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Working Smarter, not Harder:
How One Organization Simplified Their Data Reporting to Learn More About Their Donors

.orgCommunity’s annual Solutions Day took place in September 29, and we were thrilled to present a case study with the Leadership Institute (LI) sharing how our team worked with LI’s staff to generate their reporting dashboards more efficiently while producing the analytics they need.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Strategies for Strength”, and that’s exactly how we approached the Leadership Institute’s current donation reporting. We simplified the association’s reporting process and improved its ability to glean actionable donor insights from their data analysis.

 

How it started:

The Leadership Institute already has a culture of vigorously combing through their data. Every week, their development team examined upwards of 50 charts analyzing daily donor data. These reports helped them uncover valuable insights, such as knowing exactly how high the likelihood of creating a lifelong donor jumps when that person donates for a second and then a third time, or how likely a donor is to donate multiple times when the outreach was done through multiple channels.

Even though they collect daily donor data and would like to review it on a daily basis, unfortunately, they could only analyze updated donor information on a weekly basis. They received new charts weekly because they relied on a manual reporting process. An analyst needed roughly half a day to create the 50 reports, and only had time to do that once a week. The analyst would export five years’ worth of daily donation records from Salesforce into an Excel spreadsheet. The large data set required significant manipulation, making the results vulnerable to human error. For example, the leadership team wanted donation records removed that would skew the data analysis, like bequests and anonymous donations. This lag cost them donation opportunities. Weekly reviews slowed down their reaction time to target priority donors in the most effective ways.

The organization’s goal was to replace a costly, burdensome manual process with a more efficient and reliable system. They liked the data charts but they wanted updated charts produced more frequently and with a lower chance of inaccuracies or delays due to human error.

 

How it’s going:

Today, the Institute’s leadership team has access to all 50 donor data charts each morning. The charts are updated every night through a fully automated process. IntelliData streamlined their data reporting process, enabling them to focus resources and efforts on the work that builds relationships with donors and increases donations.

When the Leadership Institute first discussed the project with us, they wanted our team to re-tool an in-house reporting engine. Their original goal was to get that reporting tool in shape to fix the challenges with the daily donor data reports. After talking with us, we recommended sidestepping the existing tool entirely.

We recommended using Microsoft Power BI to automate the entire reporting process instead. With this approach, we could use the existing Power BI/Salesforce connector to protect data security and speed up the export process. We doubled the size of the data pool feeding the reports from five to ten years of donation data.

Our team built a nightly export process that runs during off-hours, moving the donor data from Salesforce to Microsoft Power BI. We then designed the data manipulation and presentation processes with Power BI to the Leadership Institute’s specifications:

  • Removing all unnecessary donation records per the Institute’s parameters
  • Breaking the data into three data sets: daily donations; daily conversions of second-time donors; and new donor acquisitions
  • Generating all 50 data charts into three PDF files pushed out a shared OneDrive location accessible to authorized personnel
  • Ensuring that each chart is no larger than a single page so users don’t have to scroll to see the entire chart.
  • Creating consistency between the chart legend colors so users could easily see year over year comparisons and trends

This automated daily reporting process provides the Leadership Institute’s team more opportunities to take a deeper dive in evaluating their data daily and be more responsive to the insights taken. Some of the critical questions they use their data reports to answer are:

  • What patterns emerge about who becomes a second and third-time donor, and when?
  • What are the patterns and sub-groups among donors who have given more than $100,000?
  • What are the similarities between their first-time donors and when they donate?
  • Are the donation trends driven by the time of year?

Throughout the course of this project, we have developed a collaborative relationship with John Davis, Vice President for Growth and Development of the Leadership Institute, and his team to ensure that we can meet their needs and provide them with the kind of output that meets their objectives.

“Our new dashboards have had a profound effect on the way we operate and use our resources. Our staff can now identify donor patterns daily and respond to emerging trends, which has improved the organization’s efficiency and enabled us to focus our efforts where they are most needed.” Davis explains.

 

What’s coming next:

Our team completed the reporting automation project in three weeks and is moving on to new projects with the Leadership Institute.

Now that the Leadership Institute has a faster, less costly and more accurate reporting process, it’s ready to expand the sophistication of its reporting. IntelliData is on a new project with the Leadership Institute to re-engineer their in-house reporting tool to perform more advanced data analysis that will identify pattern anomalies and conduct more predictive analysis.

“Working with the IntelliData team has been refreshing. Their team’s vision goes beyond tools and technology. They see the data and its importance within the larger business context. We’re enthusiastic about continuing our work with them to expand our data analysis capabilities” Davis shares.

Learn more about how we can help associations and nonprofits become more efficient and effective in their operations through our simplified and innovative data solutions. Schedule a free consultation with us today.