Question Category: Management and Technology
Question
How can I convince my boss that consolidated records management, using a relational database, with an emphasis on membership and donor stewardship and cultivation is a necessity?
Answer
There are a number of reasons that consolidated donor management records are necessary in a development office. Here are a few:
- The one thing that donors dislike most is when organizations appear wasteful. Making duplicate contacts with donors can make them feel as if they are just a number, not a person. The greater the number of databases you have in an organization, the more likely that donors are going to receive duplicate letters, news, phone calls, etc. Or, in the worst case, two solicitations from the organization very close together, for different projects. That signals the donor that you do not know what your priorities are and that your organization is not organized.
- Consider all of the inefficiencies that multiple databases create. If you have an individual who is recorded on four separate databases and said individual moves, that is four different changes that have to be made in order to correct one mailing address. Now, what happens if two of the managers of these databases are very diligent in making address changes, and two others are not. The donor may get things from you that are mailed to the correct address, and forwarded from the old address for a period of time. Again, this indicates to the donor that you are not organized.
- Creating and maintaining giving clubs and lifetime giving societies, which are great strategies for increasing giving from current members, would be almost impossible.
- Let us suppose that you receive a call from a donor who has decided that they want to make a substantial gift to your organization. While on the phone with this person you see that they have been active in one area of the organization and begin to discuss the funding needs in that area. Let's also suppose that particular area does not have the greatest need of all of your program area, so your discussion in centered on modest funding needs. Now, let's assume from your suggestion that this same donor has also had an involvement with another area of the agency, but all of that information is on another database that you either don't have access to or don't have time to access - since this person is on the phone and wants answers now. If you had a comprehensive database you would know all of there interests and could, perhaps, have suggested a more substantial funding opportunity in that other area.
- Let us suppose that your boss or a board member calls and is having lunch with someone in 10 minutes and needs to know how they have been involved with the organization so that they can discuss specific areas of progress and interest with said person. In ten minutes you don't have time to check all of the different databases in the organization, so you print out what you have. Sending your boss or board member into a meeting unprepared and you are likely to end up with similar missed opportunities as in example 2.
- Finally, the more data you have about a person in one location, the more effectively you can analyze that data and build personal cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies
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