 Welcome and good morning or good afternoon wherever you might be tuning in from we are so glad that you're here on a Monday to spend your time with the nonprofit show we are again thrilled to have Lana and Sarah with us both from iWave which is a fundraising intelligence solution and both of these ladies are super darn intelligent themselves so stay with us because digging into your donor data is what they're here to nerd out with us I'm excited for that conversation Julia Patrick CEO of the American nonprofit Academy is taking a much deserved vacation this week to Viva la Mexico I hope that she enjoys her her vacation I'm here at ransom your nonprofit nerd CEO of the Raven group and really honored to be here and hold down the fort for Julia this week as we talk about our amazing guests and topics. We of course have to start every episode and in the episode by thanking our presenting sponsors we're so extremely grateful. Thank you to Bloomerang American nonprofit Academy fundraising Academy nonprofit nerd your part time controller nonprofit thought leader and staffing boutique if you have not checked out these companies. Do yourself a favor and do that not now but in about 29 minutes would be a best case to to check out these companies because they exist for you and your mission, and they are just lovely supporters of the sector. If you missed any of our episodes are you want to go back and listen to what Lana and Sarah are going to share with you today, you can find us on Roku YouTube fire TV video as well as podcast so if you're a podcaster, like I am, go ahead and queue up the nonprofit show and you can hear this and all of our episodes on those platforms. Ladies, thanks for your patience and thanks for saying yes to joining me today we have Lana Sullivan senior marketing manager, Sarah Adams account executive, both with I wave. Welcome to you ladies. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. I'm so glad to have you both experts in the field experts with I wave. And you know what we're going to talk about today digging into your data is something I cannot wait, wait for Sarah you probably didn't get your glasses yet but not yet, but I knew you were going to put their in the mail and minor right here. But Lana, would you please start us off share with us a little bit about yourself and a little bit about I wave. Absolutely. Thank you again so much for having us. My name is Lana Sullivan senior marketing manager on the I wave team thrilled to be here with you today. And as mentioned I wave is a fundraising intelligence platform. It's going to help you understand the capacity propensity and affinity of your donors and your potential donors so excited to talk to you a little bit more about that today. And as mentioned, I'm located on the east coast of Canada on PEI I've been with I wave just coming up on a year. And yeah thrilled to be here. Fantastic well thank you so much. Sarah you got to follow that up tell us tell us a little bit about yourself. Okay, thank you. So as you said I'm an account executive at I wave so I get the privilege of meeting with development leaders all day every day from across Canada and the US. And I'm just wondering about what their goals are and understanding you know what their challenges are and sharing I wave I walk them through the platform it's always fun I always get excited maybe too excited. And because it's just a growth right like everyone is like what that's possible. This is awesome. Love that. I'm an account executive. I have a background in nonprofit work volunteer board involvement resource development, and now I get to, to help organizations understand who their best potential donors are so it's super fun. And that is fantastic, both of you really bring just a wealth of knowledge and really excited to have this conversation. Sarah when you and I connected, it was like kindred spirits where have you been my soul sister, you know, connected, and I love that you are passionate about this and Lana you to so let's start right into I mean I just said the two of you are wealth of information but truly I wave is also a wealth of information. So let's start out, whichever one of you would like to share what is wealth screening like let's just put the definition put the context, you know, in into something relatable. Tell us what it is. Okay, yeah sure well screening. It's taking essentially what it is is it's taking a list of donors that you don't know a whole lot about putting it through and filtering it through a system that runs people's names through biographic philanthropic all kinds of data brings back the data and provide you Intel and analytics and really understanding of who your donor is what the capacity is and you know how how inclined they are or would be to give to your organization so in a nutshell, it's just finding data that matches them and then having a good system for analyzing that information and providing you with really a prioritized list is what I would provide so you'll know where to focus and where maybe not to focus because organizations are strapped right for time and resources so having that starting point is really what it's all about so I would say that wealth screening is this individuals constituents if you will that are currently in our donor database are we pulling new potential constituents. That's a good question and it's it's both. That's the internal and external data so that's the great thing is that you are going to likely already have access to a great database of individuals so you want to learn more about those people that are already in your existing database, but in addition to that you want to bring new potential donors into your pipeline as well. So that's the great thing about having a software like this is that you're going to have the opportunity to leverage both and really make that big impact for creating that list a prioritized list as Sarah mentioned. That is so important one of the things we've talked about and we've alluded 500 plus episodes actually marching towards our 600. That's 600 episode of the nonprofit show I don't think I've ever said that word, but now I have right, don't ask me how to spell it. And, and so really looking at the cost to, you know, retain our donors but then the cost to attract and new donors and so having this tool as you know as a data point is really important you know when it comes to wealth screening so I love that you both were like, yes, it's that it's both of those things and so that's, that's fantastic to know that that information, if you will, is literally, you know, with within reach. Well, let's move into, you know, you mentioned your your systems and both of you are