With this blog, we want to provide our view on innovations shaping the main areas of our business focus – Advancement; B2B Marketing; and Technology Support. The aim is to not simply rehash what is being echoed ad nauseam on the web. Instead, we want to provide original, occasionally contrarian, but always thought provoking view - that we hope will be of value.
That social media has disrupted the traditional alumni engagement process is trite wisdom today. Gone are the days when alumni associations spent most of their resources on organizing traditional events such as homecoming day, alumni awards, and class reunions. Alumni engagement has moved from offline to online activities. In recent years, colleges have made concerted effort in building vibrant online communities on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. And quite a few have succeeded in doing so. Yet this social media engagement has had little impact on donor participation rates. Why? And what can be done about it?
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Posted by Lesterusa.com
Software is Eating the World?, proclaimed Marc Andreeson, in a 2011 WSJ op-ed. Marc, a highly successful Venture Capitalist, opined then, that we are in the midst of a dramatic technological shift. Software and internet, he said, is poised to disrupt large swathes of the global economy. Companies (and participants) in every industry need to assume that a software revolution is coming.
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Posted by Lesterusa.com
Predictive analytics has its origins in the 60s. In 1968, Norman Nie, along with colleagues at Stanford University, developed a statistical package (SPSS) for analyzing large volumes of social sciences data. The field of data analytics was thus born. The original SPSS manual, published in 1970, has often been described as “one of sociology’s most influential books” for allowing ordinary researchers to do their own statistical analysis.
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Posted by Lesterusa.com
Just when I thought I had gotten my mind around Big Data, the IT Industry comes up with another twist. "Forget Big Data, Small Data is Where It's At" (meaning the real action) - screamed the headline of a recent Inc magazine article. Not to appear flat footed, I frantically scoured the web to understand what the hell was this "Small Data" phenomenon all about. Not that it did much good.
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Posted by Lesterusa.com
For those struggling to boost donor participation rates, there is some parallel in Bill Clinton's "it's the economy stupid" campaign slogan. Sometimes it helps to find and focus on that proverbial "silver bullet" issue that can lead to success. For sure, in 1992, there were other peripheral issues on voters mind, but the one that trumped all others was the economy.
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Posted by Lesterusa.com
Big Data will reshape Fund Raising landscape, so predicted Stanford Social Innovation Review in a blog . It has been more than a year since that prediction in 2015. Yet there is scant evidence of widespread adoption of Predictive Analytics in fundraising. At the recent Case District I and II Conferences, that we attended, there was little on the agenda about Analytics and Big Data. And there were few signs that non-profit institutions are rushing to embrace the power of Predictive Analytics.
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Posted by Lesterusa.com
Insight brings the power of predictive analytics (sometimes called machine learning or data mining) to fundraising.
Acquire is a multi-channel, integrated communication platform designed to increase contact rates.
Cultivate improves donor retention with personalized communication that speaks to donor's interests & motivation for giving.
