Do You Know Debbie Miller?

Debbie Miller began her career in development research in 1987, working at her alma mater Virginia Tech. In 2003, she took the position of Director of Prospect Development with the global charity The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest non-profits. There, she led research efforts on a multibillion-dollar fundraising campaign, one of the largest ever undertaken by any charity. During this time, Miller has also had a thriving career as a consultant and public speaker, and recently formed a new consulting firm, Philanthropy Inc., to bring her innovative principles and techniques to a wider range of clients.





You were at Virginia Tech for more than 15 years. What changes did you witness in development research?

The field really underwent a sea-change. When I began, the technology revolution hadn’t arrived at our development departments.  Our efforts were hands-on and low-tech.  We read newspapers and magazines for stories about Tech alumni. We spent countless hours in the library. By the early 1990’s technology revolutionized our work.  Public data such as real estate records or SEC filings become available to us digitally.  The university began to keep vast, detailed digital records on alumni.  New screening and research tools allowed comparison and matching of our database with public records highlighting the best potential donors for additional research and eventual solicitation.  Rather than following best practices, we were creating them.

You went from Virginia Tech to The Nature Conservancy.  Was it a big change?

The fundraising strategies at universities differ with those of other non-profits.  Universities pursue their alumni – a support base with strong ties to the organization.  Solicitations can be very natural within these relationships.  At a large non-profit like The Nature Conservancy, you can have millions of donors.  While people may have given to your charity, even large donations, you have little information where you rank on their “cause” list. With a high-net-worth individual, they may give to dozens or hundreds of non-profit organizations. And you don’t have the same familiarity universities have with their alumni.  Relationships are the key to access in the non-profit world, so we carried out extensive relationship mapping projects, finding shared board memberships, business interests and the like which would allow us to gain access to existing donors and increase their involvement with our organization.  The scope of our donor base made database mining, screening and other tools much more expensive, thought still a necessity.

What new trends are you seeing in the industry?

The greatest potential for philanthropy exists in the developing world. In the past, the majority of funds raised for projects overseas came from the United States. Within five years, the Asia-Pacific region will surpass North America as the wealthiest region in the world and will become home to the most high-net-worth individuals. These wealthy people are younger and have a greater interest in global philanthropy. Increase the philanthropic infrastructure in these countries and the number of trained fundraising professionals and the potential for successful global fundraising becomes clear and very exciting.

What do you hope to achieve at Philanthropy Inc?

Philanthropy Inc. is dedicated to the business of fundraising.  By placing a focus on analyzing your data and its potential, and by utilizing tools and services from for-profit partners like Brian Lacy and Associates, we assist clients in raising more support.  We bring a professional business perspective and responsible solutions to the challenges you face.

Do You Know Jack Tracksler?

Jack Tracksler is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Connection Strategy. His career path through direct mail and email marketing have marked a great foundation for the automated phone call programs run at Connection Strategy. A communications major in college and work as a professional radio announcer, Vice President for Development and decades of sales experience give him unique abilities with which he serves his clients.

What makes Connection Strategy unique among Telemarketing Companies?

First of all, Connection Strategy is not a telemarketing company. Telemarketing is defined as selling something over the telephone. We help clients increase response rates, lower donor and member renewal costs and inform their constituency through automated phone calls. We view ourselves as a company that improves your marketing mix and reach to your donors and members. So, we are a marketing company that uses automated phone calls.

You mentioned Members and Donors. Do you only work with Non Profit Organizations?

We provide marketing assistance to all sorts of companies, across all channels. However, through partners like Brian Lacy and Associates, we feel our sweet spot is centered on non-profits. Almost everyone at Connection Strategy has been involved in automated phone calls since the industry began. I like to think we know more and have done more than any company working with non-profits. Our calls are crafted to increase response rates for both donor and membership renewal mailings. We help universities sell tickets to bowl games, collect tuition, connect with prospective students through innovative enrollment management programs.

Sounds interesting. How do you help with donor renewal?

We send out an automated phone call several days prior to a donor renewal mail piece arriving. The call says nice things about the donor and the organization. They feel good about themselves and open the letter when it arrives. Depending on the organization, we have increased response rates anywhere from 15% to 42%. One major university client credits our programs with them surpassing their renewal goals by 20%. This in a year when they were sure they would fall very short of their goal.

Does it work every time?

We have one client who is fond of saying, “the Connection Strategy program works every time”.

So, anything this good must be hard to implement, right?

Actually no. We need a file, with phone numbers, in any format that is convenient ; audio recorded ( we’ll help with the script and provide a toll free number for recording; a phone number to show in the Caller ID and the hours you’d like us to make the calls. That’s it. We’d like 3 days to set up the program, get audio approved and analyze the file – but have been known to do it in less time.

Then what happens?

We send out the calls. The day after the program is completed we send out two reports – one is a summary of the calls that were delivered to live answers and answering machines, bad numbers, etc. We also append call outcome to each record in the file in a Call Detail Report. This way the client has the opportunity track results and analyze the program accurately.

OK, is anything this good and this easy expensive?

No, again – sorry. Program costs are based on the number of calls we deliver either by the program or on an annual basis. Through our partner Brian Lacy and Associates ( 860-478-9291 / info@brianlacy.com) we are will conduct campaigns starting at just 10 cents a call.

What else do you offer?

