EP11: The Case for Data Leadership with Tracy Van Solkema The Tech Savvy Nonprofit

Building on our previous conversation about CRM with Ashley Faison, in this episode we're talking about data leadership with Tracy Van Solkema. Tracy is the Research and Data Services Specialist at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. When it comes to the topic of using data to advance the work of your organization, you'd be hard-pressed to find a person more passionate about this topic than Tracy. 
Why is a CRM or donor database important for a nonprofit or foundation? Shared institutional knowledge – ensures the documentation of important data and knowledge from long-time employees Less fear of organizational change – allows for easier staff transitions and keeps the work moving forward in someone's absence, addressing the old 'what happens if you're hit by a bus?' scenario Access to information – provides all staff access to the same information even if they are off-site or at a different office Workflow improvements – reminders and more can lead to more efficient processes Strengthens relationships – the data helps facilitate relationships and gives insights on how to engage donors and prospects. It's the starting point to effectively creating a strategy for both fundraising and marketing Tracy emphasizes CRM (Customer or Constituent Relationship Management technology) is a key differentiator. An Excel spreadsheet can work as a database just storing data. However, what it can't do is manage relationships well. CRM goes to the next level, allowing an organization to manage relationships, analyze and report on data, and create data-driven insights.
Defining data and common data points to track   In this context, Tracy defines data the information you store about your donors, prospects, volunteers, and the data related to how they interact with your organization.
Common Data Points: Biographical information – name, address, phone number, email address, gender, etc. How is the person connected to your organization? Gift history Less Common Data Points: How was a gift solicited? Was a gift in response to a specific appeal? How was the gift made (mailed check or online)? Has the donor attended recent events? Interactions with staff and the qualitative content of those interactions. Every donor has a story! How does an organization decide what data to track? Tracy recommends ensuring your basic biographical data is tracked consistently as a starting point. This means ensuring you have data entry processes and procedures in place for what needs be entered and how it is entered in your CRM.
When it comes to tracking additional data, Tracy starts with the end in mind. She asks, how will we use this data? Will it inform our fundraising or marketing strategy? If not, maybe it's not necessary. She also suggests not wasting time tracking a data point you can get from other data (e.g. tracking current donor when this information is obvious by their gift history).
Tracy lives by a quote hanging above her desk: "One key component to fundraising success is to know that information is power and that power resides in your database!"

An example of using the power of your database is using your data to segmenting appeals. Use your data to create appeals with messaging specific to the audience. Segmenting may be based on past gift history, relationship to the organization (i.e. volunteer, board member, etc.), philanthropic interest, or age. On the topic of age, Tracy provides great examples and shares how to access this important information.
A relationship endowment—Tracy's philosophy about database management Tracy thinks of the database as an endowment. As data is added to the database, the information and the depth of information grow in perpetuity, and through this growth, relationships can flourish for the organization now and into the future.
When you think of your database as your "relationship endowment," you can see the value of maintaining it and monitoring it with high standards, just as you w