Managing your data for the benefit of your organization is not a destination but a journey. It’s a journey that ultimately matters to your organization’s bottom line and success in making data informed decisions within today’s competitive fundraising environment.

In this interactive workshop, we’ll cover basic data governance concepts and models. These concepts and models will be leveraged to develop a roadmap for tackling some of the challenges that you and your fellow attendees are facing in starting up or maturing your data governance program.

I will summarize some of my research findings about bequests and I will explain why I utilized the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) publicly available dataset. Specifically, I will discuss my research comparing Caucasians and African Americans on their self-rated importance of leaving a bequest to family, charity, and religion, possible reasons for the bequest gap, and what opportunities this presents for education and service to an underserved community. I will wrap up with my study that explores whether lifetime donors to different types of charities also differ in the importance they place on leaving a charitable bequest. As a whole, individuals give more during life, through annual and major gifts, than they do at death. Many of these donors are an untapped resource for planned gifts, some more than others, and this data about which donor types are most likely to be interested in a charitable bequest could inform our conversations about philanthropy.

Discover the valuable insights gained from Johns Hopkins University and Medical Center, who have successfully completed their CRM implementation, Texas Tech Foundation, currently in the midst of implementation, and UC Berkeley, actively planning their CRM implementation. Join us to unravel the mysteries and challenges that marked the critical initial months of these projects. Come prepared with your inquiries, and gain a firsthand understanding of their experiences and strategies for ensuring success. Learn about the unexpected discoveries that emerged at the outset and the key focal points as each project progresses.

Most Prospect Management models rely on the gift cycle to categorize prospects. But is this the most accurate way to describe a prospect's philanthropic engagement with the institution? Does a prospect being cultivated for their first major gift really fall in the same category as a seasoned donor being cultivated for their 10th? The Prospect Development Team at Temple University decided to reframe the way they code and report on prospects based on simple measurements on the donors' records. This enabled the team to engage with the fundraisers they partner with to uncover new opportunities and allowed fundraisers to approach their portfolios in a more strategic way.

Are our donor funds being utilized? Are there any fund issues we need to address? Should we be worried when we send out our annual donor fund reports? If you’ve ever had these concerns, you’re not alone. In recent years, many nonprofit organizations have been grappling with similar questions, finding little guidance on this vital aspect of any advancement operation. Join us in this session as we look at the University of Nebraska Foundation’s journey to grow its funds management team from the ground up, leveraging donor fund data along the way. It’s time to bring the discussion on funds management challenges out of closed-door conversations and begin an industry dialogue to identify what tools, resources, and standards need to be in place to successfully manage and steward donor funds. Whether you are new to funds management or seasoned in the field, come prepared to share your experiences and glean insights from others in this collaborative space.

At our educational institutions, we use assessments and remediation for better student outcomes.
So, how can you improve your data outcomes?

In this session – we’ll cover how to leverage the data quality life cycle to improve your data.

By grading your data (on consistency, validation, and recency) and remediating the elements that aren’t passing the grade – you can ensure that every data outcome is "better".

Professional schools, nestled within the ecosystem of a larger university, face unique challenges in engaging their alumni base and fundraising for their priorities. Building a robust reporting infrastructure has become a strategic imperative for these institutions, given the intricate dynamics at play. In this presentation, we will delve into the journey of establishing a comprehensive reporting system for Yale Law School , seamlessly integrating giving data, prospect ratings, and gift officer metrics. What sets this initiative apart is its commitment to creating an intuitive reporting portal that empowers not only technical experts but also non-technical staff. We will explore the complexities encountered, the solutions implemented, and the transformative impact achieved, recognizing the distinct challenges and opportunities that arise when aligning the goals of a unit with those of a broader academic institution. Join us as we unveil a blueprint for data-driven decision-making that enables professional schools, as integral units within a larger university, to foster alumni relationships and drive philanthropic success with confidence and in harmony with the broader mission of the institution.

RFM analysis is a great first step to analyzing and grouping your donors. By summarizing their giving history and ranking by Recency, Frequency, and Monetary values, you can cluster donors into smaller comparable groups. This can help with identifying possible future prospects, searching for a target donor audience, and allow for more personal communications to each group.

All organizations are striving for continuous improvement, and getting feedback from your stakeholders is essential to that goal. One of the best ways to get that feedback is by surveying your constituents - students, families, employees, alumni and/or donors. Learn how to conduct your own survey research, even on a modest (or non-existent!) budget, and collect actionable data to help you improve your organization.

Learn how MIT is taking a strategic and tactical approach to data management in preparation for future technology transformation. Leading from critical needs of the organization, MIT is developing a data classification strategy to inform data migrations, reinforce data standards, and leverage established project management principles to strengthen its data management practices as they respond to the changing needs of their constituents and transform their business.