In honor of my niece Grace’s, first day of kindergarten here is an updated version of a previous post. Two years ago when my nephew Stuart and niece Grace moved away from Minnesota to Florida, I was determined to keep in touch with them. I didn’t want them to forget “Auntie Lori”. They continue to teach me things about staying in touch with people who matter. Directly from Stuart and Grace ages 8 and 5: Here are a few great tips for important people we want to stay connected to, especially our donors and volunteers.

• 1. Don’t send too many emails. I’ve been told by Stuart that he has “too much to do” to read an email message every day. About one a month is enough for him.
• 2. As often as possible, include a photo in my email. Not surprisingly, Grace, age 5, will barely read or look at an email that doesn’t have a photo in it. When it has a photo of something interesting she’s all over it and in fact wants to share it with others.
• 3. Only use the telephone for special meaningful conversations. Both Stuart and Grace have been known to say, “Auntie, Why are you calling? You know I don’t like to talk on the telephone.” From their honest comments I learned to utilize phone calls for important days when there is something they have to share OR when I have a short exciting bit of information to tell them.
• 4. Send snail mail sometimes, especially if it’s personalized. The kids get very excited when they check the mail box and there is a fun envelope or package addressed just to them. Come to think about it, so do I.
• 5. In-person visits are the very best way to communicate. A few times I year I make the trip to Florida to visit with Grace and her brother Stuart. The few weeks before the visit we talk about what we’ll do together, plan for the trip in our phone and email communication and we make it an interesting visit when we get together.
• 6. Overall, don’t try to communicate too often and keep it fun. Too much only becomes something to endure because “Mom said so”. Less is more and can cause a yearning for more information when the previous call, email or letter was so interesting.

Despite a few mishaps and too frequent communication on my part, I am happy to say, Grace and Stuart and I are as connected as ever. I’m grateful for them taking time to teach me these lessons. I recommend you keep them in mind with your important people.

Join trainer and fundraising coach Lori Jacobwith and special guest Mark Panger for this interactive 2-hour session as they discuss why data about your top donors and volunteers is a resource as valuable as cash in the bank. Many organizations are not aware that they are not fully leveraging their data tracking system to support their individual donor program.

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Learning more about your donors and prospective donors is important, there’s no doubt about it. I’m often surprised how many development professionals skip the research step in their development work.

It can sometimes feel like extra work that you just don’t have time for, but even a small nugget of information can turn a prospecting conversation into a deeper discussion when you have done your homework. I’ve been able to WOW potential donors by keeping great records on our previous conversations or knowing something about them they haven’t yet shared with me – like the name of another organization they volunteer their time or financial support.

So how do you track down good information? With Google and Bing you can find LOTS of great information on most anyone. I’ve compiled a short list of places I often use to do a quick search for information before a meeting with someone. I’m sure there are more. If you know of other good places to conduct FREE searches please add them in the comments below. NOTE: The list below does not include any information on the many firms that specialize in conducting fee-based donor research.

A very important rule of thumb: Spend no more than 15 minutes per person when doing your searches. In fact, about 10 minutes should give you plenty of background. And doing this kind of donor research is a great intern or volunteer project.

• First thing I do is to check LinkedIn to see if the person has a page. If they do I usually find LOTS there. You can also check MySpace and Facebook to learn some things if they have a public page. Other sites I use less often but work fine too: Plaxo, Classmates.com, MyLife and there are lots more listed on the Wikipedia List of Social Networking Sites.
• Next I type their full name into Google and/or Bing and see what comes up. It’s helpful if you know a middle initial or middle name so you can be certain you have the correct person in your search. I take just a few minutes to dig around on the various pages that come up. You often can find recent business transactions, event listings, contribution information, associations they are a part of, schools they attend or their children attend. Anything that is listed on the internet can usually be found through a simple search.
• Next I do a search with the person’s and add the word donations.
  For example: Lisa A. Swanson Donations
  By doing this I may pull up some information that the previous search may have missed. Either search SHOULD provide places where the name is listed on annual reports and other ways the name has been posted online. It’s often that the name is listed with a gift amount range.
• If I know it, I also do this same process for a married couple and include both names. I’ve found some pretty obscure information about people’s weddings, births of their children and more.
• To learn more about the value of a home I type the address in at zillo.com and an estimate on the price comes up.
• Another site I use is www.pipl.com – there is no fee and it sometimes can bring up some deeper information on the person.

All of this information is only good if you actually get into communication with the person. Capture what you learn in your web-based donor tracking system and then set your meeting with them. You can feel more confident when you have done your homework about someone and learned where they are already giving their time and financial support.

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