DONOR AND PROSPECT
DATABASE MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING
IN YOUR CAMPAIGN

We already have our own donor-prospect management software. Can we use it for our campaign?

We have not yet invested in donor software. What should we be looking for to help manage our campaign?

These are questions that likely will come up early in the campaign planning process. A campaign should not require a substantial additional investment in software, but you must have a program that can handle the basic functions of tracking and reporting that you will need for your fundraising effort.

There are three different general “systems” which typically support development efforts and which may be used in a campaign. They are:

1. A “total” program, such as “Donor2”. This is intended to do everything for everybody, and most are very expensive -- in terms of original purchase price, in terms of training of operators, and in terms of the cost of upgrades. Most can be used for capital campaigns, but may require additional training and/pr upgrades to fully support a capital campaign.

2. A program written for the client (usually by a local “computer guy” or “gal”). Who knows? Maybe it can support a capital campaign, if it can make reports in all three of the report formats indicated below.

3. Utilization of one of the major databases (“Access”, “Excel”, etc.). The key here is to make sure that you have the fields necessary to support a capital campaign.

At times, reports for a capital campaign can be very different from what is normally provided by software which supports annual or supporting campaigns.

Reports you will need in your capital, endowment or major gifts campaign are:

1. Report by Worker.
This report needs to: (1) sort prospects by worker (in alpha order); (2) total the number of prospects taken; and (3) total the “hoped for amounts” or appraisals of all prospects, as well as list the the results, or gifts actually received, by each prospect. Another piece of information which is helpful is the name of the person who has agreed to help in the solicitation. Finally, it is helpful if you can show the “secondary assignments” of each volunteer worker (i.e., those with whom they have agreed to be the assistant, or “secondary contact”). Most packages fail to support this level of reporting.

2. An “alpha” report.
This is a report of prospects in alphabetical order (including businesses, foundations, and corporations) with their appraisals (or the amount they are being asked for), the amount they gave, and the person(s) who asked them for their gift.

3. A report by gift size.
This is important from the standpoint of being able to analyze. It should show the largest gift at the top, with the rest of the gifts in descending order. It should include the name of the giver, the “hoped for” amount, the amount given, the amount paid on the pledge, and the person who secured the gift.

It is also important that you be able to “tag” or “code” your database for designations such as “volunteer” (and even coded for the committees on which they serve) and type of prospect.

Finally, you will save yourself a lot of headaches, please your business office and practice good stewardship if your software can designate pledge “reminder” notices at intervals that can be customized to your donors’ desires. Whether you have an integrated system that actually generates these notices at the appropriate times, or whether you code the gift entry with a field that can be sorted by date, it is essential that you keep up with donor pledge reminders in a timely fashion.

For more information on when to investigate software for your campaign, contact us at www.jeffreybyrneandassociates.com, or use our toll-free number at 1-800-222-9233.