33 Ways to Use Abacus to
Improve Major Donor Fundraising

The Swiss Army Knife for Advancement Action

Now you can be resourceful and always prepared with a predictive tool that will dramatically improve results across all Major Donor activities.

All of these uses will demonstrate to leadership the substantial Return On Investment of Abacus for building your major donor pipeline and program. You will raise more money!

Prepare for Asks with Greater Confidence

#1 | Generate bold, yet respectful 3-year pledge Ask amounts that you can count on

Enter bias-free data – specific to your donor and organization – to generate an Ask Amount. Abacus provides an aspirational Ask amount and a Goal that you can expect so you don’t leave money on the table or offend a donor by asking for too much.

#2 | Determine if and when you are ready to make an Ask

Use the Ask Readiness Score to see if you have enough of the right donor information before having a gift discussion.

#3 | Never miss and opportunity to Ask for an Estate Gift

Each Ask calculation includes a recommendation on whether or not to ask a donor for an estate gift based on their life stage and financial situation.

Master the Art of Closing More Pledges at Higher Amounts

#4 | Show the donor’s annual pledge payment over three years to make the Ask amount more palatable

Sometimes, when you ask for a smaller annual amount to be paid over each of the next three years, the donor finds it more palatable. Abacus conveniently shows the annual payments for the 3-year pledge amount.

#5 | Use Abacus’ annual estimated after-tax payment over three years to make the Ask more affordable

If the donor itemizes charitable giving on their taxes, sharing the after-tax payment can make the Ask more affordable.

#6 | Use Abacus’ tried and true strategies and language for making Asks and closing more gifts at higher amounts

Many gift officers can benefit from modeling proven “Ask” language to further increase their confidence.

#7 | Overcome donor cognitive dissonance when closing a gift

Abacus provides additional giving strategies you can offer the donor to help them agree to your Ask amount.

Improve Gift Officer Effectiveness & Portfolio Management

#8 | Identify what information you need to be ready to have a gift conversation

Review responses on the donor profile and see what information is needed to fully prepare for a gift discussion.

#9 | Prioritize which donors are most ready to be asked for a gift

When looking at your portfolio, the Abacus Readiness Score indicates who is most ready for a gift discussion and who needs more research and discovery.

#10 | Train gift officers with a methodical process to make consistently bold yet respectful Asks and instill confidence preparing for and during gift conversations

#11 | Make Asks defendable to donors and management

When asked how you arrived at the Ask amount, you will have a solid and defendable response.

#12 | Accelerate New Gift Officer Onboarding

Run donor profiles for the new Gift Officer’s portfolio to rapidly get them up to speed on the highest priority donors.

#13 | Accelerate inexperienced Gift Officer acumen, workflow, and productivity

Elevate Major Donor Pipeline Valuation, Assessment & Planning

#14 | Use the CSV export function in the Profile Library to add up all the Goal amounts (what pledge to expect) for your major donor pipeline.

Abacus provides the most accurate predictive valuation of your major donor pipeline — proven to be within 75% of actual pledges.

#15 | Prioritize which donors are most ready to be asked for a gift

When looking at your major donor pipeline or portfolio, the Abacus Readiness Score indicates who is the most ready for a gift discussion.

#16 | Prioritize which donors should be added to a gift officer’s portfolio from the pipeline

From the CSV export, determine the most “valuable” donors who are the most ready for a gift discussion, and be sure they are in a gift officer’s portfolio for follow-up.

#17 | Normalize philanthropic capacity estimates — known for wide variability and inaccuracy

Abacus normalizes capacity estimates by applying real-world, objective donor data that is specific to your organization to deliver Ask Amounts you can count on. You now have a tool that is far more accurate than using raw capacity estimates when approaching donors for a gift discussion.

#18 | Forecast annual revenue for more accurate capacity planning

Value your major donor pipeline to determine the ROI of hiring more front-line fundraisers to engage your best donors fully.

#19 | Determine the optimal staffing needed based on donor pipeline value

By valuing your major donor pipeline and determining overall donor readiness, you can build your front-line and support team to address the status of your major donor pipeline.

#20 | Conduct contributed cash flow planning based on readiness levels of the donor pipeline and portfolios

Add up the expected Goal amount for all donors with a Readiness Score of 95%+ and have your team engage them. Forecast the pledges and initial pledge cash payments so you can predict cash flow from donors.

#21 | Demonstrate the importance of investing in building your major donor pipeline to management and the BOD

Assess, Plan, and Manage Campaigns and Feasibility Studies

#22 | Determine pre-campaign donor readiness

If you are thinking about having a campaign, first run Abacus profiles on your top 30 donors and see the average Readiness Score. This will indicate how much work is needed to be ready for a campaign.

#23 | Save time and money, while maintaining goodwill by seeing if there is sufficient support before undertaking a campaign feasibility study.

If you are contemplating a campaign, first run Abacus profiles on your top 30 donors and add up the pledge Goal values to give you a sense of your ability to make your campaign goal.

