When donor records are overlaid with the kind of detailed information social networks supply, predictive models about who will give, and when and how, can become almost scarily accurate. That’s what Dan Mansoor is counting on, anyway. GiveNext.com, Mansoor’s Cleveland-based startup, allows people to manage all their giving on a single online platform — users comb a database, donate whatever they like to any of 1 million-plus non-profits, and receive a tax form in return. The company charges a small transaction fee for each donation it facilitates.

Mansoor wants GiveNext to generate a wealth of donor data — data, he says, that charitable organizations can use to fuel their own giving campaigns. Within a few months, users should be able to sign up for GiveNext through Facebook or LinkedIn, Mansoor says, and “once they do that, we’ve got a tremendous amount of data.” If you opted to enroll through Facebook, for instance, GiveNext could potentially learn your “likes” and interests (the Seattle Seahawks, volunteer tourism)and other basic information about you. With data from social networks and the donations it collects in-house, the organization plans to carry out a focused analysis of likely giving behavior.

GiveNext will be able to figure out things like whether frequent travelers are more likely to give to overseas charities, or at what age people are most likely to leave money to a charity in their will.

The organization can then share that information with non-profits in its network, eliminating some of the legwork each charity would otherwise have to do on its own.If the data show college humanities graduates between age 45 and 65 are especially likely to give to local environmental concerns, nature-focused non-profits could focus their appeals on that promising pool rather than mounting a wide-ranging campaign with a low response rate.

“To get people to dramatically increase their giving, you need to know their interests, values and circumstances,” Mansoor says. He likens the relationship between donor and non-profit to a courtship dance. “Before you’re ready to ask the ‘big question’ of someone, you have to know them well enough to be reasonably sure what their answer will be.”

Mansoor also sees potential for technology to help cement donor loyalty. “Today when you make a gift, you get a letter in the mail a few weeks later,” he says. “Why shouldn’t you get a video on your phone from the president of the college?”

If you’re a donor, that kind of instant, personalized feedback could reinforce your sense that you’re making a difference, activating the “helper’s high” and making you feel good about opening your wallet the next time around.

Platforms like Mansoor’s aim to give analytics-challenged non-profits a painless introduction to donor tracking, yet more and more charities are figuring out that data simply isn’t enough on its own. In addition to amassing it, organizations have to learn how to make sense of it. “Data always requires interpretation — all the data in the world is of no use if you don’t have people who understand the limitations of the data and come to the right decisions,” says Kentaro Toyama, a University of Michigan computer scientist and board chairman of the non-profit Digital Green. Deciding what to do with the reams of data can be a sticking point for many non-profits. “I think there’s a bit of paralysis there,” says Weiner, the Whole Whale founder. “It’s like drinking from a firehose.” In fact, a handful of firms, such as Bellevue, WA-based Delve Analytics, have sprung up to help non-profits figure out how to sift through the various data streams they’re collecting.

When data streams are channeled efficiently, though, the results are often dramatic. California-based KCET, a large non-profit public TV station, was having trouble attracting repeat donors, so station management asked the Russ Reid data-consulting agency to craft a new outreach strategy. Combing through existing donor data, Russ Reid analysts discovered that the station members most apt to become regular donors were those who’d joined or re-joined recently, confirming their commitment to the station. By directing repeat-donor communications to this group of likely givers, KCET quickly tripled donor response rates—and, most importantly, doubled the number of donors on file making automatic monthly gifts.

For a station that wants to focus less on money matters than on firing people’s imaginations with shows about poetic activism and restoring kelp forests,

that’s a serious windfall.

Despite success stories like these, many executives and boards have long shied away from investing in data-driven outreach, even if the benefits would ultimately trump the initial costs. It’s easy to understand why keeping the lights on might take precedence over building sophisticated donor targeting schemes. But cash-strapped non-profits have more data diving opportunities to consider these days. There’s DataKind, which matches interested non-profits with data scientists willing to offer their services gratis. Some data experts are willing to work on performance-incentive contracts, getting paid only when data crunching benefits a non-profit’s bottom line. And data-analysis software, once the sole province of for-profit behemoths, can now be had for a reasonable price or even for free. “As technology has gotten cheaper and cheaper,” Strasma says, “the cost of entry is much lower than it used to be.”

Once the practicality hurdle is cleared, non-profits face delicate questions about how to preserve donors’ and beneficiaries’ privacy. Companies that use personal data for their own internal, inscrutable ends tend to generate suspicion. But when non-profits use data like Facebook profile information to help promote a good cause, the moral equation gets a bit more complicated: You might be super-enthusiastic about a charity, but you also might not realize the charity is studying your personal details and interests.

In general, Weiner says, non-profits need to be completely transparent about how they use donor and participant information — which includes posting clear privacy policies on official websites. “Err dramatically on the side of privacy,” Strasma says. “If you ask for someone’s email, be very clear about what you’re going to use it for.” Mansoor stresses that when GiveNext shares information with organizations that are part of its network, it will do so only collectively, based on statistics it compiles about the aggregate pool of donors. So while it might tell Harvard, for example, that another of its donors’ favorite causes is youth enrichment programs, it wouldn’t tell the university which specific donors gave to youth non-profits or how much.

For non-profits willing to brave data diving’s initial challenges, considerable reward awaits: a flood of enthusiastic participants who’ve been looking for

an organization just like them.

Take The Lamp, which teaches New Yorkers digital literacy skills and hired Whole Whale to help maximize its impact. After Weiner and his colleagues studied data on how people interacted with The Lamp’s website and constructed site mock-ups for testing, they were able to get a better idea of which features most engaged users: Teachers were intrigued when the site clearly showed where they could get a free lesson plan for their students. Knowledge like this helped the team make site design tweaks, like a lesson sign-up box at the top of the page, that doubled the rate of e-mail registrations. The upshot? Students looking to build their computer skills will be more apt to benefit from the curriculum.

It’s in understanding just what makes people tick while respecting their autonomy, Weiner believes, that non-profits can best realize their potential as forces for positive change. In the process, they could help more of us tap into the deep well of our own generosity. (Fewer superfluous address labels would be a nice side bonus.) The key, Weiner and other experts say, is data. “The challenges domestically, globally, are so daunting. To reach the levels we need, there needs to be a multiplier.”

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