How to Use First-Party Data to Drive Smarter Nonprofit Marketing

This blog was written in collaboration with Blue State, a values-led creative and technology agency that has helps industry-leading nonprofits, such as UNICEF USA, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, and AARP, raise billions toward their missions. 

Personalized engagement is key to successful nonprofit marketing. Organizations that go beyond basic demographics to understand their audience’s true interests and incorporate those passions into their programs are better positioned to build meaningful, long-term relationships.

So how do you gather that level of insight? 

The first step is effectively collecting and utilizing first-party data. Aligning your nonprofit’s story with your donors’ creates a more intimate, engaging connection, making your shared mission even more impactful. 

You can achieve this through qualitative and quantitative research. Even further, a test-and-learn approach offers real-time insights into what resonates. However, first-party data—and the personalized content it drives—should be central to how you plan, structure, and execute your campaigns.

What is first-party data?

First-party data refers to the information you collect directly from donors and audiences through your owned channels, such as your website, telemarketing, face-to-face conversations, or direct mail responses. 

A well-executed first-party data strategy is about focus and organization. It involves collecting data systematically, ensuring it’s actionable, and seamlessly integrating it into your processes. This wealth of data allows you to weave supporters’ stories into yours, creating deeper connections.

Nonprofits have a data problem

However, a common critique of nonprofit data is that organizations often have vast amounts of it, yet typically store and manage it in ways that are inconsistent and unhelpful. Many lack a clear strategy for leveraging this information to improve donor and supporter experiences. 

The prevailing mindset is often “more is more” with first-party data, but the opposite is true. Instead, the focus should be on a few key, high-impact data points that matter most. Creating a data hierarchy helps your organization prioritize and streamline the data you collect, ensuring it serves a strategic purpose.

5 data questions every nonprofit marketer needs answered

From collecting first-party data to leveraging analytics for smarter marketing strategies, we address the most pressing data-related challenges to help inform your nonprofit’s next steps.

Question #1: How do nonprofits create and leverage a data hierarchy?

A data hierarchy is a focused, agreed-upon set of key data points gathered from implicit and explicit interactions with your audience at every logical touchpoint. These data points are the foundation for delivering personalized content throughout your program.

Here’s an example of what a data hierarchy might look like for a nonprofit organization:

• Has email?
• Reachable via SMS?
• Interested in specific issues?
• Provided birthday?
• Is personally impacted by the mission?
• Do children live at home?
• Holds donor-advised funds (DAFs), stocks, or bonds (indicating high-value investments)?

Once outlined, here’s a brief list of how these data points may inform your strategy: 

• Issue interest: If your organization addresses multiple issues, tailor messaging based on what resonates most. For example, someone may engage more with issue X than issue Y. 
• Birthdays: Use birthdays as surprise-and-delight moments or to trigger a peer-to-peer fundraising event. 
• Mission affected: If an individual has a personal connection to your mission, like having or receiving treatment for a disease, adjust your messaging to be more personal and emotive, as this can drive better engagement. 
• Children at home: Tailor experiences to those actively parenting to create a more relatable connection for children’s charities. 
• DAFs: Adjust your ask if a donor holds a DAF. Rather than requesting $50, encourage them to make a larger direct gift through platforms like Fidelity.

Question #2: What’s the best way to collect first-party data? 

There are three main ways to capture data: explicit data collection, implicit data collection, and augmentation. 

• Explicit data collection involves directly asking for information through methods like surveys, interstitial ads, face-to-face fundraisers, or quizzes. 
• Implicit data collection centers on user behavior, such as browsing activity or email clicks. You can use this data to build models that infer audience preferences and engagement patterns. 
• Augmentation involves supplementing your data hierarchy with third-party data. For example, if you collect birthdays, you can ask users directly and use a vendor to fill in missing data points.

Question #3: How can technology play a role in scaling personalized content? 

The good news is that technology can simplify this process. Conditional content in modern email service providers (ESPs) drastically reduces the workload of creating personalized content. Instead of traditional “paragraph, paragraph link” emails, ESPs can dynamically inject content based on customer relationship manager data points. This allows you to run hundreds of content variants in your campaigns rather than the usual three or four segmented emails.

Question #4: What are the most common mistakes in implementing first-party personalization? 

Many nonprofit organizations view personalization as a technical achievement rather than a tool to enrich their storytelling or create emotional connections. Instead, nonprofits should view first-party data as a way to craft uniquely relevant and resonant stories for specific audience groups. It’s a strategy, not the end goal itself.

Question #5: Is investment in first-party data personalization the right choice for my organization? 

Adding complexity to your program naturally increases costs and resource demands. While A/B tests can reveal immediate returns, they typically focus on short-term revenue rather than longer-term relational gains, which are harder to measure. 

We believe that the lift in brand value and favorability created by personalization is just as crucial as last-touch revenue, so any analysis should consider both when evaluating whether the effort is worthwhile. 

Ultimately, your goal should be to prioritize your audience’s needs and invest in relationships that shape future giving patterns. First-party data personalization plays a key role in this strategy—deepening understanding and empathy for your most valuable supporters. 

Marketing intelligence meets fundraising intelligence

Similarly to how Blue State mobilizes its clients to keep their audiences’ interests at the center of every touchpoint, Classy from GoFundMe leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to help nonprofits create radically personalized donor experiences that drive more giving.  

Intelligent Ask Amounts uses machine learning (ML) to provide a real-time, personalized ask amount for every donor who arrives on your donation forms. This allows you to run giving campaigns that convert better and raise more. During testing, Intelligent Ask Amounts drove 11% more revenue on average.

With AI and ML becoming increasingly prominent in the nonprofit sector, fundraising teams face a pivotal decision: Embrace this technology to enhance their personal connections with donors or maintain the status quo and risk falling behind innovative nonprofits. 

Read about how Classy’s fundraising intelligence can help you drive more giving.

Copy Editor: Ayanna Julien