Name: Data-Driven Fundraising: Transforming Major Gift Strategy at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis
Uploaded: 2026-01-29T19:31:28.327Z
Duration: 56 min 50 s
Description: Data-Driven Fundraising: Transforming Major Gift Strategy at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis

Transcript for "Data-Driven Fundraising: Transforming Major Gift Strategy at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis": So first of all, I will introduce Jennifer. Jennifer is a database consultant with Prenger Solutions Group. She brings nineteen years of experience across a diverse range of nonprofit organizations, including higher education, faith based human services, and medical research. Jennifer specializes in analytics and data management and is passionate about uncovering meaningful patterns in data to drive strategic decision making and operational efficiencies. She's recognized for creating innovative solutions, enhancing fundraising strategies, and improving organizational effectiveness. And then also we have Jolinda Moore, serves as the executive director of stewardship and development at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, where she has led stewardship and major gifts for over twenty years. So Jolinda's leadership has helped shape portfolio management practices, streamline workflows, and foster a culture of data driven decision making. Her experience spans annual major gifts, corporate events, and foundation management, and she's dedicated to empowering teams to maximize their impact through effective prospect management. So together, as we go through this, Jennifer and Jolinda will share how their their organization and their work together have leveraged prospect insights to overcome some long standing challenges such as, you know, some portfolio stagnation, lack of data driven decisions, limited resources, and how these changes have led to measurable improvements in, you know, things like prospect qualification, giving potential, and operational efficiency. So that was a whole big mouthful of stuff, but I wanna pause for a second and, pass the ball to my cohorts here. And, Jennifer, if you have anything you'd like to add to that introduction before we dive in? Yeah. That's a that's a lot to live up to in a one hour conversation. But I hope that we can, you know, shed some light and help others kinda see how we use the prospect insights tool, which I think has really been beneficial for the archdiocese of Indianapolis. Happy to be here. Love doing consulting. Do a lot of different database consulting with Prenger Solutions Group. And so happy to have been working with Johann Danau for about four years from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Perfect. And, Jolinda Moore, anything to add to my overly verbose introduction? No. I thought it was wonderful. We're glad to be here representing Indiana. Go Hoosiers. Who who And? that's right. Excited to be here. Thank you for this opportunity. Excellent. Y'all, thank you so much. I know it's a big time to be in Indiana these days with the. exciting national championship and what have you. Okay. So we're gonna dive into the the interview questions here, pass these around. I'm gonna get rid of this slide deck so that we can have a little more of a field of vision here. And I'll mention, like, please put in questions as you go along, and don't fear if we don't get to them as we're going along. We have carved out that time at the end. So it doesn't mean we're ignoring you. It doesn't mean we're not gonna get to it. It just means we haven't gotten a chance to get to it yet. Alright. So I am going to go ahead and dive in. So first question I have is just to sort of level set. What specific challenges were you facing in managing, like, major gift prospect portfolios before you adopted, and how did the solution help address those challenges? Sure. I'm happy to start in answering that question. Know, before Jennifer came on board to assist us really in looking at our portfolios, our team didn't have a portfolio manager to monitor the quality and quantity of the prospects in the portfolio. And we weren't seeing strong movements through the development cycle either. We had a lot of people who really loved the people in their portfolio, but we weren't seeing those prospects change year after year. Mhmm. When Jennifer started beginning her work, she was able to quickly uncover three eleven new prospects that our team could begin to work with and engage with. It allowed me to manage the team from a point of making decisions from data rather than making decisions from how people felt. And we had a solid process, that could be used in that way. Another thing that we saw is that the data really helped us confirm who we could present to our team and say, it's time to say goodbye. We can call this donor once a year. They're always gonna give 1,500. No matter what you do, they're going to get 1,500. And then we were able to add people on where we could have more in-depth and diverse conversations with them about the needs of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Those are some main thing main challenges that we had. Jennifer, I think you can probably talk to some of the data points of the changes that we saw. Sure. Yeah. So previously, as Jolinda mentioned, when I first started with them four years ago, she said they didn't really have someone doing research or prospect management. And I thought, oh, man, they really could, you know, utilize some hours, you know, doing this. And so we've been doing me in this role, for a few hours a week for the last two years. And so really the last two years is where we've really been able to look at the data and try and figure out how can we help our gift officers be more effective with the prospects that they have. And so previously and we still have our research point subscription, which we love, but we only get 2,500 screens. And so what's great about prospect insights is it screens the entire database and elevates people who can give to you in the next twelve months, which I think was really critical in terms of trying to very quickly and efficiently target all the portfolios. Because I think there were, what, five or six different portfolios at the time that we had. So looking at quite a few 100 people and trying to figure out who's still viable, who can we get rid of, do we need to, you know, bring more prospects in, who are those prospects? We have over half a million records in our database. So it was really, really helpful to help prioritize the