-hosted a data management webinar with Debbie Snyder , VP of Sales & Marketing for Adcieo. The topic – “Why don’t you have a data management plan?” ” – focused on why you need, and how to create, a nonprofit data management plan. As always, if you have questions about your nonprofit data management plan, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Be proactive in your data management, not reactive.

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Connection Cafe

AUGUST 1, 2018

How private data is stored and secured has become a hot-button issue for most users today, and it is not going away. The recent news about Facebook’s use of personal information, even though it did not involve credit card data, still created headlines around the globe.

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EveryAction

JUNE 6, 2019

By better empowering them to use actionable data and innovative tools, we help them to do more good,” said EveryAction CEO Stu Trevelyan. DonorTrends uses actionable data and analytics to empower nonprofits to raise more money and retain more donors. They give fundraisers the tools to turn data into dollars. We help fundraisers generate more revenue today and thrive in a data driven future.

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Connection Cafe

MAY 30, 2017

Data is changing how our world operates. As the collection of data becomes ubiquitous and seamless and the analysis of data more powerful, it is changing every aspect of our lives. When people throw around buzzwords like Big Data, Data Science, or Artificial Intelligence , one of the things they talk about is the power of predictive analytics. Similarly, data science methods can help us engage in continuous learning.

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