June 15, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
When it comes to fund raising, nonprofit organizations need to think more strategically about how they can use data and analysis to tell compelling stories about their organization, a panel said at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in New York.
Nonprofit leaders are not in business simply to collect measurements but also to find a way to use the information to articulate what their mission is and market it to have the strongest impact, said Lisa Mueller, director of development and communications, at Sanctuary for Families.
Julia Jean-Francois, co-director of the Center for Family Life, said that it is the responsibility of nonprofit organizations to provide their donors with a coherent path to reaching their intended goals. Donors will always be supportive of a nonprofit organization’s willingness to take raw data and translate them into credible stories that are relevant to audiences, she said.
She added that donors know that standardized tools alone are often irrelevant to the issues of change.
Gary Bagley, executive director of New York Cares, added that being involved in an analytical process is an effective way to create an open dialogue with donors about where the organization is heading and what it is trying to achieve.
Ms. Jean-Francois also suggested that nonprofit organizations should affiliate themselves with a university if they do not have the money to do in-house analysis. A relationship with a university can be very useful in helping to demonstrate prospective outcomes, she said.
Ms. Mueller also mentioned that it is key for nonprofit organizations to have a feedback mechanism in place so that they can ensure that their actions and decisions are influenced by the impact they are trying to create.
