Blackbaud News : Lawrence Henze

Blackbaud in the News: 10 Things You Need to Know About Reactivating Lapsed Donors

Melanie Mathos — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:09:00 GMT

By Lawrence Henze, Managing Director, Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company

The more you know about your lapsed donors — their characteristics, interests and relationships to your organization — the better prepared you are to recapture these donors or, more importantly, prevent them from lapsing in the first place. Prevention is perhaps the strongest strategy in addressing lapsed-donor issues. Consider the following when developing your donor-retention strategy:

1. Proactive research
Acquisition for the sole purpose of bringing in new donors, without an eye toward donor retention, might be the major factor in high attrition or lapse rates. Why build an acquisition profile on a group of donors with a 50 percent to 75 percent attrition rate?

The solution is to build acquisition-to-retention model profiles that identify the characteristics of acquired donors who persist in their giving for two to three years. It's a much better strategy because you can identify persistent donors and their common characteristics and focus on acquisition lists that mirror these characteristics. Better yet, use a donor-retention model to score acquisition lists, and only mail prospects with a high likelihood to respond and persist over time.

Read the full article.

Blackbaud in the News: To screen or not to screen, when is the question

Melanie Mathos — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:21:00 GMT

From Philanthropy Journal
by Lawrence Henze, Managing Director of Target Analytics

Many nonprofit professionals wonder if their organizations should perform prospect screening.

The truth is, in a perfect world, nonprofits would be performing ongoing screening, since it's a necessity for promoting greater fundraising success. But because this isn't a perfect world, the best plan of attack is to perform prospect screening only when it would be most beneficial and effective. But how do you determine that? It is a simple question: When is the best time for your organization to conduct a prospect screening project?

Read the full article.

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To Screen or Not to Screen “When” is the Question

Melissa Dodge — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:10:00 GMT

Many nonprofit professionals wonder if their organizations should perform prospect screening. The best plan of attack is to perform prospect screening only when it would be most beneficial and effective. But how do you determine that? In Target Analytics’ latest white paper, managing director, Lawrence Henze explores how to assess your nonprofit’s situation to discover how and when to apply prospect screening for maximized results.

Topics discussed in this white paper include:
• Prospect screening is no longer considered a luxury, but a key component of an effective and efficient fundraising program
• The timing of a screening in relation to capital campaigns has varying purposes
• Prospect screening provides results that can be like a virtual fundraising navigation system

So, when is the best time for your organization to conduct a prospect screening project? Download the free whitepaper to learn more.
To Screen or Not to Screen: "When" is the Question

Blackbaud in the News: Discovering Hidden Potential

Melanie Mathos — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:11:00 GMT

Lawrence Henze, managing director of Target Analytics shares his thoughts on planned giving trends in the January/February issue of Advancing Philanthropy, the member publication of AFP:

If you have ever heard the industry axiom that planned-giving prospects are both older and wealthy, you undoubtedly have realized that this most accurately describes only the tip of the planned-giving prospect iceberg.

Of course, it certainly is worth exploring the tip of that iceberg and the approximately 10 percent of the prospects who exist there, as these prospects are readily identifiable and capable of significant additional giving through planned gifts. Using today’s fundraising lexicon, these prospects are “low-hanging fruit.” You likely have established relationships with these donors, so it should be a natural extension of these relationships to include a planned-giving request since most major-gift donors are also valid planned-gift prospects.

However, most planned-giving prospects are submerged and have different characteristics, making it more difficult to identify them. Also, if these prospects are ever to consider a significant gift, most likely it will be through a planned-giving vehicle. This is a significant distinction, and it is important for fundraising staff to be aware that these individuals are first and foremost excellent planned-giving prospects.

To read the full article, check out the January/February issue of Advancing Philanthropy.