NPT Instant Fundraising Newsletter

By Marla E. Nobles

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"Every individual has an ultimate gift," said Lawrence Henze, managing director of Blackbaud Analytics, a division of Blackbaud, Inc., Charleston, S.C. "Ultimate gifts may be any level, any type."

Henze, who spoke at a conference for the firm's nonprofit clients, discussed major gifts and planned gifts from the expanded perspective of the ultimate gift. He introduced global moves management, or strategically developed, global, personalized activities designed to cultivate and strengthen relationships. Understand that there are many paths taken by donors, and that through understanding those likely paths nonprofits can create programs that assist donors in their journey.

Global moves management begins with data mining and predictive modeling, said Henze, the benefits of which are possible cost savings, a cleaner database, a better understanding of donors, an increase in gift revenue and "knowing your institution, turning knowledge into results."

The types of data to look for include demographic, giving history, transactional, attitudinal, and interests. "Study the relationship between longevity and ultimate giving," advised Henze, and "the relationship between giving levels and ultimate major giving behavior."

Create a file of major donors using the number of years of giving prior to the first major gift. Plot the data using Excel, for example, and study and interpret the trends. What will you learn? Well, for instance, Henze said he found major donors make an average of nine annual gifts prior to reaching major donor status. Next, establish a threshold, such as six annual gifts, to identify potential major giving prospects, advised Henze, and study planned giving behavior and its correlation with loyal annual giving.

* A significant number of major donors exhibit "trigger point" behavior;

* When donors activate triggers, they appear on major donor radar screen;

* This is proactive data mining. For example, assume a major gift equals $5,000 or higher. For 60 percent of your file of major donors, the last gift before $5,000 or higher was $2,000. For 70 percent, the last gift before $2,000 was $500.

For those organizations that decide modeling is the way to go, Henze described the following modeling options to choose from:

* Modeling using descriptive data. Descriptive variables are retrospective, not predictive. This approach may help with message development and marketing. Endogenous variables - those that exist primarily or as a result of the giving process (e.g. email address, business address, middle initial) - may mislead and cannot be used to accurately predict.

* Modeling using prescriptive data. A great alternative when organizational data is insufficient. Works great for planned giving.

* Modeling using custom (predictive) data. This works because giving profiles are complex, vary by constituency, giving level and by type, and one size does not all fit.

With the results of your data mining, you can create plans for donor retention, donor acquisition, moves management beyond major giving, and for reaching everybody in your database. Beginning with solicitation, your efforts should be designed to promote significant giving and loyal giving, reach one donor at a time, develop personal relationships, and if desired by the donor, publicly recognize a donor's special commitment to your organization. "Keep it a donor-centered style," advised Henze, who said to concentrate on the level of commitment rather than on giving level.

Keep in mind with donor cultivation that not every prospect develops according to plan or a specific schedule, said Henze. He added that pace should reflect a prospect's schedule and needs, rather than the confines of your organization's fiscal year goals or campaign deadlines. "Again, the bottom line is, customize each plan," Henze reiterated. "This should be done in a global manner."