Do you want a taste of what major gift prospect modeling is like? I’ve put together this page to help give you just that. Below are some key elements to every modeling report you can expect from Donor Science Consulting.
Model Summary Table
The below table shows all of the qualitative and quantitative donor characteristics that were found to be the most predictive of major giving in this client’s database. The characteristics (or “variables”) have been sorted according to their relative importance to the prediction, with the most important variables at the top, and the least important at the bottom. Just looking at the top 3 variables in this table, we can see that major donors are distinguished from non-major donors based on whether or not they had a lifetime preference for sponsorship appeals, how long they’ve been on file for, and whether or not the donor record is in fact an organization or individual.
Donor Data Insights Graphs
A very important section in this report is the donor data insights section. In this part of the report you can find data graphics that help teach you something interesting and important about the characteristics of major donors through the use of the data that you’ve passed over to Donor Science Consulting. We’ve found that often times just looking at data graphics showing insights into major donor behaviour can lead to important changes in strategic decision making.
Below is an interactive map showing the fact that for this particular national scale organization in the US, major donors were more likely to have an address on file in New York, New York, compared to the many other geographies where their donors could be found. This insight led the organization to focus their major gift solicitations much more judiciously than was the case before.
Below is a bar graph showing a donor data insight for a different charity. In this case, we found that donors who had given over $2,500 in monthly giving, and especially those who had given over $5,000, had gone on to be much more likely to give $10,000 or higher in a subsequent period. This was very well received. The charity never realized that their monthly donor pool was such a valuable source of potential major donor prospects.
Donor Database Segmentation for Prospect Research and Output Data
The end goal of this exercise is to help your organization to prioritize its approach to prospective major donors. You don’t want to waste your time soliciting unlikely major donors. To remedy that, Donor Science Consulting will score each and every one of the donors in your database and assign them to one of several groups that will enable you to focus on those donors who are up and comers, as well as those donors who’ve already given large gifts to your organization. Below is an example from one client as to how their donors got segmented to help them zero in on the best of the best:
This charity was advised to focus on soliciting donors in the green section of the table (the “High MD Prospects”) as those had scored the highest on the major gift prospect model. Also, donors in the blue and white sections were recommended for follow-up considering that they had proven themselves valuable in the past.
Finally, the exercise wouldn’t be complete without the output data. Donor Science Consulting provides all the necessary coaching for integrating the output data back into your CRM so that you can use it to kick-start your major gift solicitation!
