Services

The 2010s was the decade of "Big Data".  Talk about over-promising and under-delivering.    Spend vast sums of money collecting hordes of data you had virtually no idea how to use or even if it could be used.  The experts said "it was essential to keep".  You don't need "Big Data".  You need the right data to facilitate business.  The metrics that matter most don't require those data hordes.  They require lean data implemented at minimal cost in streamlined systems geared for immediate action.

Fractional Advancement will help clients identify the data most-needed to move the organization forward.  Data intelligence is what drives your mission, not data clutter.  Data is transformed into helpful action insights using tools that fit organizations' needs and means. 

What can Fractional Advancement help with?

• Aligning your data strategy with organizational strategy,

• Decluttering data from your operational systems,

• Building data pipelines,

• Devising data models necessary for success,

• Establishing simple data governance and management,
  
  

Data will not drive your organization.  "Data-driven" is a buzzword.  It's not a strategy most social impact organizations will ever really adopt, because they exist to better humanity.  Cold-calculations don't fit that profile.  There's more to making decisions than data points.  Data should be a beginning, not an end.

Data will not even completely inform your organization.  Institutions will never have all the information to be had.  Even if they did, it would more likely result information paralysis, rather than action.

Data should INSPIRE your decision-making processes.  Data should reveal points of analysis under the surface that truly matter to judgment calls.  Data creates responsive and strategic decision-making. 

How can Fractional Advancement help?

• Provide essential reporting solutions,

• Instruct key staff in data literacy,

• Customized dashboards and reporting for metrics that matter,

• Identify donors and opportunities with less effort,

• Automate business intelligence solutions using platforms nonprofits can afford,

• Create clear next steps for development officers,

• Eliminate last minute spreadsheet dashes seeking critical data

Fractional Advancement values LOW RISK and HIGH IMPACT AI deployments and solutions.  AI can help with simple things (drafting a single email, searching for an event venue, making a graphic) but those are not strategic uses of AI.  Your dollars and resources will best be used where you get the biggest return on your investment.

The best use of AI is to align processes and needs with the powers of AI.  Using affordable solutions, Fractional Advancement specializes in:

• Building workflows around repetitive tasks,

• Coding and building new technology solutions,  

• Educating staff on new technologies and skills,

• Crafting predictive and prescriptive analytics,

AI can should go beyond what nonprofits already do. AI can reset the fundraising paradigm while respecting your organizational vision and values.

Data and AI are everywhere!  Technology choices can be muddied and challenging.  Fractional Advancement works with simple to the most sophisticated tools.  It's not possible to give a full list because this landscape is constantly changing.  Fractional Advancement works with multiple technology stacks that a small or growing nonprofit can afford; technologies with proven track records that yield positive results. For example:

Office Suites for basic operations:  the venerable office suites like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace still offer a multitude of strategic uses that most organizations don't realize.  

Productivity for efficient operations: Organizing solutions such as Slack, Teams, or Basecamp are backbone of establishing efficiency reducing overloads and missed details.

Databases and warehouses for donor intelligence: CRMs (Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, etc),  and cloud databases (Snowflake, Google Cloud SQL) harness and consolidate your data so you can focus on the right relationships.

Visual Intelligence for quick donor insights: Old standby business intelligence tools like Power BI and Tableau still pave the way for tremendous success, but new services built specifically around AI show even more promise - Julius, Hex, Golden Analytics, and more.

Automation for freeing up staff time: Automation is the key to freeing staff for human-specific tasks like donor conversations and strategy.  There are numerous cheap but effective options - Power Automate, Google App Script, Sheet Go, and more.

AI Agents and Agentic AI to truly revolutionize fundraising: AI is what everyone talks about, but values and purpose need to be considered before vendors.  After that numerous nonprofits are finding great success with Chat GPT, Claude, Grok, MS CoPilot, Google Gemini, and others.  There are literally thousands of titles that help provide immediate strategic lift.