Atlanta Hires JAT March 2025

June 3, 2025

from the desk of

Sherrie Dodson | Associate Partner – Analytics and Advancement Services

Turning Insight into Action: The Role of Predictive Modeling in Advancement

In today’s rapidly evolving advancement landscape, instinct alone is no longer sufficient. While relationships remain at the heart of fundraising, data is swiftly becoming the bridge between insight and action. We believe that the most successful advancement strategies do not merely react to the past — they proactively anticipate the future.

That’s where predictive modeling comes in. It uses the information you already have about your donors—their behaviors, histories, and engagement patterns—to help you make smarter decisions for the future.

It’s more than just a list of names. Predictive modeling provides clarity by showing you which prospects are most likely to respond, when to reach out, and how to align your strategy with their capacity and connection to your mission.

This type of data leads to sharper campaigns, more efficient outreach, and stronger portfolios. With goals grounded in data, fundraisers can focus their time where it matters — and leaders gain real insight into the road ahead.

Of course, none of this works without a solid foundation. Strong advancement services—from clean data to streamlined gift processing and reliable reporting—are what make analytics meaningful. Our role is to come alongside your organization, assess those back-end systems, and ensure everything is aligned and functioning in sync.

Predictive analytics isn’t about replacing intuition or relationships — it’s about empowering them. It’s about giving your team the tools to work smarter, plan better, and make the kind of impact your mission deserves.

The future is now—Alexander Haas is proud to offer a comprehensive suite of predictive modeling, donor analysis, and advancement services solutions designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your development program.

Alexander Haas Analytics & Advancement Services

Below are some highlights of our strategic approach to prospect identification and management.

Fundraising Capacity Analysis

Our Capacity Analysis service gives your organization a solid foundation for successful fundraising. Collaborating closely with your leadership team, we will perform an in-depth capacity analysis at both the institutional and departmental levels to set realistic yet ambitious fundraising goals. This analysis considers historical giving patterns, current donor engagement, and external market factors to establish achievable targets.

Predictive Modeling and Donor Segmentation

Major Gift Model: Identify donors with the highest capacity and propensity to make significant contributions to your organization, allowing for focused cultivation strategies.
Planned/Deferred Gift Model: Pinpoint prospects likely to consider legacy giving, helping you build long-term sustainability through your planned giving program.
Annual Fund Model: Optimize your annual giving program by identifying donors with consistent giving patterns and those ready to increase their support.
Organization-Specific Model: Receive custom predictive models tailored to your unique institutional characteristics and fundraising priorities.

Prospect Pool and Portfolio Optimization

Comprehensive Pool Analysis: Transform your database into a strategic asset by identifying, qualifying, and prioritizing prospects based on giving potential and engagement readiness.
Portfolio Balancing: Optimize workloads by determining ideal portfolio sizes and compositions, ensuring fundraisers manage the right mix of prospects across various stages of cultivation.
Strategic Prospect Assignment: Match prospects to fundraisers based on expertise, relationship history, and prospect characteristics to enhance engagement effectiveness.

Go here for more information about these services.

Tips to Kickstart Monthly Giving

Especially now, in the current economic climate, monthly donors are among the most valuable supporters for nonprofits. They provide a reliable and steady source of income, often remain with an organization for several years, and have the potential to give larger amounts or even become legacy donors if managed well. Plus, at a time when many nonprofits are seeing an ongoing drop in small-dollar supporters amid increasing economic uncertainty, monthly giving is a smart way to bolster your group’s ability to weather turbulent financial times.

Here are tips to give your monthly giving program a boost.

Set up the systems and processes you’ll need.

Ensure you have technology available that can process recurring payments, whether it’s the same platform you use for all gifts or a tool integrated into your online donation form. You also need a donor database that allows you to separate these supporters from other types of donors and a system for managing their payments.

Find potential sustainers.

Examine your donor database. Individuals who have made multiple gifts in a year might be your best prospects for monthly giving, so invite them to contribute in this manner. While this approach works, it’s often slower than acquiring new donors who sign up for monthly giving from the beginning, whether you attract them through online outreach, canvassing, telemarketing, or another acquisition channel.

Promote monthly giving.

Highlight monthly giving to everyone in your orbit, including all the donors in your database — except those who are already sustainers — and to your followers on social media. Develop ways for people to choose monthly giving organically, such as adding that option to your online donation portal and to direct-mail appeals, while also actively seeking these supporters.

Ensure a positive experience for donors.

It’s important to provide excellent “customer service” to monthly supporters, including ensuring that your online giving platform allows them to easily cancel or change their gifts. Additionally, offer these donors a straightforward way to reach you if needed, such as an online contact form or a phone number.

Stay in touch.

Keep these donors informed about your work through communications such as impact reports and brief text-message updates. Offer ways to get involved beyond monthly giving, whether by signing a petition, attending an event, or volunteering. Consider using donors’ monthly receipts to express gratitude and provide an update on what their contributions help accomplish.

Don’t be afraid to ask for extra gifts.

Monthly donors enjoy contributing. Don’t hesitate to ask for additional gifts when you require them. COP, 5-2

Welcome New Client Partner

We Know Atlanta Nonprofits

For more than 35 years, Alexander Haas has been a fixture in the Atlanta nonprofit community. We are honored to have worked with some of the largest, and some of the smallest, organizations that help make Atlanta a better place to live.

A Fresh Approach to Fundraising
Our services aren’t cookie cutter. We don’t operate with a boilerplate, merely changing names and locations. We craft each and every service we provide to match your organization’s unique needs, wants and abilities. We work hard and expect you to do the same. Together we can help you transform your institution, your fundraising, and the community you serve.

Whether your need is in Capital Campaign, Annual Fund Campaign, Major Gifts, Leadership Annual Giving, Planned Giving or all of the above, we take a fresh approach to nonprofit fundraising.