Figge Art Museum Moves Donors Up the Giving Ladder, part 1

Figge Art Museum is on the move, and so are their donors-- moving up the giving ladder! Raelene Pullen, Development Director at Figge Art Museum, is very deliberate about the steps she takes to communicate with donors and encourage them to become more involved in the museum. Her fundraising software, FundRaiser Professional  is crucial to the process. 

“One of the most important things I’ve learned through this work and using FundRaiser is the need for data organization and entry. We use the coding in FundRaiser in a way that allows us to communicate with donors in a dynamic way. We have clarified what kind of information we need to record and maintain so when we need it, we have the information we need.  Our intention has been to use highly specific information to target and move donors up the giving ladder,” says Raelene.

Amy Martens, Membership Manager,  and Raelene Pullen, Development Director, at a Figge Gala Event

Using Data At Every Stage of a Campaign

The development team at Figge rely on their data to increase donations at every stage of their event work. “Data is really important in the planning of events and campaigns. We use data to help us know where our donors’ interest lie; to which events they have shown an interest; and to which people they are connected. The goal is to be able to speak to every donor as an individual and based on their relationship with the Figge Art Museum.  We may target some with calling campaigns or letter campaigns or invitations to specific events," says Raelene.

“After an event, we use FundRaiser in a dynamic way to analyze and track people’s attendance at our events. We’ve done that through coding, reporting and the campaign module. It helps us stay engaged with donors who have been invited to an event.”

Small Events are Ideal 

Raelene has focused in on small events as an ideal way to increase donations. “We do many small events in the homes of our donors. That allows us to explain one-on-one the importance and impact of our programs.”

Raelene uses the data in to create a harmonious list of invitees. “Let’s say a donor has a relationship with other donors and a trustee. We code those relationships. We then set up an event at the donor’s home and invite other donors that they are connected to. The trustee that they know attends and connects with everyone there,” says Raelene.

One of the key ways that FundRaiser has helped has been to make sure that no donor gets lost to appropriate follow-up. “If someone we invited isn’t able to attend, we can see that.  Then we can follow up and invite them again. This means we don’t lose touch with people if they can’t attend that particular event,” says Raelene.

Campaign Management

The Campaign management module has been an important part of FundRaiser Professional for development staff at Figge. It has helped make event management more effective and fun. “Since we really started implementing the campaign management module last fall, it has gone really well. We’ve been able to track well in it,” says Amy Martens, membership manager.“I enjoy working in it.

The Campaign Management module helps to see the overall impact of an event. It shows donations that come in at the time of an event, and also later from the donor who were part of that particular event. "It’s always fun when you have an event going on and you are playing in the campaign part. It is fun to look back and see how people donate . You can see right there how much is attached to them, where they are from, the demographic of that campaign in particular. I can select the event and can later see the ROI of a particular letter,” says Amy.

A helpful tip from Amy for using the campaign management module at an event is this: “When we have events, we print out everyone who has free tickets vs. paid tickets; and who says they are coming vs. who needs to pay still.  It’s been very helpful. The first event I ever helped with at Figge, I did without it. It was a member event and I was still new, and I just printed an entire list of every member we had and didn’t know who was coming or not -- it was a mess, but I was also new. With this it is a whole lot easier.”

In part 2 next week, Raelene shares valuable lessons she's learned about donor giving patterns by analyzing ROI of events with FundRaiser Professional.

To learn more about how FundRaiser can help you with moving donors up the giving ladder,

Register for a tour of the software