#24 | Identify the most promising donors to interview for campaign studies

If you are conducting a campaign feasibility study with a consultant, run Abacus profiles on your top 50 donors to determine the best candidates to interview for the study.

Use Analytics for More Informed Management Decision Making

#25 | Analyze pledge/goal trends

Managers will want to know if actual pledges are running above or below the expected goals. This will inform the strategy for future Asks.

#26 | Analyze progress against the pipeline’s valuation

Managers will want to know at a glance the amount of secured pledges and how they are tracking against the pipeline valuation.

#27 | Analyze the overall readiness of the major donor pipeline and portfolios

Reveal the overall readiness of donors to have a gift discussion, and develop strategies for early Asks and strategies for elevating the readiness of the rest of the pipeline.

#28 | Set key performance indicators (KPI) for gift officers and advancement volunteers, leading to smarter management and better outcomes.

The Chief Development Officer has visibility of everyone’s portfolios (+Teams subscription), which can be exported and used to update KPIs for each user. KPIs may include:

Total pending Asks waiting for a response from the donor
Total donors yet to be Asked
Total funds raised
Total Ask declines
Relationship of amounts requested to the amount of the pledges to see if Asks are too aggressive or passive
The proportion of portfolios with Readiness Scores in the 90th, 80th, 70th, and 60th percentiles to indicate progress with gift officer donor discovery efforts
Median pledges expected (Abacus Goal) compared to the median of actual pledges will help to calibrate Abacus to your donor pool
Number of active donors in a gift officer’s or volunteer’s portfolio
Number of active donors in a portfolio related to the above KPIs. Does a smaller portfolio yield better results?
Number of outlier results and ability to understand them

#29 | Track how much Ask readiness changes over time as a reflection of gift officers’ discovery and research

Donors with low Readiness Scores need visits from gift officers or other stakeholders to build their relationships and get answers to key questions in the Abacus profile. Managers want to see the average readiness score elevate over time.

#30 | View progress made by each gift officer against their portfolios’ value

Everyone with a donor portfolio needs to keep their Profile Library up to date to show the status of their Asks.

#31 | Create “personas” of your best donors so you can find them in your file

With deeper analysis of the CSV export, you can combine attributes like age, employment status, number of gifts, and relationships with leadership to build “personas” of your best donors and then find more of them in your donor file to be added to your pipeline.

Improve Productivity and Efficiency

#32 | Import the Donor Profile Library into your database

#33 | Integrate Abacus into your database for seamless use and daily Ask value updates

33 Ways to Use Abacus to Improve Major Donor Fundraising

The Swiss Army Knife for Advancement Action

Now you can be resourceful and always prepared with a predictive tool that will dramatically improve results across all Major Donor activities.

All of these uses will demonstrate to leadership the substantial Return On Investment of Abacus for building your major donor pipeline and program. You will raise more money!

Prepare for Asks with Greater Confidence

#1 | Generate bold, yet respectful 3-year pledge Ask amounts that you can count on

Enter bias-free data – specific to your donor and organization – to generate an Ask Amount. Abacus provides an aspirational Ask amount and a Goal that you can expect so you don’t leave money on the table or offend a donor by asking for too much.

#2 | Determine if and when you are ready to make an Ask

Use the Ask Readiness Score to see if you have enough of the right donor information before having a gift discussion.

#3 | Never miss and opportunity to Ask for an Estate Gift

Each Ask calculation includes a recommendation on whether or not to ask a donor for an estate gift based on their life stage and financial situation.

Master the Art of Closing More Pledges at Higher Amounts

#4 | Show the donor’s annual pledge payment over three years to make the Ask amount more palatable

Sometimes, when you ask for a smaller annual amount to be paid over each of the next three years, the donor finds it more palatable. Abacus conveniently shows the annual payments for the 3-year pledge amount.

#5 | Use Abacus’ annual estimated after-tax payment over three years to make the Ask more affordable

If the donor itemizes charitable giving on their taxes, sharing the after-tax payment can make the Ask more affordable.

#6 | Use Abacus’ tried and true strategies and language for making Asks and closing more gifts at higher amounts

Many gift officers can benefit from modeling proven “Ask” language to further increase their confidence.

#7 | Overcome donor cognitive dissonance when closing a gift

Abacus provides additional giving strategies you can offer the donor to help them agree to your Ask amount.

Improve Gift Officer Effectiveness & Portfolio Management

#8 | Identify what information you need to be ready to have a gift conversation

Review responses on the donor profile and see what information is needed to fully prepare for a gift discussion.

#9 | Prioritize which donors are most ready to be asked for a gift

When looking at your portfolio, the Abacus Readiness Score indicates who is most ready for a gift discussion and who needs more research and discovery.

#10 | Train gift officers with a methodical process to make consistently bold yet respectful Asks and instill confidence preparing for and during gift conversations

#11 | Make Asks defendable to donors and management

When asked how you arrived at the Ask amount, you will have a solid and defendable response.