really not knowledgeable with I wave, but what is the data that identifies and might be able to help us cultivate our donors can you talk to us about the data that that I wave and perhaps other wealth, you know engines or screening might also pull. Yeah, absolutely. So, there's a few things. What you want to do is look at internal giving data, right and we have a way of scoring that to understand how you know we look at how recently someone has given how frequently and how much they've given we can analyze and score that. And then we will take a look at their. They're giving elsewhere, we can look at their philanthropic so the information that's important is not just wealth data anymore. Actually, let's look at their philanthropic history and their philanthropic situation and not only how much they've given and where they've given but what the affinity of that organization or those organizations are. So what we want to do is find out find donors who have an affinity to your cause right who have capacity to give and who are philanthropic they sit on boards. So we take all that information into consideration and through all the different data sets that we have available we're able to do that so. So what we want to do, which is super exciting and I always always get excited to show this and it's a it's a good response so I love it, we can take that external score, we can compare it to the internal score and determine who you're hidden gems or your hidden potential donors are. And that's what a lot of nonprofit leaders are telling me is, how do we know that there's donors in our database who couldn't give more to us like who do how do we identify that. A quick screening, which is really just submitting a file inside your iWave or whatever platform you're using. Very quickly find out who you should be focusing on because we're they're showing they're giving more gifts elsewhere, they have capacity to give more. And so that is a key piece of doing this it's like might as well look and see where the potential is first in your database and among your own supporters before going elsewhere. It's a magical thing. It really makes me think our sponsor fundraising academy and they've been with this for quite some time they have a cause selling education model, and they use this acronym Madden M-A-D-D-E-N. And I cannot tell you verbatim what it all stands for but it touched on what you just said Sarah is really that do they have an affinity to this mission right at the at the base do they have an affinity. Do they have the propensity to give meaning are they philanthropically spirited minded gifted and really you know merging or marrying that that data. Lana one of the things I'd love to ask you about in Fundraise Academy talks about this to a little bit is there's a lot of data at our fingertips without investing in a software system. So one of the things that I coach my clients to do when they receive a new donor or new partner or potential partner is, you know, go online. Google is our friend. Let's see what's out there, you know, out on the internet and you know it could be the value of their home or homes plural, kind of getting some of that information. But can you share with us Lana like where exactly and Sarah jump into but like where exactly does Google, if you will stop and a system like I wave really add into that layer of knowledge. That's such a great question because I think that's the way and the mentality that a lot of nonprofit organizations had previous to using a technology like I wave, or whatever platform you're using. And the thing with that is not only is that a long manual process to try to find all this information, but it's definitely the accuracy as well. So with our 41 premium data sets, I wave has the ability to pull all of these records in and provide that information to you in seconds. So I like to think about it as being another kind of arm to a team because you're not leveraging your resources to manually be looking up people in Google which is going to take a lot of time and you don't have that necessarily have the confidence in the data you're finding online. In I wave you're able to actually see where all information that we provide is coming from so you can actually click on the source and say oh this is where this came from so you can have that confidence. And having those conversations because the last thing you want to do is be talking about something to a potential donor that is outdated or irrelevant, or maybe they have the same name as someone else. And we run into that we hear that. So it's really important that you can have the confidence in the results that you're getting, which is why it's so great to have a technology in place that can that can do that for you. You know, we talk often about data, believe it or not, we think data sexy. It's a good juicy conversation, but we talk about how you know data is only good as what you put in. And so that accuracy is super important. Sarah talked to us a little bit about, you know, how I wave in particular works with donor databases, is it a plug in is it a widget is it something extra. Bloomerang is a fantastic sponsor of ours. I, I see, you know, all of the, the many people that have joined us for today's conversation. I'm have a feeling right black bod system is one that she used as well. So could you talk to us about the integration. Absolutely. So we do integrate with a large number of CRMs donor management systems out there, and it's growing all the time. And so, I know we made a lot of great connections that if the icon, for example, we had some great conversations with some new possibilities. We integrate with Salesforce and razor's edge and like a suite of other CRMs and makes it, it's a nice relationship right because it's an easy plug in and then you can for example instead of filling out a spreadsheet to put your donors through a screening, you're just creating a list inside your CRM and hitting submit and then the information gets shared on the contact record or each each system talks to I wave a little bit differently. But it's really easy way to, to streamline your work right and so you can see that important I wave data right inside your CRM, which is lovely and very convenient. Yeah, very convenient and so needed because this is a lot of data and we talk about, you know, this is for new potential donors but also the ability to cultivate the propensity the capacity of donor donors that are already in our database so regardless of what you're working with, you know, it's it's something to add that layer on top of the knowledge that you currently have. Let's talk about these three areas bio welfare and philanthropy right can can