Analytics for Fundraisers Using R: A Beginner’s Course
11 CFRE Credits
Donor fatigue is real—and your organization is feeling it.
When you contact the same donors multiple times a year without personalization or strategy, response rates drop and relationships weaken. Meanwhile, gift officers are stretched thin, juggling larger portfolios with less time and budget for travel and cultivation.
You know your data holds the answers—which donors to prioritize, what amount to ask for, who’s most likely to give—but without analytics skills, that data stays locked away. You need a way to work smarter, segment better, and focus your efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact.
Analytics for Fundraisers Using R gives you the tools to turn donor data into actionable intelligence—no prior programming experience required.
In this self-paced online course, you’ll learn to use R, a powerful (and free) statistics package, to build models that predict donor behavior and identify your best prospects.
You’ll work through practical exercises to master:
- Data visualization to spot patterns and trends in giving
- Data exploration techniques to understand your donor base
- Donor modeling to estimate the highest likely gift from each prospect
- Prospect identification modeling to calculate each prospect’s probability of making a major gift
The course includes:
- Lectures on key concepts and analytics techniques
- Video demonstrations showing you exactly how to complete each exercise
- R scripts you can use to check your own programming
- Curated resource lists with recommended books, videos, and documents
- A comments section where you can ask questions and learn from other students
Your outcomes:
- A linear regression model to set ask amounts based on each prospect’s highest likely gift
- A probability equation to prioritize prospects most likely to make a major gift
By the end of this course, you’ll have donor models built from your own data—ready to guide smarter cultivation and solicitation strategies.
11 CFRE Credits
Your Instructor
Marianne Pelletier has over 35 years of fundraising experience, with the majority in prospect research and prospecting. She is one of the first adopters of donor modeling and data mining techniques. Her professional experience includes prospect research, both as a research analyst for Harvard and Lesley Universities and as a department director for Carnegie Mellon University and Cornell University.
Pelletier’s multi-decade career also includes running an annual giving program with average increased revenues of 27% per year; and providing software consulting through the Datatel Corporation, teaching clients both how to use their new software and assisting them with better analysis and more efficient processing. She led the analytics division of the Helen Brown Group for over 10 years, and remains an associate.
A recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the New England Development Research Association and a Woman of the Year designation by the National Association of Professional Women, Pelletier has served as a volunteer for both election campaigns and social service agencies. She has served on the boards of the New England Development Research Association, the Upstate New York chapter of APRA, and ending as secretary for the APRA International board.
A prolific writer, she has published articles on management, prospect research, fundraising, and personal growth on a range of platforms. A sought-after speaker, she often speaks on how to start an analytics shop, along with a variety of other subjects related to prospecting.
Course Curriculum
Getting Started
- Getting and Installing R
- Working with Data
- Testing Data Cleanliness and Fixing Missing Values
Data Preparation and Exploration
- Exploratory Statistics
- Preparing Data for Analysis
- Bell Curve Techniques
- Overview of Variables and Their Use
- R Review
Modeling
- Testing for Significance
- Linear Regression Demonstration
- Logistic Regression
- Testing and Sharing Results
This comprehensive course teaches you how to create professional fundraising dashboards in Power BI—from importing and blending data from multiple sources to building insightful visualizations and formatting graphs, charts, and maps for maximum impact.
$997.00
11 CFRE Credits
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course – you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like – across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.