Response to FRSB's call to allow supporters access to fundraising databases

In response to the Fundraising Standards Board’s suggestion that charities should allow supporters online access to their contact details, Jonathan Air states this is simple. He highlights that development teams at schools and universities have benefited from this for a number of years.

‘Online alumni areas have been successfully created at a number of our education clients since 2004. Past students can access and change their contact details held on the database, and find out about fundraising opportunities.’ He continues, ‘The potential of this existing technology is enormous for smaller to medium sized charities. Not only would current supporters be able to manage their details and communication preferences, new supporters could be automatically added to the database when, for instance, they sign up for an event. In fact, any kind of donation or request for support made online can be captured automatically on the database. This would allow fundraisers to then develop the potential of these supporters. Data quality can be checked before changes are updated if desired. This technology is here, and, to repeat, it is accessible and affordable for the SME charity – not just the very biggest charities.’

Please read more about this story on the Third Sector website.

Jonathan Air is Managing Director of Donor Strategy, one of the UK’s leading CRM, fundraising and alumni database providers. Around 30% of their clients are education organisations. A copy of his recent presentation about options for linking databases to online technologies is available by emailing louise.eagle@donorstrategy.com

Donor Strategy offer a module called Web Connect that offers this functionality.