prospects and just looking at, you know, what the giving potential was compared to whenever we started it about a year and a half ago, we have 61% more, like, giving potential in terms of just adding up all the target gift ranges for the prospects prospects and the portfolio. So there's just a lot more giving potential there, and we know that the data is good. We know that, you know, in looking at the various data points on each person that the officers now have good, solid people in each in each pool. Excellent. Excellent. Alright. Thank you. So then you mentioned using the predictions to confirm who should stay in major gift portfolios and also who should we remove. And I know you dug into that a little bit, but can we unpack that a little bit more? Yes. So and we also one thing that I forgot to mention that is that we didn't. really have any kind of procedures or policies as well and really any. structure around the the portfolios and kinda the process with our development officers. And so having that data really helped to kinda look at the metrics. Because they amazingly, they did have some great metrics in place, but it was really just kinda looking at giving in actions. And so we were really able to kinda take the data from the prospect insights and figure out what those ask amounts in the next year could actually be, and. then trying to get the metrics aligned with what the prospect data the prospect insights data actually said. So one of the great things in using, you know, prospect insights on each of my calls with the development officers is it elevates, you know, who's who could be giving more, who could potentially be downgraded, who should just be removed. And so that data was really critical in helping us very quickly figure out what to do with various prospects. And that data also helps inform whenever I meet with the various officers on each call. It's really catered to each officer and where those prospects are. So I go into prospect insights every time we have a call right before and kinda see, okay. Like, what are we talking about this this month? So it's been really revolutionary, I think, in just helping to have really up to date data driving those decisions. The other thing that I would say, in that process that Jennifer's using, it's a new level of accountability. So, the team definitely views Jennifer as one of their peers. So it's not the executive director saying, hey. Where are we in these cases? It's it's, it's Jennifer who's been is a beloved member of our team being able to have a different conversation and really this this network of encouraging each other. The other thing that I find in our team is one of the the largest things we do is an annual appeal. We raise about $6,000,000, just shy of $6,000,000 a year with that annual appeal. Well, the annual appeal has a kickoff time, which is November. So everyone wants to wait till November to make the ask. And. this this with the p the proposals in the pipeline allows us to say, no. No. No. We we've scheduled this for an August ask. Where are we with the August ask, and, how does that work into your overall plan? Because you can't ask a portfolio of a 150 people all in November. Yeah. Absolutely right. Yeah. And it's that's a good point about the neutrality because that was something I've been thinking about lately, Jolinda, is whenever I first started with them, it really did help me to be neutral. I mean, as prospect and portfolio managers, Nope. we always try and be neutral when we're in that position because it real we're really there to help the officer be successful. But having that brand new data also really helped with that because it's really just looking at it because that the information of prospect insights is really tailored to what the organ what the donor is giving to your organization. And then it's also, you know, combining that with all of the other, like, wealth and, awesome information that Blackbaud has in its universe of, like, major gift, you know, information and stuff like that. And so because it's so tailored to our data, it really helped me to be like, hey. Like, based on the data and what they're giving to other organizations and the potential, you know, major gift capacity. This really is what the database is saying they they could give. Or on the opposite end, you know, they really this really is showing that they don't have a lot of giving potential. Do you know something, you know, contextually or anecdotally about this person that would tell me otherwise? Mhmm. Because the data really is saying, like, they just can't give, you know, beyond a certain level. So that was really helpful, I think, in just kind of setting a good foundation with those officers. And it really gave me a lot of insight too into just what was going on with the portfolios when I came into that type into those hours and that adding that role onto my existing kinda contract with them. Because previously, I really was just doing a lot of stuff in the database and not so much focused on prospect management. So whenever I started looking at the portfolios, that data really helped me to understand the landscape about, you know, each officer's portfolio. Just in total, what does the entire universe look like for all of their prospects, and where do we think strategy wise the entire portfolios can take us, but then also for each officer. Because every officer's role was different. All of their prospects were different. So it really helped me to get big picture view and then also have really tailored strategies to each officer. And it was mentioned to me on the side that they people it would be helpful if I was putting the questions up while we were asking them or while you were answering them so they could refresh back to them. So I was like, okay. I can at least post these up here for a little bit. Although this was the last one. So I think we talked through a bit of this. Is there any additional color you wanna either of you wanna add to that? I can I can add an additional thing too? I kinda mentioned with the. opportunities and kind of our our structure, but whenever we first started, also a lot of the metrics really were kinda based on overall giving from the portfolio and then, you know, the actions. And so from a reporting standpoint, it's a little tricky when you're you know, you're you have goals and and metrics that are tied to tied to various officers, and you're really just kinda looking at how much money came in for those prospects in the calendar year, which is tricky because people come in and out of the