Gaining Better Results through an Integrated Constituent Management System

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Gaining Better Results through an Integrated
Constituent Management System
Institute for Community College
Development Fundraising Web Seminar 3 October
15, 2008

• Karli Grant, M.S.T.M., M.Ed.
• Product Manager, Datatel , Inc.

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Agenda

• Building effective alumni and donor profiles from
  campus-wide information
• Creating strategic solicitations that target
  audiences for results
• Engaging alumni and community members via
  meaningful messaging
• Including using social media!
• Question Answer

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Karli Grant, M.S.T.M., M.Ed.

• Nine years in higher education fundraising and
  enrollment management
• Annual Fund
• Admissions
• Testing/Advising/Placement/Registration
• Comprehensive Campaign
• Ten years at Datatel, Inc.
• Pre-sales Application Consulting
• Product Management

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Building Effective Profiles
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Building Effective Profiles- What to Include

• Build upon information you already have
• Student records
• Staff and faculty records
• Donor and friend records
• Corporation/foundation/organization records
• Track basic but critical data
• Status active/inactive, student, alumni,
  current/former, etc.
• Demographic
• Biographic
• Relationships family, friends
• Relationship to your institution alum, friend,
  parent, etc.
• Program(s) of study, degree/certificate earned

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Building Effective Profiles- What to Include

• Round out profiles
• Activity participation
• Donor giving history
• Communication preferences
• Employer, sponsorship
• Areas of interest for funding
• Volunteer information
• Events attended
• Include data from public records
• Key contacts
• Corporate profits
• Charitable giving

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Building Effective Profiles- Helpful Ideas

• Define alumni status
• Graduates only?
• Anyone who attended?
• Consider segmentations
• gt30 credits
• 15-29 credits
• lt15 completed credits
• Create a Six Degrees of Separation Workgroup
• Who knows what information about whom?
• Involve faculty, staff, trusted community members

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Building Effective Profiles- Helpful Ideas

• Utilize a data appending service
• Updates addresses, phone numbers
• and emails
• Use a prospect/wealth screening
  service to
• Improve annual fund results
• Launch major gift program
• Prepare for a comprehensive campaign

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Building Effective Profiles- Considerations

• BFO- be sure all data is in your system
• Leveraging only happens when the information is
  shared
• Be mindful of institutional policies
• Institute a life cycle policy for managing
  records
• Determine use of SSN, DOB
• Be mindful of local or federal policies
• FERPA
• This should not automatically prohibit access,
  but make you aware of how shared information may
  and may not be utilized

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Building Effective Profiles- Considerations

• Check and verify before adding a record in system
• Prevents entering duplicate data
• Raise a red flag if
• Process, office or institution necessitates
  tracking information separately

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Building Effective Profiles- The Results

• Comprehensive profiles help
• Create usable and consistent information
• Increase efficiency in data management practices
• Build and strengthen relationships with
  constituents
• Identify those with ability and affinity to
  support your institution
• Focus your time on those most able and willing to
  help continue the institutions mission

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Creating Strategic Solicitations
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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Slicing and
Dicing Data

• Strategic solicitations match identified needs
  with interested, willing and able donors
• Identify need(s) and build case statement(s)
• Slice and dice your database to find friends
  and donors who identify with that need

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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Slicing and
Dicing Data

• Potential segmentations
• Program/degree/certificate
• Athletic team
• Co/extra-curricular activity
• Employer
• Geographic region
• Previous giving interest/history
• Recipient of scholarship
• Relationship
• Sponsorship
• Vocation

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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Slicing and
Dicing Data

• Selection can be done by query statements in any
  kind of system
• Your donor management system may include a
  point-and-click selection criteria/filter process
• The resulting lists can be used for
• Letters -- Emails
• Invitations -- Phone call rosters
• Acknowledgements -- Prep for in-person
  visits

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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Measuring
Results

• How do you know if you were successful?
• Overall dollars raised
• Dollars by specific solicitation/appeal
• Dollars by fund/designation
• Dollars by activity

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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Measuring
Results

• External/results based
• Overall cost per dollar raised
• 20 cents is national non-profit average
• Varies by fundraising activity
• Dollars-per-student raised
• Based upon enrollment, i.e.
• 430,000.00 / 10,000 students 43 per student
• Dollars raised per source
• Friends affiliated with institution
• Corporations
• Sources not affiliated with institution
• Private foundations/other
• Alumni
• Monthly and annual comparisons

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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Measuring
Results

• Internal measures (numbers and processes)
• How many prospects do you have?
• How many donors are you stewarding?
• How many are ready for an ask within
• 12 months
• 6 months
• 3 months
• 1 month
• What is your contact-to-gift ratio?
• What is your time ratio from receipt-of-gift to
  acknowledgement?

