Quick tips: Asks and funds

My fiscal year ends at the end of May so while many of you may have another month and a half or so to go, I am in the home stretch for this year and have things for next year well under way. One of things that I find to be a huge help is to start every year off with some back end work with our database folks. I find that I can save a great deal of time and increase the consistency of our programs by taking the time to create a series of formulas based upon consistency and recency of giving that encourages participation at the lower ends of the gift pyramid, growth of giving for the most loyal donors and increased support from those at the top of the gift pyramid. I test this year over year and use this time to look at what worked - percentages of renewal, increase and growth and then project out those aspects over the areas that did not have the same success. I take a simpler approach on the funds. My primary goal is to standardize the format and names of the funds that each donor last gave to. This usually entails a large portion of the funds that you use all the time and a portion of the funds that you either never use, have closed or have renamed, along with some typos and other errors. By standardizing each of these fields for every record in the database (well almost every one - I do exclude deceased) I ensure that whether lost, committed, Board member or do not solicit status exists now, if those folks are turned over to me, found or otherwise made solicitable, I am ready to go with them. This saves a huge portion of the work on each individual appeal and ensures that I ask for the same thing and amount in every solicitation, through every effort, tool or program throughout the entire fiscal year.