portfolio, and we have secondary assignments. And so I really wanted to help establish structure in the team and using opportunities because it's so helpful in driving those policies and procedures, but also just to have the pipelines that we can do if we're curious about how much may come in in the next, you know, year or five years, we really have that pipeline built into the database and all of that knowledge is not in people's heads. It's in the data. And so the great thing about the interface with prospect insights is whenever you're looking and talking about each person, you can very quickly add an action, add an opportunity, update the status, update the qualification of person. And so I really use those initial meetings with each officer to really subtly train them in what the new procedures and policies kind of were going to be even though it wasn't fully established yet. So if we're talking about a, you know, various prospect, and it would say, okay, you know, this person has major gift capacity, then my next thing would be, okay, well, let's go ahead and add a future action. Just to get them thinking about, okay, well, what's the next step that you're going to take with this prospect? And then if the person they're thinking, okay, they're now in cultivation, then my next thing would be, okay, well, they're in cultivation, they need to have a plan to ask in the system. So it's really, like Jolinda. mentioned, having that accountability, but also really getting them to think about the future and and planning their actions with each prospect rather than just saying, okay. I'll keep that person in there, and they have major capacity. Like, we really wanna put some some, some action to what in our mind we think we're gonna do with that person. And so before we even had a written policy, I was already trying to get them in in that habit. And I think the the structure and the interface of prospect insights really helped me to very easily kinda get them in that habit. Ray, if I could add to that real quick. The other. thing, and Jennifer Jennifer said this so well, our staff like to store data in their heads. I've been with the institution for nineteen years. I've got a lot of things in my head as well. But this new process launched us into a new level of thinking of these relationships aren't between me and the donor. These relationships are introducing and establishing a relationship between the donor and the institution. And. that historical knowledge that we have has to come back to the database. So while this process was focused on prospect insights, what it did is it grounded the team to the knowledge of why do we record actions? Why. do we record the data? It's to help the organization's relationship with the, individual grow. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. That's brilliant. And and, like so what may be the greatest segue ever because Jennifer sort of elucidated how this changed her relationship and how she works with you. So then I'm gonna flip that question around, Jolinda, to you and say, how did this process change the way you work with with Jennifer and with Prenger Solutions Group? Yeah. It really helped us become more efficient. So what we know in working with Jennifer is that we have five contracted hours each week that are dedicated to prospect management. So we can get we've gotta be strategic in letting Jennifer know what we need in order to have a quick turnaround and to not fill up kind of the pipeline of her five hours each week. So it really helped our team be able to know that they needed to be efficient in their time and they needed to be prepared for the meetings that they were going to have with Jennifer. It just helped with the flow of efficiency. We weren't talking about, again, the feelings that we had about different people. Instead, we were talking about the data driven solutions that we can work towards. Alright. Excellent. The other thing, is oh, grab. well, the only thing I was gonna add is that, in the past, it was also a lot of manual analysis, and it was taking time from my staff to go in. They somewhat knew what they were looking. They knew what they were looking for. They didn't know how to get to the details of what they were looking for. So. to be able to use, this solution allows us to have a a quick and easy process to get the data points we need quickly. A couple of years ago, I one of the first times I had heard about prospect insights was at a Blackbaud, I think, maybe two or three years ago. And. immediately after coming back, and I was on a call with Jolinda and one of the other major gift officers at the time and said, I really think we should look into this because I've done prospect research and prospect management at other organizations where that was all that I did. And I just had seen kind of the interface of it, and I just thought this is gonna be so efficient. You can very easily, you know, kind of click through and and qualify. It's already elevating the prospects that you can, you know, look at, so you're not having to to dig. Because that's what I've done in prior organizations is you cast a wide net, then you do all this sorting based on various data points to try and prioritize. And, really, the prospect insights is doing that for you. And so I just, you know, mentioned to her, was like, I really think you can do this efficiently without having to have, like, a full time person doing doing prospect management and prospect research. Like I said, we still have research point, and so we will still I think we get 2,500 screens a year. So we'll still use that to get that major gift capacity, but it's really only based on, you know, who we think we may wanna run rerun ratings on because we can't screen our entire half a million record database through there. So that's what's great, like I said, about prospect insights because it's just running on everyone in the database and elevating those prospects for you. You don't have to figure out your prioritization. I do see a couple of questions coming through the chat. and the q and a about prioritization. And that's what's great because it it gives you priorities based on who's currently in the portfolio. So it's looking at just the portfolio universe and saying, these people can give more. These people really are more annual level. These people need to be removed. And then you have an entire queue where it's also elevating prospects, you know, based on their target diff ranges and their likelihoods that are more of a priority to look at than others. So my first step