4 Specific Data Scenarios for Managing Lists in Raiser’s Edge™
You may now be wondering how you can implement List Management into your importing practice. With that in mind, below are four example scenarios where organizations may choose to harness the power of List Management:
1) Acquisition lists – Acquisition lists are a hot topic for many organizations and understandably so. Statistically, this is an organization’s best shot at replenishing a shrinking pool of donors. Thousands of nonprofits regularly receive acquisition lists from various sources, so managing these lists efficiently is of utmost importance. List Management – given its name – was developed specifically to address the need for acquisition data management. With List Management, you can import your acquisition lists into the holding tank as non-constituents and scrub the list to determine the next appropriate action, whether it’s wealth screening, removing certain subsets, flagging groups for follow up, or assigning solicitors to high-capacity individuals.
2) Grateful patients and families – As a healthcare organization trying to establish or revamp a grateful patient program, you know how important effective data management and segmentation is to your program’s success. There are so many ways to approach healthcare fundraising, it can seem daunting to even identify a starting place. Many organizations like Foundations of MultiCare use List Management to bring efficiency to their grateful patient program. When using List Management to import new records into the holding tank, organizations have several options to enhance and streamline their solicitation efforts. For instance, patient lists can be imported either before or after a wealth screening, segmented based on caregivers, areas of care, dates seen, zip code, etc. and then assigned solicitors for further cultivation.
3) Students (current or incoming) – As a school or university, you most likely receive semi-annual lists of incoming or current students from your admissions or registrar’s offices. As these lists are received, many organizations choose to import all as full constituents. Due to attrition, many students end up attending for only a semester or two. “Degree-holding alumni” are the most important population for calculating alumni participation percentages (US News & World Report) and also happen to be your most likely giving prospects. A better approach for student records may be to first import them as non-constituents using List Management, then promote them once they make a gift, volunteer, graduate, etc. When promoting to full constituents, you can assign solicitors based on school or major and further cultivate based on giving capacity. For instance, prospects at a certain level receive a visit from a solicitor versus a phone call or mailing.
4) Event attendees or ticket purchasers – Do you typically import event guests or ticket purchasers from athletic events, performances, auctions, and more? What do you do with these prospects once you import them? Do they receive the same type of attention as a donor or prospect with greater affinity? If so, consider importing these event attendees into the List Management holding tank instead, searching and matching to an existing full constituent record if applicable, then segmenting for further cultivation or solicitation based on type of event they attended, giving capacity, zip code, etc.
Is your organization working with some or all of these data sources? If so, do you already have an effective method in place, or is your current importing process detracting from your overall data maintenance or fundraising goals? If these scenarios sound familiar, List Management may be able to help you get more out of Raiser’s Edge.
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