The following is an excerpt taken from The Supporter Journey which will be available in October at www.blackbaud.com/DesktopReference In the early days of building predictive modeling services for nonprofits, I was hoping to prove that there are two separate concepts — likelihood to give and capacity to give — that we could statistically combine in [...]

Since I started blogging about social media on this website, I am being asked by clients if there is any information about Return On Investment (ROI) in regards to the time and money that nonprofits spend utilizing social networking as a way to connect with and receive gifts from their constituents.  In my estimation it [...]

I just read a post by one of the popular planned gift calculation product companies regarding common questions that they receive during planned giving program audits with their nonprofit clients.  The focal area called “Metrics and Productivity” is often a center-of-attention topic, they say, and the tug between raising deferred revenue and the need to [...]

My grandfather passed away a few months ago, and I am still moved and impressed by the letter my grandmother received from his alma mater as the family was leaving the house for the memorial service. My grandfather was a legacy alumnus to the school – I in fact carried the family mantel for my [...]

I am frequently asked what suggestions I have for determining the best “Top Prospects” for each type of giving.  Undoubtedly, if I ask what measures have been used to date, the answer usually gravitates to some interpretation of greatest wealth–whether it is actual assets or anecdotal wealth information obtained from another source.   All too often I [...]

Last week, I attended the 2011 annual APRA Conference, held this year in Austin, TX.  In addition to catching up with colleagues and attending some great educational sessions, I was also reminded that this blog was launched last year right around the time of the 2010 APRA Conference.  While I always use the APRA conference [...]

It’s that time again! I have compiled a few blog posts that interested me during July and I wanted to share them with you. Be sure to give these blogs some traffic! 5 Questions for Jay Frost, from Steve McLaughlin’s Nonprofit Trends Blog, discusses prospect research within social networks, the economy and searching beyond to discover [...]