was really to kinda look at who was in the portfolios and more so really look at who to remove first just so that we can kinda get the, quote, unquote, deadweight out to kinda give us some room. And then I use the queue to help pull in, you know, a few people. And amazingly, there are I mean, they really do have some really amazing prospects. And a lot of them, just based on the different area that they fundraise for, are just annual level prospects. So we didn't see a ton of prospects coming out. But there definitely definitely were some, and we were able to put more good prospects into into those portfolios. So that, I think, was was really helpful. The research point data is still really great. If we wanna go in and, like, pull a profile or really dig into someone, we can do that. But for really those quick and efficient kinda data points, quick wins to really find people quickly, it's just really great. And it's always changing, you know, based on what someone's giving, what data that that all the algorithms are, you know, crunching behind the scenes. Every time I go in and look at it because I usually meet with each officer once a quarter. So I usually go in there a couple, you know, a couple weeks before I meet with them. And it's different every time I go in there based on the different, you know, prospect that I'm looking at, a different development officer. So it's always changing, which is really, really great. It's not just static data, like our research point, once a year kind of pull. So that's that's been really helpful. Excellent. Excellent. And we so for this next question, we touched on this a little bit earlier, but I'm gonna expand on it. And I'm gonna say this one is I don't know. And it's not dealer's choice. I can't think of the phrase I'm looking for. But whichever one of you wants to start with this one is what is the point I'm trying to make. So we often hear about fundraising being a balance between art and science, and so I'm just curious your thoughts on striking that balance. I'll let Jolinda go. I have my thoughts, Alright. but I'll, let her I'll let her go. yeah. Sure. Well, I think one way to strike that balance, and then I'll reference one of the questions that was asked. One of the ways to strike that balance between art and science is consistency. So the science part is what can we control? So there was a question that was asked, do you come across any gift officers who weren't utilizing actions and opportunities? Yes. Yes. I can say that with confidence. We did. Because I didn't know the value of them. We've been able to teach them the value of them. We've been able to talk with them about the importance and the science of when we track and we track well, the outcome can be very valuable for us. So that's one part that, has been, great for us as we've seen things change, that we have to be consistent. And then outside of that, time with Jennifer allows the gift officers to really talk about the science of what the numbers are showing. You can't get away from the numbers. But then we can add in the art component, through other conversations. Those are typically brought to me as, hey, I was thinking with this donor, why don't we? It's allowed people to be, I would say, even a little bit more creative in how they're thinking about relationships with donors because they're forced to think of the science behind it and then they bring in that art and balance component. Yeah. I would definitely say that's where you're you're kinda balancing them. On my whenever I have my calls with each officer, it's really remembering that not only is the officer a person, but also all of the prospects are a person. And the data really is kind of a flashlight, but it's not going to tell the whole story. And there are many cases where like, especially when we first ran it, it looks like, oh, man. You have just all these amazing prospects. But a lot of times, you know, some of those prospects, because we do have some gifts that are in our database where maybe they gave to a capital campaign to a parish. And so sometimes the data for some of these prospects is like, well, they've told us they're never going to give to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Or they set up a big endowment with the foundation and that's really all they're going do. So I mean, you're really kind of looking at the data to kinda point you in the right direction. But we definitely have disqualified, you know, many prospects that look like they had really great ratings, but that's where the officer knows the person. They know what they're interested in, what they've been personally told by the prospect. And so, you know, I'm definitely not going to to go against that. So that's where it's really balancing the data set they can give. And they may be like, yeah. They really are wealthy, but they're not gonna give to us. And so it's really kind of bringing in in that human side as well and not forgetting that everyone they're all people. And, you know, the data is helping point us in the direct in the right direction. But at the end of the day, you know, it's the officer's portfolio, and so I'm ultimately gonna defer, you know, to them and Jolinda about who stays in and who gets removed. Alright. Sorry. I'm I'm triaging the questions that are coming in and asking my questions. So I'm I'm getting I'm trying to stay up to date. Alright. So we talked about, you know, about bringing on a mind shift set with officers and incenting them to focus more on data. Any other areas where you're seeing growth or maturation around that? You wanna jump in with that, Jennifer? Oh, you want me to? So. I would. say definitely with the officers, they've, I think, gotten much more in the habit of entering the information into the system, especially that they can, you know, link future actions to their calendar. They can quickly we have the API that connects to to Outlook so they can send their actions, you know, straight in. So I I really think it's helped kinda formalize and standardize their roles in the processes a lot more. It's helped standardize the the entry of the data so we have more complete data that's actually getting in the system. It's consistent across the board, which really helps with reporting. Because we do have goals that I'm still reporting on. So whenever I meet with them, I'm able to, you know, to pull the data and accurately kinda tell them where they are in relation to what to what their goal is. So I I think that that's been a really big area of growth that I've seen and and just getting in