Supporters in Sight: An Examination of Donor Personas

Research shows that donor counts have been declining across the sector for a number of years, and the losses seen in 2019 were some of the most significant in recent history. In this session, Melissa will provide a brief survey of the varying analytics techniques that nonprofits can use to better understand their donors’ characteristics and segment their database with strategic purpose. Then, she will dive deep into one of the newer methodologies being leveraged by the most successful nonprofits: cluster segmentation. Building cluster segmentation — or persona models — can help an organization bring existing supporters into focus and better understand not only who to target but also how to communicate with them most effectively. With fewer donors giving, maximizing the value of your relationships with those who still are is more important than ever. Cluster segmentation offers a pragmatic, yet strategic and data-driven method of connecting with supporters through the channels they prefer while delivering messages most likely to resonate with them.

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