Segmenting Diocesan Database for Major Givers

vs. Planned Givers

James S. Friend, Jr.Director, Office of Stewardship and Development

Diocese of Allentown

Who Are Your Donors? What are their Philanthropic priorities? What are their personal needs?

Who Are Your Donors?

Matching their Needs with Our Mission

Bequests

IRA Gifts

Gift AnnuityGift of Property

Unitrust

Lead Gifts

Transformational Gift

NamingOpportunity

Segmentation Segmentation defined: classify groups and

target messages based on profile attributes, participation, or other defined metrics.

Starts with good data – Information is power!

Gathering the proper data Parish Census Raiser’s Edge

Elements of a Major and Planned Gift Development system

1. Base Development Program2. Prospect identification3. Feeding and maintaining an active

prospect pipeline4. Major and planned gift cultivation5. Donor relations and stewardship

Base DevelopmentParishioner program Entering the system as a donor is the beginning of

prospecting Tracking donor behavior

Giving consecutively Increasing in amount

Building donor awareness at the diocesan level Encouraging involvement at the diocesan level

Goal of Prospect IdentificationFrom To

How do we get there?

Identify and PrioritizeWho are my best prospects for…??

Major Major GivinGivingg

High end High end EngagementEngagement

Volunteering

Planned Giving

Diocesan Initiatives

CatholicEducation

Education of Seminarians

CatholicCharities

DiocesanEndowment

Getting Started What question(s) are you trying to answer?

Examples: Who are my underperforming annual fund prospects? Which of my constituents has the capacity to make a major gift? Who is a good candidate for a planned gift?

What will my final result look like (segmentation vs. prioritization)?

What data points do I have that I can use in my prospecting project? (Diocesan Appeal / Stock Gifts / Access to Diocesan ParishSoft / Previous Campaigns / ?)

Identifying Prospects for Major and Planned Gifts. Prioritization is the key. Major and planned giving involves one-to-

one relationships, with different strategies for engagement applied to each individual. Optimizing your donor list helps create efficiency and a good return on your investment.

Previous giving behavior Outright giving vs. cumulative giving RFM: Analyze how Recent, Frequent

and Monetary (Giving Amount):How recently a donor givesHow frequently they give and for how longHow much a donor gives both

cumulatively and outright

RFM is Nothing New… Has been used by direct marketers for over 40 years as a

segmentation tool to increase marketing Return On Investment (ROI).

The basic premise of RFM is that customers who have purchased more recently, more frequently and have spent more with your company are your best prospects for future direct marketing campaigns.

The goal of RFM is to increase marketing ROI by communicating only with customers that are likely to respond. What do you do with a limited budget to communicate with Major/Planned Donors?

Capacity Indicators Geodemographics

PRIZM or other scores available via vendors Zip codes Census tract

Employment Title What sector do they work in? Employer Name

Capacity Indicators (cont.) Demographic

Family characteristics (partnered/married vs. single, presence of children)

Age Giving

Amounts Methods (Cash vs. Stock)

Volunteer Board Positions with other organizations ?

Inclination Indicators Giving

Years of giving Total giving Frequency of giving Last gift date

Inclination Indicators (cont.)

Engagement (with your diocese / other orgs) Special event attendance Volunteer roles

Boards Other volunteer activities

Survey responses Other activities with your diocese

WARNING:The following methods are not statistically

significant, but they are superior to drawing

names from a hat.

What Do You Do With the Data? Simple searches

Who has X data point in their record? Analysis

Which groups do X behavior? Scoring

Rank your constituents by the presence of particular attributes.

Mapping Visually represent geodemographic data.

Simple Searches Geodemography

Who lives in wealthy areas? In which Metropolitan Areas are my major givers

located?

Which clusters give the most to my organization? Employment

Who has a title or employer that indicates wealth?

Who is in a sector that is performing well (or not)?

Simple Searches (cont.)

Which local companies have the most employees who donate to your organization? Which clusters give the most to my organization?

Demographic Who is married? Who does not have children?

Giving Who has given the most (money and/or frequency)? Who gives stock gifts?

Simple Searches (cont.)

Inclination Who has given the most? Who gives most frequently? Who has given for many years?

Engagement Who attends the events? Who volunteers the most? Who has responded favorably toward your diocese

in surveys? Demographic

Who is related to other constituents in our database?

How do we get there?A process of filtering or refinement, based on: Previous giving behavior The ability or “capacity” to give at a major

level The likelihood or “propensity” to give to your

diocese or specific ministry Interests aligning to the mission and impact of

your ministries

Digging Deeper: Exploring their Capacity to Give Individual electronic screening, exploring

significant career exploits, other donations Specifically: Find actual assets and income held

by a constituent Database screening Peer evaluation Prospect research

Evaluate and validate this research with a Team Approach

Digging Deeper: Exploring their Propensity to Give Personal Visits / Surveys Peer evaluation Incorporate “Likelihoods” or “Propensity

Ratings” into Team Approach

*Source: www.fundraisingresearch.inf

Your Introspective vs. Their Interest Define and internalize the impact of your diocese Align interest characteristics to these impact areas Create custom surveys for constituents to self

identify an area of interest Align ministry preferences to interests Use the depth of Team Approach to code

constituent interests

Profile of one Planned Giving Donor John Jones – Age 62

Recently chose early retirement from management level job at manufacturing plant

Has given consistently to the Diocesan Appeal at a moderate giving level of $150 per year.

Attends Catholic Charities functions with some regularity Gave $5,000 to the Diocesan Capital Campaign, paid out over 5

years. Was active in his parish before his wife passed away Widower 3 grown children Chose Charitable Gift Annuity OptionChose Charitable Gift Annuity Option

Sample Profile of Major Donor Joe and Kristin Jackson – Ages 41/38

Dual career family Have given sporadically over the years to the Diocesan Appeal,

usually with an outright gift of 1,000 Attends no diocesan activities that we’re aware of Made a one time gift of $5,0000 to the Diocesan Capital

Campaign Not active in their parish Have 2 small children Kristin is on the Board of a local nonprofit Made $10,000 Gift to last year’s Appeal

Questions for the Group

What are the characteristics of our major and planned giving donors?

What distinguishes our lifelong donors from our top outright donors?

Our major donors tend to be of a generation that is passing; what is different about the next generation?

Which types of people do your gift officers cultivate most efficiently and effectively?