I hope you enjoy the weekend.

This month we’ve acquired 4 new monthly donors. These folks have never donated to us before. They’re not in our database for any type of communication. Where did they come from?

We can’t be 100% sure – but we know that since March, we’ve expanded our online and social media presence.

We’re looking for trends. It’s not that different from the way we measure “old school” marketing & communications. Look for trends. Look at your relationships. People keep asking for direct ROI on things that can’t always be directly and/or immediately measured.

We think we’ll continue to see a growing trend as we do a better job of communicating with people. We have to work a little harder and use multiple datapoints and correlations to sort it all out, but isn’t that a good thing?

Oh and yeah – we have fun and meet great people along the way. And btw – we all need to get better at asking people: May I ask why you chose to support us? (or words to that effect)

More than ever it’s important that we speak directly with the people we do business with. Before they become donors/clients, during and even after. Talk, ask, build relationships… it will always, always, lead to increased support. Care about others and they’ll care about you.