Sarah can you talk to us about these three main areas because you know, Lana you mentioned 41 data points I could not help but to think of Baskin Robbins so you have and so really looking at you know these data points here Sarah the bio the philanthropy, break that down for us what what are you talking about specifically. Okay, so there are the three areas that we look at so of course we look at capacity we want to determine the given capacity so we look at wealth data sets to determine that right so there's all kinds of information but one of the primary ones is we look at real estate and one of, you know, there's a big difference between Googling real estate or maybe using a free resource and getting a cream of the crop premium real estate data set which is what we do provide. We can tell if somebody owns property free and clear if there's some you know it's it's stuff you don't even think you should be seeing but it is completely okay it's publicly available knowledge. It's just not free to access all the time right. It's hugely valuable. So we look at that we look at different data sets that'll even let us know things like assets, such as liquid assets. And if you want to you can look at election or political donations which is helpful. We, so we take all that information. Oh and we also look at things like stock holdings insider filings you know if you accept gifts of stock it's really good to have recent updated information on your donors activity there. We look at that wealth data, and then for philanthropic data this is really exciting. So, it's not easy to find out where other people where people have donated elsewhere, where your donors are also giving. I actually talked to somebody who was, they were an environmental organization she was a one person team and she told me that she spent a week trying to find like going through annual reports of place like Googling basically trying to find out and bring information where her donor had donated elsewhere. And then we look the person up in a one off look up just put the name in went through all the data sets, came back with a full philanthropic history and just like that just couldn't even believe it existed it was like I just absolutely. Yeah, she couldn't believe it and that that alone so it's called Vera gift with I wave and I have to say something about it because it's a showstopper when I show it so it's a database of 187 million donation records companies foundations and mostly individuals who have given to organizations so we take annual reports we put them into this database, we segment them, we will identify what the affinity is for that donation, and then all that information is available for our subscribers, and it's important because that helps us more on affinity to your organization so if all we're finding is environmental affinity and you're a health, your health care or your social services that aligned that affinity score will probably be a little lower than it would be it will be a lower than it would be if they're also giving to organizations like yours so it is, it's a great that's the main source of our philanthropic scoring and data. So we also look at 990s and other information like that. And then we lead into the biographic. So when I started working here I mean really understand what biographic meant right right, it's a good word with, you know, affect at the end. It's really good to know biographic data and it's really like pay email cell phone address, you know where they went to school it's almost like a little resume that information super important we use sources like zoom info and others to bring back a full robust profile on an individual so not only can you understand how their wealth capacity and their affinity but also like how to contact them and how to approach them and have like a well rounded profile. So, yeah, so within those 41 data sets they're all divided between the two main things we look at and score. And I wave we you know we have the affinity score the propensity score, and the wealth score and all three of those important pieces will fuel that I wave score. So the cool thing is whenever you see that I wave score you know all that information and research and analytics has gone into showing you that that score, and then those with the highest I wave score rise to the top of your list and you're right, so here's our, here's our best prospects the ones that are most inclined to give, and the one, the people who, you know, we should be focusing on really at this point, and I hate to say it like that but you know time is valuable and you want to be talking to the right people about the right gifts, and at the end of the day it gives you confidence to know you're asking for the right amount at the right time. Right. I think that's the right message to like I think a lot of those pieces that we're talking about. It's allowing you to learn to your point of it being a resume you're learning a lot about this individual so you're learning how to contact them but how to approach them what their interests are they passionate about your organization. And so you can tailor your messaging and hopefully have a much more valuable discussion with this potential donor, given this information that you have on them. And I'm curious, like, who then works this data, right. And again, I'm in the field so I'm talking the lingo like I'm going to work this data, I'm going to work the people work the relationships but really like, who then champions that information is this staff is this board, Sarah you mentioned a one person team that's, I mean that's reality in our world, but Lana like, where do we take this information do we share it with the board do we share it with a fun development committee. What do we do with it. Yeah, and the great thing is we have the opportunity to work with organizations of all sizes so yeah we do hear from teams that it's just one person so they're the ones that are doing the research but they're also the people that are having the conversations they might be actually going out and actually being the gift officer to have those discussions. Some have boards and some don't but the great thing is is that we can provide such a well rounded overview of who these individuals are prioritized list so depending on the needs of your particular organization, you can share that with a board. You can share your information amongst your colleagues easily within platform. So if you're a smaller organization, you are going to be able to fundraise more efficiently and effectively with a tool like this. And if you are a larger organization that has a bigger team, you can communicate the information easily and efficiently with