CEO Insights: The Importance of Data

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May 12, 2020
3 Min
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Justin is Funraise's CEO, a co-founder, and a bad-ass, experienced nonprofit fundraiser. Like a true fundraiser-turned-founder, he breaks down the concepts behind Funraise's mission everywhere he can make nonprofits' voices heard.

If you're a nerd like me, you've been following the model projections of COVID-19 deaths pre- and post-social distancing to see what type of impact it's making. For example, in my home state of California, the projected death toll on March 28 was to surpass 6,000 by August. As of April 5th, the projected death toll by August shrank to 1,783.

It would be reasonable to assume that social distancing is having an enormous impact. So, how does this have anything to do with fundraising for my nonprofit?

Too often...

  • We don't listen to the data.
  • We don't test.
  • We don't iterate.

Without data, it's impossible to understand the cause and effect of our fundraising strategy, which means our chances for growth become less probable. My friend Tim Kachuriak and the NextAfter team have done an absolutely brilliant job tracking nonprofit communications during this pandemic and have analyzed it for us. It is a treasure trove, and they are giving it out to you for free.

Download the Nonprofit Coronavirus Response

If you're wondering what your communication should look like during this time, don't just go off your feelings, take a look at some data to understand what is and isn't working for over 150+ nonprofits.

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