How your donor database can improve institutional memory

When you treat your donor database as an active resource rather than a place to simply store data, you can harness its power to provide meaningful information to current and future stakeholders at your organization.

Here are 3 ways you can maximize your donor database and strengthen your fundraising efforts as a result:

1. Consistently document one-on-one interactions

Unless one-on-one interactions with your donors are documented, they won’t serve your organization in the long run. And, this will limit your ability to effectively steward your donors. To avoid this situation, you can document those interactions in your donor database. If you’re using Little Green Light, you can utilize contact reports to do this. Get into the habit of creating a contact report immediately after meeting with a donor, or reserve time to enter them once a week or once a month. Be consistent with whatever schedule works best for you.

2. Store your standard operating procedures

Your organization’s data hygiene will suffer if gift records are entered inconsistently. Developing standard operating procedures will help, but only if these procedures are accessible to all your team members and are easy to update on a regular basis. By storing these procedures as a document in your donor management system, they’ll be available to anyone who needs to refer to them. If you haven’t yet documented your fundraising procedures, this resource will help you get started.

3. Keep copies of your grant applications

Have you ever been frustrated when you realize you don’t have access to your organization’s past applications to the same funder? Changes in staffing at your organization, or changes to a grant portal, can mean that you don’t have access to important information. Rather than relying on a grant portal as your repository of information, always download your completed application so your organization has a copy. As with your fundraising procedures, you can store that file in Little Green Light.

Conclusion

Your donor database is a resource to inform your fundraising operations today and in the future. Make the most of it by ensuring that it provides your organization with essential information to support meaningful work.