the habit of using using the system as it was designed, but also, as we mentioned before, taking all that information out of their heads and actually getting it into the database so that we have that history of where we are with each prospect. And, ultimately, Mhmm. it really helps set them up for success because whenever we go to do metric setting next year, we'll have all that information in the database to really make sure that the metrics that they have are attainable and realistic for them. And with that, we have seen a shift in our staff. So when we started saying, okay, this is the process we're going to use. This is the new process we're going to track. The idea of new software to manage, we did have over the course of a few months, three or half of our major gift officers resign. They had been considering retirement for quite a while. And they took it as an opportunity to kind of reflect on what they wanted to be doing every day. So we've brought on new staff. The prior staff did a fantastic job before they left, kind of doing a brain dump of all the information they had of our different donors. So that was so much appreciated. But now our new and then the remaining seasoned staff that we have are really they have the best prospects in their portfolio to hit the ground running. I am going to take a short moment to answer a couple of the questions that have gone into the chat before we get to the next one just because I think they'll they'll be helpful to people as we're going along. I hope that I have this right. Estee or Estee Pierce? I'm sorry if I mispronounced that. Will there be a demo? I in the document section where you see chats, messages, and q and a, you find a link that says, I think demo. It should say prospect insights demo tour. And if you don't see it, you refresh your browser and you will see it. So I've added that in there. So as far as the demo is concerned. Also, earlier on, we had the question about, will you be able to will there be a recording of today's presentation? Yes. At the very beginning, when we were having some technical difficulty, I mentioned that in about twenty four hours from now, there will be an email with a link to an on demand recording of the presentation today. So you can make notes as we go along, but you don't have to And then Evelyn just asked, think, I believe they're running to a meeting. So you will get a copy by being here and registering. You'll get a copy of that recording as well. Okay. That's enough housekeeping for now. And I will bring up the next question on how has your onboarding process changed with the data intelligence you have access to now. And I'm guessing that's Jolinda, at least, start, and then Jennifer may have some color to add to that as she's probably participating. Very actively, Jennifer is participating. Okay. So in our in our onboarding and you would think this is very, very basic. But one of the things that we're making sure that all of our incoming officers do is is really dive into the training. We have the training package available from Blackbaud. So there is unlimited access to go in and know about how the system works. Once they have that and have spent a little bit of time in that space, then I ask Jennifer to sit with each pros she and I discuss how we build the portfolio for the new relationship manager that's coming on board. Looking at usually a very strong portfolio that someone has left behind. How do we reassign Is that me? Or or wasn't willing to let go of. So how do we how do we fix that or or make recommendations to change that? And then Uh-oh. no. I think she's cutting out. that science piece into the mix. You're kinda cutting out there a little bit, Jolinda. But. yeah. I'll let you jump in. I so we've actually they brought on now two new development officers. One just started yesterday. But one of the more more recent ones was a few months ago, and so I got to kinda go through this process in using prospect insights. I did see a question in the chat. They do have ProspectInsights Pro, so that is the what we're using or what I'm using for for Indianapolis. But yeah, I was able to take a lot of the prospects that came out of the retirees portfolio the portfolios of those officers who retired and really look at them through prospect insights kind of in a new lens to figure out, okay, for kinda moving everything around, which prospects, again, do we wanna leave in the portfolio? Which ones should we take out? Are some going to be just more mid level prospects that, you know, we're gonna give it a lower level? Should we keep some of those in there just to let this officer kinda have to get kind of his feet wet and and meet some of these people? Should it just be all major, you know, all major gift prospects? He's actually been doing a ton of qualification. So that that's been kind of really exciting because I've gotten to use the queue of all of the unqualified prospects. And there was a question that I did see about kind of how to prioritize those, so I'll try and answer that too as part of this answer. The queue is really great too because there's priorities within that. So you can the queue isn't just like one big dump, you have to prioritize it yourself. It it does have various sublevels inside of that. And when you open up each one, it's already prioritized, I think, on target gift range and likelihood. So I just start at the top and go down. Like, I don't again, it really takes a lot of the, like, thinking and and hard number crunching out of it. I'm basically just starting at the top and immediately starting to look at who the system is telling me are the best prospects to look at next. So I do a quick look at them, look at their giving. We'll just make sure they're, you know, living in the area where he's traveling. And then I'll you know, we'll typically kinda put those in his portfolio if it's the area that he's really fundraising for. So it was really quick and easy, in my opinion, to create a new portfolio for him that I think will really set him up for success. So it's been great to kinda use it for portfolios that have been around for a long time and then really to kinda go through them under a new lens and to pull in new prospects as well that really hadn't had a qualification visit yet. And and I would get an I think I got an email maybe about a month ago from him where he was like, okay. These 12 people, I've met with them. I've called them. They're not, you know, they're not gonna be good prospects. So then I went right back into the queue again to kinda look for another 10 to 15 