Mostly, I really don’t like it when I’m expected to rely on nothing but the personal opinions of consultants. And I mean the personal opinions of consultants, completely absent any data. If there is no data to support the opinion, I don’t listen very well to the person who’s talking. And neither should you.

One of the things Jeff and I have tried to do over the years is to make sure that everything we do is data-driven and supported. And we think you should do the same. Here are some strategic and very critical areas where data will help inform your decision making:

1. Caseload Creation — You need to use data from your current donor list to select caseload pools (anyone who has given $1000+ cume in that last two years). These caseload pools are where you qualify donors for a caseload.
   
   
2. Value Retention and Donor Retention — These are the two critical measurements we use at Veritus to see how the mid, major, and planned giving program is doing. Your data can provide this vital information to you – it will tell you how well you’re taking care of donors.
   
   
3. Donor Goals — Data related to past giving and giving potential is critical to creating goals for every donor on your caseload.
   
   
4. MGO performance — Data will help you measure progress and increased contributions of the individual donors on an MGO’s caseload. It will also help you measure how the MGO is performing with their donors, how the caseload is growing over time, and what donors need to be replaced.
   
   
5. Meaningful Connections — As I mentioned in a recent blog post on this topic, you can measure the progress an MGO is making through the quality of meaningful connections. Take a look at that blog for more info on how to measure and track this

So, don’t listen to opinions that aren’t backed up by data. Opinions without data are just a lot of hot air, and you know that will do absolutely nothing for you. Facts and data are friendly. They’ll point you toward the right path.