As a creature of habit, much like most of us are, I have preferences in my day-to-day activities that are very predictable should you examine my spending patterns. Whether my choices are need-driven, based on an emotional connection, or simply the convenience of location; I dine, shop, and spend the same way month after month.
This same pattern extends to how I donate. While I feel strongly about environmental protection and veterans care, I choose to give my financial support to a select few children’s charities.
As a nonprofit, wouldn’t have this type of personal insight into your prospective donor’s philanthropic activities be immensely helpful? Take a look at the following three ways that past spending patterns can be utilized to target future donors.
1. Wealth Screening’s Prospect Generator
One of the best places to find new prospective donors is on the donation list of similar organizations — those that share your mission and geographical location among other common factors. Prospect Generator allows you to identify donors that have given loyally to these types of groups. You can also research fundraising efforts initiated by other organizations to see how your initiatives compare. Links to outside information on these organizations make completing additional research and analysis an easier process.
2. Managed List Data
Prospect Generator is a perfect segue into the next method, managed lists, as they are at times available for donors to specific charitable organizations. Also referred to as response lists, these data sources commonly highlight RFM (Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value) data on donors. The value of RFM data is that in many cases, you are able to see:
- When the donation occurred
- The frequency of donations
- The dollar value of the donation
3. Consumer List Data
The nation’s leading compilers of consumer data rely heavily on self-reported information (typically sourced from surveys and questionnaires) to compile data on donations. Usually classified as lifestyle or interest data, this information can be used to identify consumers that have reported donation activities to charitable, educational, or religious organizations. Some vendors also offer a similar type of donor selection that combines buying activities, which is an indication that an actual financial transaction for the donation is on file.
When the application of past spending patterns in the form of known donations is applied to fundraising initiatives, your targeting becomes much more predictive.