people to send his way. So it was really great in terms of just onboarding. And I see a question in here about research points. So and I'm not a Blackbaud product person. But so we do we do still have ResearchPoint. We get it as part of our NXT subscription, and so we can run our wealth screens through it. We do have some models, but I think they're pretty old. Like, we have the AGL, NGL, PGL that are in there, but I don't think they've been refreshed in quite a few years. So for us, it's really just using it if we want to get a major gift capacity and kinda sync that with Raiser's Edge so it put pushes that number back into the system. And if we wanted to do, like, deeper research, we can use it for that. But I really have just been using the prospect insights data because it's already taking into account the major gift capacity, and it's prioritizing who can give in the next twelve months. Because that's what we're really interested in is, you know, who who can give now, who's who's primed and ready to go. So that's really how I'm using kinda both of those in conjunction, but more so prospect insights. The great thing too is that all the data that's in prospect insights is also on each constituent's record. So if the officer is ever curious I mean, they can go into PI if they want, but if they're just looking at a record, they can also see all that same data straight on the record of the prospect. Alright. Oh, now sorry. I was having a little bit of technical difficulty, but, I think we've reached the end of the of my interview questions. So what I was gonna do is start sharing some of the questions from the chat. I am working on there's a question here about research points, having that prospect insights, and duplicating what you have. There's actually an entire q and a session on our website that I'm hunting down the link to. I think that's Carrie who asked that question. So I'm trying to find that and add that to the document section above while I'm also spinning up these questions. So I promise I will get that, and it will be in the follow-up email. There's also, like, a a data sheet that sort of puts the two side by side and tells you exactly what each one has, so I'll include that as well. I just could not find it while in this on the fly while we're answering those questions. Alright. So I'm going to share I'm just gonna start at the bottom and share some questions from the point up. And maybe, Jennifer and Jolinda, if you wanna take a look at these questions, I'll read them out, and then you can decide which of you might wanna answer this. But this first one was early on. How did you prioritize that group of 300? So I think that's from the first question that we started out with. Yes. So those are the prospects kind of in our unqualified queue that I went through unqualified. So I mainly I think because, like I said, prospect insights already prioritizes it for you even when you go into each queue. And so I basically just start at the top and go down the list. And just depending on which officer I'm looking for prospects for, I'll kinda look at the giving, make sure they're in the geographical area where this person may be traveling or fundraising from. And then if, you know, if they meet the criteria, then I'm just able to qualify them and assign them into the portfolio right there. In terms of the fundraisers really looking at their list, we kinda did that, I would say, in maybe the first two calls that I had with them whenever we first started about a year and a half, two years ago. Because we weren't able to get through every single prospect. So I really just started with, okay, who is it really saying we should remove, and who were the ones that the that PI is saying or under giving? Because to me, that that was the low hanging fruit. If there's anyone that could be giving more, we should absolutely talk about those people first. If there's anyone on the opposite end where this is saying it's like the red light flashing, hey. You should not be spending time on these people. So we really spent the first call looking at those people. And then the next call, we kinda talked through in more depth, you know, some of the ones that were maybe in the middle or they were struggling to let go of. And some of those, we moved to other people, some we removed, and then some they kept based on based on the person. I. think the the team took a first look at their list, and there was not a lot of movement in terms of who the who the fundraisers thought could come off the list. So then it was when Jennifer was sitting down talking through and explaining the data that we saw real movement. I work. Yes. This one from India. I have a question about actions and the use of the work center in general. Did you come across any gift who weren't utilizing actions, opportunities, etcetera? So how did you get them on board to improve their prospect list? We made it a requirement. It's a job performance issue. I'm kinda old school in that way. I came from an institution when I came here twenty years ago that says if it's not on the database, it never happened. So is that idea of if you wanna come to a meeting and defend everything that you did this month, if there aren't actions and opportunities to support it, yeah, I I don't think that it happened. So it became a performance issue for people. And I will say that they were actually really good with their actions. I think because that had been a metric that they were responsible for prior to me even kinda stepping into the prospect management role. So most of them were in the habit of entering actions, not so much for opportunities. So I think that one was a little bit harder. But as mentioned, whenever I first started to, you know, meet with them, I would say, Okay, let's try and add a future action. We really want to have people, if they're in the cultivation stage, we really want to have an, you know, even if it's just a plan to ask. And I think that really kinda helped them get over, I think, some of the, well, I don't wanna put it in the system. Even if it's a planned ask, and you just put 5,000 or 10,000 or even if we don't know yet, just so that there's a record in the database and we can start attaching all of our actions working toward that opportunity onto that opportunity. So I think once they saw, like, Jolinda mentioned earlier, with the value of having that data in the system, it really helped. And it just became part of, I think, our cadence in our meetings. We also explained to them, I think once we kinda got to where we had some policies