How to pick your invitation list
In this week's Tony Poderis blog, the focus is inviiting donors to events that they might not "normally" be invited to attend. Any time we are faced with selecting a portion of our donor database, we should be thinking "Groupings". And any time we think "Groupings", we should take a few moments to consider what criteria will be used for the group of names we have in mind. One simple, yet effective, method of consideration is to write a concise, but complete, sentence describing who it is that we are trying to target.
Any data can be used
Since we can use virtually any information that is stored in our records, we don't really need to focus on the data to make our "selection sentence". It may be as simple as: "I want all the people who have given in the past six months". But be aware that a simple statement may not be complete. What if a donor has died since they last gave? What if a donor has no address, no phone, and no email on record? What if they have been designated as someone who NEVER wants to receive any solicitations from you? So maybe the original statement might become more like: "I want all live donors who gave in the past six months, so long as we can contact them and they haven't opted out of such contact". Not so concise, but more specific, and more likely to give you the results you want.
Groupings can always be modified
If you can't think of all the fine points of selection in the very beginning, don't worry about it. Use the NOTES section of the Grouping to store your selection statement, and then modify the statement as you come up with those fine points. As you modify the statement, go into the Grouping Criteria section, where your eyes will be led (via color-shading) to those choices you have made so far, and decide what changes, additions, etc., you need to make to match your new, revised, selection statement. The name of the Grouping can stay the same, even though it might not totally reflect what you're trying to accomplish, but the NOTES are where the real heart of the matter should be spelled out. If you want more information on Groupings, consider the training video in the Customer Portal section of the website, or sign up for a class using our Training Calendar.