Key Terms & Concepts

Question 1

Ability

Answer 1

Assessment of donor financial capacity, stage of life, and liquidity of their assessment. Income is not always an accurate indicator of the ability to give.

Question 2

Cultivation

Answer 2

Series of activities to maintain and deepen relationships and engagement with donors, prospective donors, and volunteers

Question 3

Data Mining

Answer 3

Collecting, researching, analyzing, segmenting information about donors, prospective donors, and volunteers.

Question 4

Data Privacy

Answer 4

Responsibility of the nonprofit organization to maintain secure digital records and to fully disclose any sharing of information with 3rd party organizations

Question 5

Demographics

Answer 5

statistical data of a population e.g. age, income, education, political affiliation, marital and family status etc.

Question 6

Donor Profile

Answer 6

Concise record of individuals linkage, ability, and interest in an organization AND contact info, giving history, and wealth indicators

Question 7

Donor Qualifying

Answer 7

An ongoing process of assessing linkage, ability, and interest in your donors to match them with the right program, appeal and amount

Question 8

Donor Rating

Answer 8

Current donors evaluated for their capacity to make a gift of significance

Question 9

Engagement

Answer 9

An ongoing effort to learn about donors, communicate with them and offer shared experiences.

Question 10

Frequency

Answer 10

How often a donor gives, and to which repeated appeals

Question 11

Giving History

Answer 11

Sum total of a donors giving. Includes frequency, renewal rate, appeal responses, average gift highest gift, most recent gift, etc.

Question 12

Interest

Answer 12

Donor or prospective donors level of interest in the organization’s mission

Question 13

Lifetime donor value

Answer 13

Lifetime projected value - an estimate of total current and future contributions.
Value = Lifespan x Amount x Frequency

Lifetime actual value - the sum of all recorded gifts

Question 14

Linkage

Answer 14

Connections a donor or prospective donor has to your organizations and/or mission.

Question 15

Market Research

Answer 15

Gathering, organizing and interpreting data regarding donor and prospective donor preferences, attitudes interests and giving ability

Question 16

Prospect

Answer 16

Prospective donor
Evaluated based on donor research 
Connection to the organization
Ability to give at a certain level
Interest in organization's mission

Question 17

Renewal Rates

Answer 17

Also known as Attrition rates
Percentage of donors who make a subsequent gift
Reflection of stewardship

Question 18

Segmentation

Answer 18

Group donors and prospective donors into categories in order to more efficiently allocate resources and target appeals.

Giving Levels
Giving History
Program Interest,
Response Format (Email vs DM)

Question 19

Solicitation History

Answer 19

Record of all donation requests made by the organization whether they are successful or not.
Mass appeals
In-person asks