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Hands up who loves data? (Graeme!)

Fundraising | 7 Oct 2008

I’m working on a Masterclass I’ll be co-presenting with my colleague Sean Triner at the 2008 IFC this month. (Don’t tell the organizers though as I’ve confidently told them it’s all finished and ready to go!).

Attendees will be helped to interpret data analyses of their donor base and make strategic decisions about their fundraising program on the back of the analysis.  This is what I do with Pareto Fundraising’s clients every week – and it’s one of the joys of my job.  I love rummaging through the data to see the trends, the opportunities, the oddities, the challenges.  It’s the only way I know to build a truly sustainable program – start with what you know and work from there.  

But how to engage a group of people (some of whom will be forced to work in their second language) in the application of data analysis without being so dry and technical they’re praying for the tea break to roll around? Well – along with some shameless Australian gimmickry (I’m afraid you’ll have to be there to find out what), we’ve decided to use some real life data to illustrate our point. 

Our lovely friends at The Lost Dogs’ Home are sharing their data analysis from five years ago to allow the participants to come up with their own strategies for how to move the fundraising forward.  Then we can compare the ideas from the teams in the room with the reality of the situation for LDH five years later.  This is a typically generous gesture from The Lost Dogs’ Home ED, Dr Graeme Smith, and his wonderful team in Melbourne. 

People say to me sometimes “Well, it’s easy for The Lost Dogs Home because they can talk about cute dogs and cats.”  “Nonsense” I reply.   People do care about dogs and cats but the real reason The Lost Dogs’ Home has been so incredibly successful at fundraising is that Graeme and his team haven’t been afraid to invest in their program, they’ve constantly been open to innovation and testing and they have a genuine commitment to donor care. At the IFC I can’t wait to share the delights of building strategy from data analysis with the fundraisers who I’ll meet there.  But it’s going to be up to them to bring the added touch of investment and inspiration that are also behind great fundraising programs.

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