Getting organized. Planning for the first quarter of the year. Breathing a sigh of relief that year-end is behind you.

These are typical first-of-the-year activities for fundraising. And there is one simple task that will yield returns for 2024: Identifying the donors in your data file who passed away in 2023 or before. Accomplishing this is as easy as converting your donor file consisting of names and addresses into a CVS or Excel file and uploading it to our secure site.

As part of our Comprehensive Data Services, we will identify deceased donors and return your file within two days. Typically, we will match more than 90% of donors.

From a budgetary standpoint, the cost of this service is offset by postage saved. From a relationship-building standpoint, you avoid continuing to send information to a deceased donor or a spouse or partner of that loved one. 

If you are interested in a deeper dive into the accuracy of your current data, Sharpe Group can update addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and cell phone numbers and add or update age, gender, marital status, income and wealth information.

Contact your consultant today to discuss which service is right for you, or email Jim Ross at Sharpe Group (jim@sharpegroup.org) for more information.

Jim Ross is Sharpe Group’s executive chairman.