If You Don’t Load The Bases, You Can’t Hit A Grand Slam!

Becca Rosin

There's a new Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® course that's sure to be a home run for anyone looking to effectively target donors and maximize their support.In baseball, a good batting order can be the difference between winning and losing. If you put all your home-run hitters at the start of the order, you’re not going to win a lot of baseball games. The more homeruns you score, the better. And to score multiple runs per inning, you need runners on the bases before your big slugger steps up to the plate.


It’s also important to continually assess all batters for placement within the batting lineup. You may need to reposition players who only hit fastballs or are in a slump. Sometimes shuffling up your batting order boosts player productivity and increases the odds of acquiring more runs.


Creating the lineup for a baseball team is a lot like fundraising for a nonprofit. If you put all your emphasis on major donors, you’re not going to bring in as much funding as you possibly could. You also don’t want to strand your midlevel donors on the bases or strike out with one-time donors because you didn’t strategize on how to bring them home.


Even the most seasoned coaches and fundraisers can benefit from learning new tactics and strategies.


The new Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® Best Practices: Increase Donor Giving Level course covers insights into assessing your current donor tiers and updating them based on your organization’s current goals. You’ll learn how to effectively target donors by their level of giving and engage them for increased output. Through facilitated discussion, you’ll address methods for transitioning donors to the next giving tier and maximizing donor interaction with your organization. You’ll also explore ways to use Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT's advanced data and reporting tools to track donor progression.


Taking the time to assess and analyze your donor tiers is a winning strategy. After taking this course, fundraising at your organization is going to be a whole new ball game.