Nonprofit Donor Data Is a Gold Mine. Here’s How to Dig!

The Nonprofit Show

If you've ever wondered whether your nonprofit fundraising data is a treasure chest or a digital junk drawer, Greg Warner is here with a flashlight, a map, and a pickaxe. In this entertaining conversation, Greg—CEO of MarketSmart and creator of the Fundraising Report Card—joins host Julia Patrick to dissect the murky waters of metrics and help nonprofits move from guesswork to grounded strategy.

Greg kicks off with the backstory: MarketSmart’s 17-year evolution into a marketing automation firm helping nonprofits identify, qualify, and steward major and legacy donors. ‘The Fundraising Report Card’, born from this journey, now offers nonprofits a simplified yet powerful lens into donor behavior—showing not just what happened, but what it means.

Here’s the twist: until now, this tool has been free. But with over 27,000 users and a mountain of benchmark data, Greg’s team is rolling out a more robust version—with peer comparisons so relevant, they make national averages look like vague horoscopes.

And it’s about time. “Relevance creates resonance,” Greg shares, “But irrelevant data creates dissonance.” Nonprofits have long been running on emotional narratives and gut instincts. Greg invites you to reframe the conversation using donor lifetime value, retention data, and institutional memory—all quantified, all visual.

Julia comments how too many development pros spend two days prepping board reports for seven minutes of attention. Greg’s fix? Collaborative tools baked into the new version of the app, enabling real-time, cross-functional dialogue. Because why silo data when you can democratize it?

Want to stop flying blind and start mining gold? This episode is your blueprint.

00:00:00 Intro and welcome to Greg Warner
00:01:13 What is the Fundraising Report Card?
00:03:56 Gut instinct vs. meaningful metrics
00:06:33 Leaky buckets and donor attrition
00:08:34 Who really uses the data—and how
00:10:36 Collaboration tools and institutional memory
00:12:14 Why clean data matters
00:14:07 The power of relevant peer benchmarks
00:16:34 Lifetime value explained
00:18:54 Emotion vs. analytics in fundraising
00:22:22 Donor files and hidden gold
00:27:16 Final thoughts and educator access

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