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The Foundation of Moves Management: How To Identify Your Donors

Moves management is a strategic roadmap for fundraisers. It guides you through a journey to nurture and grow donor relationships. At its core lies the crucial first step: identifying the donors you want to move from one level of giving to the next. In this article, we'll focus on the foundation of moves management and the three key steps to identify these vital donors.

Step One: Screening - Identifying Your Active Members

Screening is the initial step in identifying donors. It involves analyzing your current donor database to uncover individuals who are likely to support your cause based on specific criteria.

90% of your future donors in 2024 are already in your CRM!

These are the individuals who have previously engaged with your organization, and their history holds valuable information.

Here are people that you may want to include in your donor identification process:

• Major Donors: Individuals who make large gifts. These donors generally contribute 60%-80% of your budget.
• Mid-Tier Donors: Individuals are invested in the organization and give significant gifts at least once each year.
• Regular Donors: Those who contribute regularly, regardless of the amount, and have the capacity to become mid-tier donors.
• Lapsed Donors: Individuals who have previously donated but haven't contributed in the past 12 months.
• Corporate Donors: Companies that have previously donated or shown interest in corporate social responsibility initiatives aligned with your cause.
• Foundation and Grant-Making Bodies: Organizations that provide grants and are aligned with your mission and projects.

The Essential Tool: A CRM (Customer Relationship Management):

Leverage your CRM to analyze and build reports for donor identification. It's your trusty companion on this journey.

Step Two: Profiling - Learning About Your Donors:

Profiling is the second step in identifying donors. It involves creating detailed profiles of potential donors, including their interests, affiliations, philanthropic activities, and financial capacity. This can help you narrow or expand your identification process created in step one.

Profiling has four sections.

1. Interests: Research and gather data on a potential donor's hobbies, passions, and interests. Understanding what they care about allows you to tailor your approach and connect on a personal level.
2. Affiliations: Identify any associations, clubs, or organizations the potential donor is a part of. These affiliations can provide insights into their network and potential philanthropic interests.
3. Philanthropic Activities: Investigate whether the individual has a history of supporting charitable causes. This can include donations to other nonprofits or participation in philanthropic initiatives.
4. Financial Capacity: Analyze their giving history to other organizations, Research their assets and real estate values as well as other publicly available information.

Who You Should Be Researching:

• Prospects: Individuals identified through research as having significant giving potential or Individuals referred by current donors or board members.
• Alumni or Member Base: For educational institutions and membership-based organizations, alumni or members can be potential donors.
• Community Leaders and Influencers: Individuals with influence or leadership roles in communities relevant to your cause.
• Volunteers: Individuals who have shown commitment through volunteering.
• Event Participants: People who have attended your fundraisers or other events.
• Matching Gift Donors: Employees of companies with matching gift programs who have donated or shown interest.
  Friends and Family of Board Members: Personal connections of your board members who might be interested in supporting.
• Beneficiaries or Service Recipients: Past or present beneficiaries of your services who might give back.

The Essential Tool: Donor Screening Tools

Utilize donor research tools like Hatch, iWave, or DonorSearch to estimate a potential donor's financial capacity for giving.

Step Three: Networking - Building Bridges to New Donors:

Networking involves actively engaging with your organization's stakeholders and attending community events to meet potential donors and learn more about them.

Networking is a valuable technique for identifying potential donors who may not be on your radar. Personal connections and introductions can open doors to new donor relationships and partnerships.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Build strong relationships with your current donors, board members, volunteers, and staff. These individuals may have insights into potential donors within their networks.
• Community Events: Attend local events, conferences, and gatherings relevant to your cause. These events provide opportunities to meet potential donors, learn about their interests, and establish connections.
• Personal Connections: Leverage personal connections and introductions. Encourage your existing supporters to introduce you to potential donors they know.

The Essential Tool: LinkedIn

In addition to meeting these potential donors in person, online networking tools can make your access easier. Use LinkedIn or other online networking tools to connect with people you would like to reach.

Summary:

Incorporating the donor Identification process of Screening, Profiling, and Networking sets the foundation for your moves management process. You cannot move on to the next step of donor segmentation without identifying your donors first.

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Auto Assign Contacts To Your Ambassadors

Now when your ambassadors finish their list of contacts to solicit in PhoneRaise you can auto-assign them more people to call! Simply turn on the auto-assign feature in the assignments section and select how many contacts should be auto-assigned! This adds a great set-it-and-forget-it feature to PhoneRaise and eliminates the need for campaign organizers to see which ambassador needs more contacts to call.