and procedures, Jolinda and the other major gift officer at the time did a really great job in in explaining the why behind why we needed to have the data in the database, how it was really going to help improve fundraising, help us with projections, put that accountability, and and just being able to have all that information available in the system so that when the next person comes behind them, there's a a record and a history of all the actions and potential ask or ask that happened with various prospects. I had also made the recommendation to Jolinda when I first kinda stepped into this role that with the metrics in particular, that if we could get the metrics to move away from just giving, you know, what the people in the portfolio gave to really targeted opportunities. Because that's where I really think you see the the true ROI with the fundraiser. Because those actions are specifically I mean, the opportunities are specifically tagged to them. All the actions for those opportunities are tagged to them. And so you're very easily to see how many asks actually happened, what that amount was asked, how much closed. So that really is moving them to more of a true major gift office and having not only the opportunities in the system, but having metrics that are really driven by those opportunities as well. Love it. I am going to spin this one up from Michael. Got an upvote. And I think, really, the question is, like, you know, this this might be a best practice. I don't know if you guys do this, but I think this is the kind of interesting information that on a webinar like this is really good for users to share with users. So please, whichever of you wants to take this on, I'd love to share that. We dealt with this. I'm willing to take the the the pain of RE charges quite a bit more whipping. That's fine. Well, Jennifer, I'd say we dealt with this. Right? There were a number of times that there's this little event that happens just West of Indianapolis, and we were like, do we put those names in the database? We don't wanna hit that threshold where we're gonna get a higher bill. And then it became really a ridiculous conversation and knowing that data is power. Yeah. And and even though, somebody just commented, delete a constituent record. No. We are fully on board, with that idea. We don't delete constituents. We figure out how to raise more money so we handle the charge that razors Blackbaud charges. You you never know when when those people who just gave $5 or have been living in your database for five years and done nothing, become your top donors. So you figure out how to raise the the difference in price, and you make it happen. Nice. I I swear that I did not plant that question so that you could give that answer, and I did not know what answer you were gonna give when I put it up there. But I I'm I'm glad that I did. This question was asked rather early on in, the first or second question, so you may have touched some of this. Ray, I actually I had something for the previous question. that I I previous, did do. Sorry. I cut you off, before we. gave you a chance. No. Because I was just thinking I I think in kind of reading the question, they were also maybe or maybe asking, like, if prospect insights is a way to kind of figure out if you were going to have to delete people, who you should keep in the system and who you who you. shouldn't. And I would say, like, we we did not that is not whenever we were kind of going through that that exercise of do we wanna keep people, do we wanna delete people, I don't even know if the basic PI was even available at that point. But if it would have been, I don't think I would have used it anyway because that's not really what it's for. It's. really most of it is for people that are in portfolios already and should you keep them or remove them. And then the queue is going to be pop like, elevating people scanning the entire database and elevating people that are potential major gift prospects. So it's not really gonna give you who should you delete. And I wouldn't really use it for that anyway because it's really more for kind of assessing which prospects should stay or or be removed from portfolios. If you're looking at, like, from a database wide perspective, there's so many data points to consider, and if you want to, you know, keep or or remove someone. So just wanted to add that caveat that I probably wouldn't use it as something in your toolbox to figure out if you should if you should delete. You should probably try really carefully in any case when you're looking at if you you should delete any kind of records from the system. Alright. Now moving to this one, which, like I said, this was early on in this presentation. So you did talk through some of the technical process, what tools are being used. I think we talked about Raiser's Edge, prospect insights, research points to a lesser degree. Any other color you wanna add to any of this? And if not, I can jump to the next question. We also use dashboards. They do have Insight Designer. All these insights have to make sure I'm saying the right words. Yeah. So they do have Insight Designer, and we have a few dashboards to help with assessing, you know, gift officer portfolio health. There's data points in there regarding, you know, the affinity of different prospects, how many people are in each stage, different opportunities they're giving, their actions. So I tried to put as much as I could from a metrics and portfolio management standpoint into the dashboards. So that's also a piece a piece of it as well. But in terms of what what was it before, there was no process before. I mean, they had portfolios, and they actually had a they and still have a really amazing kind of spreadsheet with some calculations where they basically tier their prospects, and we still use the tiering system. So they were basically using that kinda internal calculation to figure out how they should tier prospects. But Jolinda probably has a better kinda insight into, you know, how prospects were really kinda coming into the portfolio before versus now. So Jolinda has a very colorful view, a kind colorful view of what it looks like. She did not spend hours in meetings with printed pieces of Excel portfolios that we went through with highlighters. And that was, I mean, even seven years ago. That's the space that we were at. So we've come such a long way in, shifting the mindset and, using the tools to increase productivity. Excellent. Alright. We are, what, five minutes left? So maybe we've got time for a couple more. I