Know thy Donor

There has been a fair amount of healthy debate this week, over at The Agitator blog, about the effectiveness of donor screening tools, the use of CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) systems, and the validity of the traditional donor pyramid model, as they relate to securing major gifts.

In his most recent post on the subject, Tom Belford makes what I consider to be the most important point of all:

"Eventually, at all giving levels that vary by organizational experience and capabilities, more personal interaction with donors needs to take over from direct marketing".

I would argue that this "personal interaction" needs to occur sooner, rather than later. While systems and processes are crucial in helping us evaluate the effectiveness of our development programs and in setting achieveable targets and goals, nothing can replace meaningful donor interaction when it comes down to generating sustainable fundraising revenues.

But before we can focus on these interactions, we first need to have donors - or prospective donors. Tomorrow, we'll talk about Step 1. - How to identify prospective donors.