The first goal of any analysis should be to ensure you are getting the best performance out of every fundraising activity, whether it is acquisition or development focused. This will ensure you are making the most of limited budgets & resources, whilst maximising response & income. Operational issues should not be overlooked, as sometimes a campaign can be turned around by addressing agency or internal processes. You probably have these areas well in hand, but I can assist with:

• Campaign Evaluation & Testing through a virtuous cycle of Test / Learn / Improve

• Bespoke analysis for channels such as Online / DRTV advertising or Direct Dialogue (F2F/D2D)

• Predictive Response Models for improved Warm Campaign targeting

Big picture trends summarising past performance are very useful to set the context for planning decisions. The focus here is to take a Supporter centred view (rather than a Campaign view) to measure performance of the fundraising programme. This may start with Supporter Segmentation to better understand your supporters. The segmentation should go beyond simple RFV scores, to create a business focused segmentation that the whole organisation can get behind.

The natural next step is to look at Supporter Behaviour and Lifetime Value, tracking 'cohorts' of Supporter Segments over time to understand the drivers of long term value. This involves in depth analysis of measures such as:

• Regular Giver attrition

• Donor Retention

• Level & impact of communications

• Cross-sell strategy

• Levels of Consent & Marketing Preferences

I believe planning should start with a detailed analysis of the profitability of each Channel & Product, to estimate their long term ROI and fully understand the KPIs necessary to achieve to success. Budget planning for short term Financial Year budgets can then be set based on well informed inputs, with regular monitoring linking into the reforecasting cycle.

Creating longer term financial scenario planning models is always a challenge, and requires a balance of transparent simplicity coupled with a suitable level of detail. Once a realistic baseline has been set, the model can highlight the impact of alternative investment scenarios leading to informed decisions in a climate of tough choices. 

A strong data foundation is essential. I can advise on selecting the right technology and provide hands on support with the design and coding of data warehouses, creation of data models and report development & deployment.

I have a particular interest in GIS, mapping and spatial analysis. In a fundraising context this can be used to answer questions such as:

• where do my supporters live and in what kind of neighbourhoods?

• how can I find good areas to recruit new supporters?

• where should I locate local events, shops and new services?

• does local service delivery benefit fundraising income?

As good first step is to map where you currently have strong levels of support and build up a geodemographic profile of your supporters. Using this knowledge you can then find new areas that have a similar profile, but where you have lower support.

Visualising this as maps, with the ability to zoom into the detail, can help get organisational buy in and engagement. More statistical approaches can then be used to find the links between service delivery and fundraising income.

These days there are plenty of Open Source data sets and software tools to help with this kind of analysis.

Example of the Output Area Classification (super group level).