Four Clear Benefits of Data Integration

There are two ways to build a stronger fundraising program: understanding your donors better and identifying new prospects. Integrating wealth data into your donor management system (DMS) or customer relationship management (CRM) system can help you achieve both, and is the key to enhancing data-driven workflows and data access. Data integration gives team members across your organization more insight on your donors and prospects.

One of the keys to making data useful and actionable is to be sure it’s available and accessible in a central location, and that it integrates with other data sources within your organization. This is one of the principals behind the "data warehouse." Most nonprofits don’t have enough unique data sources to need a warehouse to house their data, but the idea of ensuring that all useful data is accessible is certainly one that all nonprofits can relate to. These are four ways that data integration can benefit your organization:

Having all data in one place allows the user to get a 360-degree view of the constituent. 
Having giving history, event attendance, wealth data, and behavioral data such as arts affinity, green living, or dog lover flags, allows multiple users to get a complete picture of the prospect and determine the best strategies for appeals, cultivation and stewardship.

Having access to many data points allows for effective and efficient segmentation of the data into actionable solicitation groups. 
Major Giving potential may be informed by gift history, giving capacity, relationship and affinity indicators. Annual giving may be segmented by capacity, gift history and interest area.  A segment appropriate to receive a planned gift mailing may be determined by age, affinity factors and giving longevity. Having a full complement of data points on which to segment and personalize messaging creates relationships that result in support.

Having wealth data housed within the DMS or CRM allows staff to use data to make informed decisions.
In the realm of major giving, staff can make decisions regarding which prospects should be prioritized into major gift portfolios and who should be removed from active management. Data integration can also help staff define appropriate ask amounts. Having a pool of wealth-rated prospects in the DMS creates a pipeline of potential givers for current and future cultivation.

Having ratings, scores and attributes housed within the primary database or DMS allows the entire organization to leverage the data. 
While many organizations purchase data enhancement and analytics to benefit their major giving programs, those who integrate the data quickly learn that annual giving, planned giving, special events, marketing, alumni affairs and others in the organization can leverage the purchase, making it even more cost effective and producing greater returns.

The technology of your DMS can be very different from your CRM system, but with scalable, real-time integration, you can make these systems talk to each other and ultimately work more efficiently. With over 35 integrations (and counting) with leading providers like Salesforce, WE can integrate our data into all major DMS and CRM systems so you won’t have to choose one or the other. To learn more about integrated fundraising solutions, watch our webinar with our partner CharityEngine