An Innovation of the Year Award for Precision Prospecting
DonorBureau won the Innovation of the Year Award for Precision Prospecting, our proprietary behavioral data modeling solution. Built on machine learning and behavioral analysis, the models reach 90% accuracy when predicting a target’s expected response and anticipated donation value, correctly forecasting 9 out of 10 donor outcomes. By combining past behavioral, demographic, and psychographic data, they identify not just who to contact, but who not to.
Proving the model on a national file
DonorBureau partnered with a high profile national organization and modeled over 16 million records. The first test scored 210,000 records, flagging 160,000 as good and 50,000 as poor. To validate Precision Prospecting and demonstrate the potential cost savings, both cohorts were mailed and measured against each other.
A 128% ROI — and proof the model was right
Eliminating the 50,000 low performing names lifted ROI to 128% on the 160,000 good names mailed, an unparalleled result in direct mail fundraising. The 50,000 names the model had flagged as poor returned just 47% ROI, a $6,900 loss on that mailing, confirming exactly what Precision Prospecting predicted.
Over $750,000 saved in a single year
Throughout 2017, the organization applied the model to all 16 million names in its universe. By steering spend away from the names that wouldn’t pay off, DonorBureau’s analytics and machine learning algorithms saved them more than $750,000, turning prospecting from a cost of doing business into a source of savings.