You’re pretty much limited only by your imagination. We can do with voice what laser printers do with personalization and paragraph variations. We can deliver a call to one place and then transfer it to another. We can produce it in any language. Bring your ideas to us and we’ll work with you to design a marketing plan that works for you and integrates seamlessly.

Do you know Ron Coscia?

Ron is one of a growing number of independent consultants who specialize in information services for the non-profit community.  Since 1992, he has performed almost 200 data conversion projects and provided export / format / import services for an additional 500 clients.  He has worked closely with The Stelter Company and Brian Lacy Associates, to ensure their clients are able to use results from donor research, data hygiene, and data enhancement services.  Prior to forming his current company, Conversion Professionals, Ron was a project leader, customer support rep, systems analyst and applications programmer with Computer Usage Company and Computer Sciences Corp.

What sets you apart from other consultants that do what you do?

When I began working exclusively for non-profits, I realized that this was a different environment.  People actually cared about co-workers and their constituency.  I decided to base my practice along the same lines, that is, caring about the outcome of a project. When we take on your project, we work as though we are your employees, often times until late at night or on weekends to meet a deadline.

How do you avoid becoming part of increasing common conversion horror stories?

One of the most important elements of a conversion is managing expectations.  It is unlikely that every piece of information will transfer easily into a new environment.  All parties involved in the project must realize that there will probably be some manual clean-up with every such project.  Part of my job is to identify and make known troublesome areas up front.  It is also important to broadly solicit user input because nothing can derail a project faster than staff feeling they have no stake in the new system.  Of course, proper prior planning is crucial.  With these elements in place, the technical stuff is easy.

How do you respond to the complaint that conversions are expensive?

First, I’d like to debunk the myth that the software’s vendor is the best choice to complete the conversion to a new fundraising system.  There are many talented consultants out willing and capable of better results in a timely fashion and at a fraction of the cost.  I’ve written an article for Supporting Advancement which addresses this issue.  As I mention in the article, it doesn’t take a large corporation to accomplish a data conversion and the team doesn’t have to be in your backyard. A single experienced individual can usually perform the task in less than a month, using the Internet, a phone, fax and Fedex.  Unless your current system is extremely complex, the project will typically take from 30 to 50 hours and cost between $3,500 and $7,000.

What’s your advice for an organization considering changing software?

Don’t get bullied into accepting an inappropriate charge for the data conversion.  Explore your options. Since most independent consultants do not advertise, ask around for word-of-mouth referrals. Ask colleagues at other non-profits if they’ve had experience with a consultant. Ask at user group meetings, seminars and professional association meetings. Consult Tech Soup (click on “Find Services” and type “conversion” in the keywords box) and other impartial internet sites.  Of course you could just contact me.  I can be reached 925-684-9825 PT or via email at roncoscia@conversionprofessionals.org

Do you know Bill Tedesco?

Bill Tedesco is Founder and CEO of DonorSearch.net, a prospect research firm offering the following services: wealth screening, online research, analytics and modeling. Prior to launching DonorSearch.net two year ago, with twenty years of experience in development, Bill was CEO at WealthEngine, Vice President at Target America, and a major gift officer.

Why did you think the market needed another prospect research company?

After working at Wealth Engine for five years, I realized that although we were finding wealthy prospects for non profits, it just wasn’t enough. Clients would ask questions about the philanthropic history of a major gift prospect and how much a certain prospect had given before. It was apparent that the current prospect research companies couldn’t accommodate all of the clients’ needs and were not giving enough philanthropic history on prospects. The fundraising market was ready for an alternative that focused on philanthropy first, and so I started DonorSearch.net.

Is there anything we may not have anticipated that will be big in prospect research in the future?

Yes, exciting things. Some things to anticipate are integrating multiple internet sources simultaneously and the ability to sort and filter large databases very quickly. Be sure to look for the upcoming changes with DonorSearch.net.

You have family working with you at DonorSearch.net. What is that like?

The best part about working with family is working closely with people I can trust, which is incredibly important to our clients. It’s beneficial when you know you are working with people who share the same values and are motivated to bringing success to the company. Communication is much more fluid, and the drive to get things accomplished is never a question. Everyone is committed to the same team, and makes work a little easier. The only problem is you run out of family and eventually, you have to start looking for other qualified people.

A lot of companies had trouble over the last year with the economy, how has DonorSearch.net faired?

Actually, DonorSearch.net has done very well in the past year and we have continued to grow. We were very fortunate that we introduced a cost effective service as the market for cost effective services grew. When we introduced the philanthropic review, a new approach to prospect research, it was received quickly by many non-profits. Overall, the toughest part in the past year, as well as the sweetest part, has been our accelerated growth and the changes that occur with it. However, the support of our partners and our experienced consultants has been a great factor in our continued success.

Where can interested parties hope to meet you in the next few months?

I’ll be attending the following conferences: CARA conference in Irvine, CA on October 22-23, NAMP, the National Arts Marketing Project in Providence, RI on October 30-November 1, and the PrepAPRA conference in Elizabethtown, PA on November 5-6th. At the PrepAPRA conference, I will actually be speaking about prospect research and development. Be sure to look for DonorSearch.net at other upcoming conferences.

Thanks Bill.

Sincerely,
Brian Lacy
Editor
A Fundraiser’s Friend