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Creating Strategic Solicitations- Measuring
Results

• Compare yourselves to appropriate, like
  institutions
• Check out the competition
• Find an inspiration or reach institution
• Develop benchmarks based upon your situation
• Consider fiscal year and annual year measures
• Evaluate your measures
• Be willing to fine-tune the measures
• Be faithful in measuring yourselves
• Month-to-month and week and month to previous
  year week and month
• Year-to-year, 3, 5, 7, 10 year trends
• Seek outside advice as necessary

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Engaging Your Audiences with Meaningful Messages
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Engaging Your Audiences with Meaningful Messages

• Traditional methods
• Direct mail aka snail mail
• Printed invitations
• Scripted phone calls phonathons
• Use the Web to engage, build affinity and solicit
  
• Keep track of alumni and former students
• Enable them to update their personal information
• Look each other up and network
• Keep alumni, students and friends informed
• Solicit and provide a means for giving

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Engaging Your Audiences- Using Email

• Email
• As of August 2003, lt1 of two-year institutions
  were using email to solicit funds
• 43 four-year institutions use annual email
  appeal
• 82 used email for an additional ask, not as
  replacement
• 44 said its more cost-effective
• Numbers changed only moderately in 2004 survey
• Dont try this at home- use specialized tools
• Email newsletters
• Electronic solicitations
• Online giving

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Engaging Your Audiences- Using Email

• Tips for effective use of email
• Always offer an opt-out
• Mimic direct mail principles
• Segment, personalize, create the case
• Use direct mail piece to introduce email options,
  survey for interest, and direct to your giving
  site
• Be recognizable/use branding
• Create short, meaningful messages
• Generate reminders- monthly, quarterly,
  semi/annually
• Be responsive to comments, suggestions, criticism
• Timing is everything

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Engaging Your Audiences- Using e-Marketing

• e-Marketing complements existing communication
  techniques and programs by communicating through
  an engaging and social Web presence, integrated
  web services, and proactive e-mail and direct mail

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Engaging Your Audiences- Using e-Marketing

• Rise of social media has led to Conversation
  Marketing
• Emphasis now on creating dialog exchanging
  information that is useful to consumers and to
  marketer institution
• Build trust and loyalty, create long-term
  relationships

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Engaging Your Audiences- Using Social Media
Marketing

• Social networking/media marketing helps you

• Connect with your audiences with authenticity
• Engage prospective students (esp. younger
  students) with your institution in an active and
  real way
• Continue to build ongoing relationships with
  alumni
• Communicate with audiences in ways they find
  meaningful
• Relevance is critical

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Every customer has a different need
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And heres what happens when you try to lump all
customers together and provide a one size fits
all approach.
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Engaging Your Audiences- Strategies for Social
Networking
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Engagement Strategy 1 Know Thy Audience
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(No Transcript)
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Engagement Strategy 2 Be Visible
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Visibility Tools

• Post photos to
• Make photo groups
• Encourage participation by students, alumni, and
  staff
• Hold a contest to make the best promotion video
  and post it on
• Post other information (tours, orientation,
  welcome week, new programs, etc.)
• Use to announce alumni events,
  campaigns and more
• Remember to use tags
• Own your image online!

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Posting Photos on
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Using Tags for Visibility
Clear title serves as a mini-PR moment
Tags provide categories (both general and
specific) for anyone whos searching
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Search on Community College Programs
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Search on Community College Students
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But Be Aware
Word of mouth and the ratings for this video will
only increase the number of people who see it
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(No Transcript)
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Engagement Strategy 3 Using Social Networking
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Social Networking- Facebook

• Encourage enrollment counselors alumni
  relations staff to create professional profiles
  on Facebook
• Pull college website content onto Facebook pages
  i.e. official web URL, catalog info, etc.
• Be aware of groups that are forming that relate
  to your school (!!!)
• Own your image online!

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Search for Bucks Community College
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Search for Bucks Community College
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Engagement Strategy 4 Using Your Website
Effectively
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Companies expect users to come to their site but
dont support creating an experience. Instead,
the customer is given information. We need to
turn websites into places where customers can
play, learn, enjoy, build communities and
exchange information. Nilofer Merchant CEO,
Rubicon Consulting
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Enhancing Your Website

• Conduct style and design assessments
• Does it convey the message and image of your
  institution consistently and recognizably?
• Look at organization and navigation
• Can visitors find what they need easily? Is it
  intuitive?
• Is it customer-friendly?
• Can you provide timely and personalized
  information?

Source iMedia Connection
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Enhancing Your Website

• Does it have appropriate technology and
  architecture?
• Does it work on all browsers? Do you test when
  technology or content changes?
• Is it secure? What privacy and use policies are
  in place?
• Does it provide ease of purchase?
• Paying for a class, purchasing books, making a
  gift

Source iMedia Connection
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Enhancing Your Website

• Does it include all preferred methods of
  communication?
• FAQ, email, click-to-chat, toll-free phone
  number, etc.
• Does it clearly identify (and ease communication
  with) your established PR contacts?

Source iMedia Connection
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Engagement Strategies- Final Thoughts

• Match the message and medium to the audience
• Be relevant
• Strive to provide an experience, not just
  information
• Dont expect to maintain total control
• Realize that you give up some control of your
  image
• But still try to own as much of your image as
  possible
• Go with the flow
• Dont get married to any one tool, platform or
  site
• Be aware- needs, preferences and communication
  patterns will change as new applications are
  developed

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Resources

• Supporting Advancement http//supportingadvancemen
  t.com
• E-solicitations, Policies, Records, Samples
  more
• Council for Resource Development
  http//www.crdnet.org/
• Alumni Foundation Resources more
• CASE http//www.case.org
• Resource Center Email studies more
• Plug your business! Marketing on MySpace,
  YouTube, blogs and podcasts. By Steve Weber,
  2007
• The New Influencers A Marketers Guide to the
  New Social Media. By Paul Gillin, 2007
• www.flickr.com, www.youtube.com, www.facebook.com

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Questions? Thank you for your participation!
Karli Grant 703.449.6968kag_at_datatel.com