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On Friday, November 18, APRA members gathered ‘round Twitter and took part in another APRA Twitter Chat. Tanya Ford, director of prospect research and management at Taylor University; Emily Davis, development analyst at Indiana University Foundation; and Clara Lutz, director of prospect development at Cedarville University provided their stories and expertise around In-House Data Mining. There were over 100 tweets and 11 contributors during the robust discussion that reached over 10,000 twitter accounts and made 54,160 impressions*! Some highlights include:
On Friday, November 18, APRA members gathered ‘round Twitter and took part in another APRA Twitter Chat. Tanya Ford, director of prospect research and management at Taylor University; Emily Davis, development analyst at Indiana University Foundation; and Clara Lutz, director of prospect development at Cedarville University provided their stories and expertise around In-House Data Mining. There were over 100 tweets and 11 contributors during the robust discussion that reached over 10,000 twitter accounts and made 54,160 impressions*! Some highlights include:
- Words that spring to mind when first considering the data analytics needed for data mining included: intimidating, overwhelming and illuminating. So what makes folks apprehensive about analytics? From bad, surprising, incomplete or unstructured information, the amount of data that we have to deal with can be alarming and hard to know where to start. Add to that a lack of buy in from executives or decision-makers, and the challenges grow.
- The experts suggest starting with a communication plan that shows the value of data-driven decision making.
- Take the time to build trust: Start with a small project specific for one fundraiser (or other individual) who could act on it right away. Especially if your organization has had a bad experience with a vendor and is hesitant to invest time in data analytics.
- Balance a concise explanation with expanding on your data points. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes to consider what info matters most to them.
- Hold pre-meetings to determine what information is important to them and why.
- Pro-actively solve a problem to show what you are capable of and how quickly you can have an impact.
- Excel add-ins and an add-in called Mind Mapper can also help you navigate your data.
- Incomplete data giving you headaches? Use an asterisk as you re-work the data to call attention to what’s incomplete and hopefully get buy-in on data entry for the future.
Thanks to Clara, Tanya and Emily for their time on this Twitter Chat! Follow @APRA_HQ and track the hashtag #APRAchats to learn about upcoming Twitter Chats and ways to get involved!
*Source: TweetReach