This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2015. When starting a data-mining project, we are often challenged by our management to “go do some data mining.” We can get stuck from there, unless the tool… Read More »Data Science AFTER Identifying the Real Need
This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2015. When we get ready for a campaign, we often employ consulting firms to sit with our closest prospects and ask them how much thy think we can… Read More »Your Data Driven Feasibility Study
This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2011. A lot of clients and conference attendees say this to me: “We don’t have a lot of data. How can we do donor modeling?” My answer is… Read More »What’s in a Giving Pattern?
This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2010. In his book, Business at the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates writes about the issue between reporting and knowledge management. He writes, “Information blow is the lifeblood… Read More »Analytics: Isn’t It Just Reporting?
This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2010. In fund-raising, what we are seeking are charitable gifts. When we model prospects, we hope to find those with certain giving levels. So we have to wonder… Read More »Using Giving Variables for Donor Modeling
This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2009. What It Is Recency, frequency, and monetary value is a collection of measurements used by data mining firms to assess a customer’s potential. Called RFM, this tool… Read More »An Argument Against RFM for Major Gifts Modeling, and How to Use It, Anyway
This article was first published as “Marianne’s Mining Minute” in the APRA Upstate New York chapter’s newsletter, 2010. In data mining, we frequently choose the dependent variable that is easiest to acquire from our primary databases. Most often, we start with the prospect’s lifetime giving… Read More »Understanding Lifetime Value, Single Gift, and Movement