Have you ever heard the phrase ‘sometimes the right thing and the hardest thing are the same?’  It’s a phrase that I’m sure most of us have used, and it’s a phrase that rings true in the professional world as well.

Almost all of the organizations we work with are looking for ways to save money.  How do we cut corners?  What pieces of our program can we eliminate?  How can we use our reduced budget to bring in enough donors to support our increased goal?  Questions like these are common with almost all of our customers and I’m sure they are things you’ve questioned as well.

Fundraising expert Mal Warwick has spoken at countless conferences and authored several books that try and teach fundraisers how to utilize their resources in a way that will yield a higher return.  Capturing the RIGHT data and utilizing it for future success can be a long process – and if you aren’t capturing all of the pieces that are necessary it can take an organization up to two years to draw conclusive results.

Here are three ways that you can set up your organization for long term cost savings:

1. Include more information in your donor database and use it! Databases in today’s fundraising world need to track more than just whether or not a donor made a gift.  In a world that is widely multichannel, organizations need to track all interaction with the institution and how that donor or prospective donor engaged.
2. Consistently integrate technology into your overall strategy. Online giving continues to grow year after year and many middle and higher end donors are making their yearly contributions online.  Web based tactics provide you the opportunity to share your success stories with donors and prospects and has been proven to draw more donations. By utilizing web tactics you have clear insights as to what motivates your donors and how they prefer to make a contribution to your organization.
3. 3. Analyze the data you’ve tracked and apply that learning to your fundraising program. Once you’ve tracked all engagement methods (donation, open and click through rates of e-mails, followings on your social media sites) you are able to determine who is engaged and donating and how they prefer to be communicated with.  You can take that information and stagger the number of direct mail pieces and the frequency based on segment.  Gone are the days of sending a direct mail piece to your entire prospect pool every time.