wouldn't normally put anybody on the spot like this, but this one got more upvotes, I think, than some of the other ones. So the question of sharing in the space comes up. Can you share the procedure manual that you use for opportunities, actions, and move management? I mean, Well, I guess that's really a Jolinda Moore question, but Yeah. I I let's take a look at it, Jennifer, offline. Let's take a look at it and see what we have in there. You might be motivating us to tweak things just a little that need tweaked first. But we're in the we're in the business of religious fundraising where we feel that sharing is good stewardship. So I I don't see too much of a problem with it. And it's it's do, we're gonna need a, little time. it's. nothing fancy. I mean, it's it's really I mean, the procedures part of it is really just screenshots of here's how to enter actions. Here's how to enter opportunities. Here are the fields that we want you to fill in. Mhmm. Here's how to use different areas. Here's how to connect your actions to you know, we want you to connect your actions to your opportunities. And then the policy piece of it was really just through a conversation with Jill and I and the other major gift officer who's over the team at the time and just more. of the anecdotal. How do you want your team to work? How do you want them to be approaching actions? How soon do you want them to enter them into the database? Just a lot of this kind policy organization wide expectations. And so that that was really how we created what was in that documentation. Alright. And I'm gonna try and get one more in, but I'm gonna do a quick fire round on some of the questions that I know are Blackbaud specific. Lee, what are the benefits of prospect insights versus prospect insights pro? There is a short video on our resource center that goes through exactly this, and I will add it to the document section. And it will then show up in the email that you get twenty four hours from now, as a link so that you can find out that information. Susan, how does prospect insights define what is a major gift? I don't know the answer to that question, so I will get an answer for you. I'm sorry. I'm just not as ProspectInsights fluent as I am with some of our other solutions. If somebody was smarter than me, they would know that answer. I do not, but I can get an answer for you. Will Blackbaud a be adding AI transcription so the gift officers can be recorded to put into notes? I can't answer that too specifically because I don't wanna make a promise about a feature or function and be sort of off base slightly and therefore lying. But, that type of AI functionality is exactly what we're currently working on with that intelligence for good project that you may have heard about. Mary, advantages of ProspectInsights Pro versus regular ProspectInsights. Again, I will add that video. Is ResearchPoint a paid service? Yes. It's an additional solution on top of Blackbaud. If you'd like to know more about that, you can reach out to Kenneth or put some time on his calendar, and he can connect you with somebody who can help you with that. Jason Gregg, the cost of prospect insight, same thing. Kenneth can if you wanna connect with him, he can get you some answers around that. Alright. Speed round. This is the one I wanted to get to from Paula. I'm gonna share it on the screen for you and read it. Can you speak about how BetterDega helps you recalibrate your news management and strategic gift focus with your prospects or renewals. That's definitely a loaded question. Jolinda, Mhmm. do you want to speak to that, and then I can fill in anything? Data. Am Is I frozen? Nope. You're good. Oh, okay. One of the things that we're able to do with better data is is spend time looking not only just at how do we ask somebody to increase their giving, but how do we expand the breadth of the giving that they do? So for example, when we raise money in our development office, we're raising money for our annual appeal. But we also raise money for Catholic charities, our Center City Schools, seminary and education. And we have a great planned giving portfolio that we work from. So using the data allows us to think, again, as a donor as person and not just continuing to go up the giving pyramid, but integrating, how do we lead the donor and and lead the donor in conversations to help them feel most empowered by their gift? Is the gift that they're giving helping make the philanthropic change that they envision it making? So a lot of times we'll have people who are making annual gifts and maybe they've topped out with an annual gift of $10,000 and going to 15,000 doesn't excite them. But if you can sit with them and say to them, because we know from from, Prospect Insights, we know that their capability is much greater, but their interest in moving that way isn't there. We can have more candid conversations with them of, you know what? You've been supporting the annual appeal for this many years. This is where you're at. What other things are important to you? What other things, do do you feel called to support? So the data gives us the courage, really, to to be able to have some of those conversations. And then I would I would say from the prospect I mean, from the kind of procedural side, really just is helping kind of establish those procedures to make sure we continue from the kind of backside of the database continuing to have all of our officers doing the same thing and moving in the same direction with the data. Alright. Awesome. Well, clearly, this was a fantastic conversation because I didn't even get close, and that was a great response, Jolinda, by the way. I wanted to say that. I love that answer, so I'm glad I picked that question. This was obviously a fantastic presentation. We I didn't even come close to getting to all of the questions. But never fear. If you submitted a question, we will follow-up with a response to that as well. So just because we didn't get to it doesn't mean we're not gonna answer it. I want to thank Jennifer and Jolinda Moore very much for your time today. I really appreciate you being here, taking the time to talk through this, answer the questions, really, really wonderful stuff. I wanna thank everyone who was on the call today. And as I mentioned before, everyone will get an email in about twenty four hours with links to all of those assets that I mentioned throughout the presentation as well as an on demand recording of today's presentation. Jennifer, Jalinda, thank you so much. Thanks. Thanks for having us. Absolutely..