#12 | Accelerate New Gift Officer Onboarding

Run donor profiles for the new Gift Officer’s portfolio to rapidly get them up to speed on the highest priority donors.

#13 | Accelerate inexperienced Gift Officer acumen, workflow, and productivity

Elevate Major Donor Pipeline Valuation, Assessment & Planning

#14 | Use the CSV export function in the Profile Library to add up all the Goal amounts (what pledge to expect) for your major donor pipeline.

Abacus provides the most accurate predictive valuation of your major donor pipeline — proven to be within 75% of actual pledges.

#15 | Prioritize which donors are most ready to be asked for a gift

When looking at your major donor pipeline or portfolio, the Abacus Readiness Score indicates who is the most ready for a gift discussion.

#16 | Prioritize which donors should be added to a gift officer’s portfolio from the pipeline

From the CSV export, determine the most “valuable” donors who are the most ready for a gift discussion, and be sure they are in a gift officer’s portfolio for follow-up.

#17 | Normalize philanthropic capacity estimates — known for wide variability and inaccuracy

Abacus normalizes capacity estimates by applying real-world, objective donor data that is specific to your organization to deliver Ask Amounts you can count on. You now have a tool that is far more accurate than using raw capacity estimates when approaching donors for a gift discussion.

#18 | Forecast annual revenue for more accurate capacity planning

Value your major donor pipeline to determine the ROI of hiring more front-line fundraisers to engage your best donors fully.

#19 | Determine the optimal staffing needed based on donor pipeline value

By valuing your major donor pipeline and determining overall donor readiness, you can build your front-line and support team to address the status of your major donor pipeline.

#20 | Conduct contributed cash flow planning based on readiness levels of the donor pipeline and portfolios

Add up the expected Goal amount for all donors with a Readiness Score of 95%+ and have your team engage them. Forecast the pledges and initial pledge cash payments so you can predict cash flow from donors.

#21 | Demonstrate the importance of investing in building your major donor pipeline to management and the BOD

Assess, Plan, and Manage Campaigns and Feasibility Studies

#22 | Determine pre-campaign donor readiness

If you are thinking about having a campaign, first run Abacus profiles on your top 30 donors and see the average Readiness Score. This will indicate how much work is needed to be ready for a campaign.

#23 | Save time and money, while maintaining goodwill by seeing if there is sufficient support before undertaking a campaign feasibility study.

If you are contemplating a campaign, first run Abacus profiles on your top 30 donors and add up the pledge Goal values to give you a sense of your ability to make your campaign goal.

#24 | Identify the most promising donors to interview for campaign studies

If you are conducting a campaign feasibility study with a consultant, run Abacus profiles on your top 50 donors to determine the best candidates to interview for the study.

Use Analytics for More Informed Management Decision Making

#25 | Analyze pledge/goal trends

Managers will want to know if actual pledges are running above or below the expected goals. This will inform the strategy for future Asks.

#26 | Analyze progress against the pipeline’s valuation

Managers will want to know at a glance the amount of secured pledges and how they are tracking against the pipeline valuation.

#27 | Analyze the overall readiness of the major donor pipeline and portfolios

Reveal the overall readiness of donors to have a gift discussion, and develop strategies for early Asks and strategies for elevating the readiness of the rest of the pipeline.

#28 | Set key performance indicators (KPI) for gift officers and advancement volunteers, leading to smarter management and better outcomes.

The Chief Development Officer has visibility of everyone’s portfolios (+Teams subscription), which can be exported and used to update KPIs for each user. KPIs may include:

Total pending Asks waiting for a response from the donor

Total donors yet to be Asked

Total funds raised

Total Ask declines

Relationship of amounts requested to the amount of the pledges to see if Asks are too aggressive or passive

The proportion of portfolios with Readiness Scores in the 90th, 80th, 70th, and 60th percentiles to indicate progress with gift officer donor discovery efforts

Median pledges expected (Abacus Goal) compared to the median of actual pledges will help to calibrate Abacus to your donor pool

Number of active donors in a gift officer’s or volunteer’s portfolio

Number of active donors in a portfolio related to the above KPIs. Does a smaller portfolio yield better results?

Number of outlier results and ability to understand them

#29 | Track how much Ask readiness changes over time as a reflection of gift officers’ discovery and research

Donors with low Readiness Scores need visits from gift officers or other stakeholders to build their relationships and get answers to key questions in the Abacus profile. Managers want to see the average readiness score elevate over time.

#30 | View progress made by each gift officer against their portfolios’ value

Everyone with a donor portfolio needs to keep their Profile Library up to date to show the status of their Asks.

#31 | Create “personas” of your best donors so you can find them in your file

With deeper analysis of the CSV export, you can combine attributes like age, employment status, number of gifts, and relationships with leadership to build “personas” of your best donors and then find more of them in your donor file to be added to your pipeline.

Improve Productivity and Efficiency

33 Ways to Use Abacus to
Improve Major Donor Fundraising