your team members, and you can put that into a detailed report to share with a board if needed as well. So we can help organizations at all sizes with the information that they need to to have those discussions with the key people in their organization. Sarah question for you and this might be a curve ball but. Oh no, I believe in you I know I believe in you. How often is the data updated like is this real life, or is it once a year like talk to us about the updates within. I leave specifically, because the last thing we want to do of course is work with you know wealth information and then say, Oh that was so last year. Yes, that actually came up last week on one of my demonstrations and it was like it was a bad story. It was sad for them. They ended up paying a vendor that's really in our space to find them 1000 new. They paid for 1000 new contacts. They spent the time writing direct mail send the direct mail out. And every single piece of mail was returned. Like every single piece. I don't know like the data. So they're very wary right because like the data wasn't updated. So yeah, we, it's important to have my I know it hurt my heart to I thought about it wasted time on the weekend. Yeah. And you had a guest on last week, the direct mail. Yeah, expert who's also from Canada I loved that episode. Yes. And yeah, like we know it's expensive to send any communication, but especially direct mail right so we know how important it is to have updated and clean and current data. So we have a schedule, each data set is updated on their own schedule it's weekly or monthly so it's very recent, like I'm showing donations and our very gift database I'm seeing 2021 and 2022 now starting donations like that's recent that is about as good as it gets right. And they were surprised I said when we were looking at I don't actually don't think it was the same organization but they were seeing 2018 as the most recent donations and that's not very helpful. It's good to know where people have donated but you need to know where they donated this year and last year right. So it's important to us that we're updating regularly and the other thing that we've done to kind of ensure that our subscribers are getting updated information as we started something a couple of months ago now a land of smart alerts. Huge so you can toggle a smarter on your top donors or maybe even some donors you just want to keep an eye on make sure that you're getting some updated information as it comes in. So what I will do is actually alert you when we find a new donation real estate transaction stock filing or stock activity and election political data real time, and then you can just say yes I want to add that piece of information to the profile, and it will calculate into the score. So that's kind of a game changer. If you have those four pieces of information being updated real time. So the polls in the biographic the wealth the philanthropic, all of that information as you said either weekly monthly constantly kind of turning in that new data, right. Yeah, making it real time as you said, I feel for that person you spoke to because I have done that before I'm talking about the annual reports where you gather the information you sit and you flip and you look through like, whether it's a hard copy or online in the 1990s trying to find the information for this one particular person. So having a system like this is just, you know, really, really important. As we as we move out of the episode and it goes by super fast and both of you are really. I'm going to start toggle and both of you because I think you're smart experts on this, but Lana talk to us about the timeline if we were to say, this is my favorite phrase, okay we're drinking the Kool-Aid right like we want to be part of the cool kids and how do, how do we move forward with I wave if this is something that we're curious, you've peaked our interest and we want to you know do a little conversation. What's the timeline and process. So for any new organization that's going to use I wave if they fill out a form on our website to book a demo they will have a customized demo with someone like Sarah on our account executive team, and then from there learning more about the product and ensuring that it's a fit. They could get started with us right away. So the great thing is, we can each new organization that works with us is assigned a client success manager who helps them get everything set up and ensure that their integrations are working. It works with them in that onboarding experience to make sure that you have a clear sense of how to use the product and how to use it efficiently and effectively but we can start we can get started pretty much right away so. Well, I love that. As knowledgeable as Sarah, I will guarantee you you're in good hands because we nerd it out way beyond our like, you know, time allotment we both said, Are you good on time are you good on time okay great let's just keep going because this information is so critical and really exciting. I mean, you can tell like I really love stuff to you. It's fantastic. Well, I want to say thank you to Lana Sullivan senior marketing manager at I wave, as well as Sarah Adams account executive with I wave. If you're interested in their platform, I want to talk more to the two of them. Please do check them out. I'm sure you can find them on LinkedIn as well. We're so grateful for your time your expertise and truly everything you do for and in our sector from from one nonprofit nerd to the two of you. I'm really grateful. Yeah, thank you so much. Of course, of course, it did fly by it was so fun. I told you I told you and Julia's I hope sitting on the beach having a margarita. So thank you Julia for allowing me to nerd out with these two amazing women. And thank you of course to blooming and mentioned this earlier. If you have not checked out these companies please do so that includes blooming. American nonprofit Academy fundraising Academy nonprofit nerd your part time controller nonprofit thought leader, as well as staffing boutique, just like I wave these companies are here to help you move the needle on your mission. So check them out they are good people really good people with your frontline and your budget top of mind and priorities so thank you both for joining me. Thanks to all of you. Thanks for joining us either live or the recording. We have an amazing week, and while the cats away the mice, mouse mouse, yes, I will play. So it's going to be fun I'm really excited for all of our guests lined up this week. We always end every episode with this mantra and we always always mean it please stay well so you can continue to do well. Thanks ladies.