Campaign Tagging

Tagging all transactions in your database is an important step in generating the right predictions for your donors.

An important part of Dataro’s machine learning process is that all gifts and communications are labelled correctly e.g. identifying Appeals, Recurring Gifts, Events etc. 

Campaign and transactional tagging is a critical step in this process to ensure Dataro can know how and why every gift made it into your system. Tagging is the single most important thing that can be done to improve model accuracy.

Dataro has a system to automatically identify or ‘tag’ every transaction and communication in your system using the information in your CRM such as the size of a campaign, when it was run, how many people gave to it, what it is called and more. 

Sometimes Dataro will ask for your help to improve these tags so it is important to understand the terms and definitions. These are listed below under How can I help Dataro improve the tagging of my gifts and transactions.

Once tagging is complete we process your data and train a suite of models which predict the outcomes you are interested in and generate prediction scores for your supporters.

Below is some information on how to get started with campaign tagging and instructions on how to improve your tagging.

Campaign Tagging instructions

You're now in the process of setting up your Dataro integration. Campaign tagging is a critical part of that process. The end goal of this process is that we know how and why every gift made it into your system. To do this, we ask you to check out 'tags' for your historical campaigns and verify or update the 'category' and 'channel' for each.

The 'channel' should be tagged with how the gift is solicited rather than the 'channel' that you received the gift through. 

 

You will now be presented with a series of cards - each one represents a 'parent campaign' (an Appeal in Blackbaud or Campaign in Salesforce).

At the top-level, you will see the category and channel Dataro has 'predicted' for this item. If this is incorrect, or you wish to review or make changes at the package level, you can hit 'Show Details' to see the underlying items and update them as required as follows:

Once you are happy with a card, you can hit 'Approve' to move on to the next. If you are unsure about a card you can 'Skip'. We recommend that you tag at least 65% of the items, but you can finish the tagging after a minimum of 30%. You can also revisit and review the tagging at any time in the future.

This part of the process can take some time, but trust us, it's worth it.

Ongoing campaign tagging

Campaign tagging is a critical part of that process. The end goal of this process is that we can know how and why every gift made it into your system. To do this, we ask you to check out 'tags' for your historical campaigns and verify or update the 'category' and 'channel' for each.

 

How to improve the tagging of your gifts and transactions

Tagging all transactions in your database is an important step in generating the right predictions for your donors. For instance, if somebody donated to a DM appeal, door knock, community bake sale or as part of a regular gift, it is important that we know that. 

Dataro has a system to automatically identify or 'tag' every transaction and communication in your system using the information in your CRM such as the size of a campaign, when it was run, how many people gave to it, what it is called and more. 

Sometimes Dataro will ask for your help in improving these tags. To do that you will first need to understand the different Dataro Category Tags and Dataro Channel Tags. 

Dataro Category Tags

1. Acquisition: Gifts from new donors who have not given before (e.g., List swap DM Acquisition)
2. Administration: Communications sent for purely administrative purposes, i.e. to inform donors that their annual receipts are being prepared.
3. Appeal: Gifts to an appeal with a single ask (e.g.,Tax DM Appeal)
4. Bequest or Gifts in Will: Gifts made in a will (Note: you may select either option) 
5. Community: Gifts made to a community event to support the charity (e.g. Bake-sales)
6. Convert to RG: A program that seeks to convert donors from single giving to recurring giving
7. Corporate: Gifts made on behalf of corporate entities
8. Email to Target: A communication where the intended outcome is that the donor emails a particular individual or organisation.
9. Emergency: A special subcategory of Appeals, in which the Appeal is launched in response to a recent event relating to Emergency or Disaster relief (e.g. 2022 Ukraine Conflict).
10. Event: Donations made at events (e.g. Gala Dinner) or purchases of event tickets
11. Gift Aid: Donations with an additional tax offset (Note: only applicable to UK charities)
12. Gifts in Will or Bequest: Gifts made in a will (Note: you may select either option) 
13. Government Funding: A campaign to record grants and other types of government funding.
14. In Memory: Gifts made in memory of an individual.
15. Membership: Membership payments (e.g. Sporting club membership)
16. Merchandise: Transactions for items bought via a store (eg. Online T-Shirt purchase)
17. Newsletter: Gifts to a periodic newsletter (e.g., Monthly newsletter)
18. Peer-to-Peer: Gifts made via crowdfunding (e.g. Everyday Hero or Just Giving)
19. Petition: A sign-up through a form or signature (e.g., Facebook Save the Climate leads)
20. Raffle: Donations made for the chance at a prize (e.g. "New Year New Car" Raffle)
21. Receipt: A communication that is sent to a donor as a receipt of an earlier donation. Very occasionally donors will contribute as a response to a receipt.
22. RG Acquisition: A campaign for the purpose of acquiring new donors specifically for Recurring Giving
23. RG Declines:  A campaign undertaken to resolve RG payment issues with donors.
24. RG Reactivation: A campaign to reactivate lapsed recurring givers
25. RG Retention: A campaign to proactively prevent donors from canceling their recurring giving
26. RG Upgrade: A campaign targeted at existing recurring givers to encourage them to increase their gift amount
27. Services: A campaign used to record communications and revenue for services performed by or on behalf of the organisation.
28. Stewardship: Stewardship activities made to potential major donors
29. Survey: A campaign that has the purpose of collating donor attitudes to particular questions and issues.
30. Thank You: A thank you communication without an ask (e.g., Giving 12 months Thank You)
31. Trusts & Foundations: Gifts made on behalf of a trust or foundation
32. Workplace Giving: Regular contributions made as part of an employee’s salary

If your gift or communication type is not found above, we have two "Other" types. These are:

1. One-off: Other single gift donations not classified above
2. Regular Gift: Other Recurring Gift donations (e.g., monthly or annual gifts made as a recurring contribution)

Dataro Channel Tags

Each campaign you run will typically be sent via a particular communication channel. They are:

1. Door-to-Door: Communications made in person at the supporter's residence
2. DRTV: A campaign where the primary communication is via Direct TV Commercials or PSAs.
3. Email: Email (EDM) campaigns
4. Event: Campaigns made at an isolated event
5. Face-to-Face: Communications made on the street and in-person (e.g., Face to Face RG Acquisition)
6. Mail: Direct Mail (DM) and undirected mail sent via the post
7. Online: Campaigns made online (via a website such as Everyday Hero, Just Giving, or Fundraise Up) or other digital channels (such as Facebook)
8. Other: Any other channel not detailed
9. Phone: Telemarketing campaigns made over the phone
10. Radio: Campaign hosted via radio
11. SMS: Campaigns sent via SMS/text message
12. Inserts: Unaddressed printed material such as magazine and newspaper inserts.

For example: if somebody donated to "DM Tax Appeal 2020", then the campaign category is "Appeal" and the channel is "Mail". 

Your organisation may not contain all these different programs and tags, that's OK. You may also have slightly different definitions and that's OK too. The important part is that the Dataro Categories and Dataro Channels are accurate based on our definitions.

Frequently asked questions about campaign tagging

What if my campaign has donations that come from different channels?

Our recommendation is that the Appeals / Packages are constructed in such a way that you can clearly delineate between different campaign categories and channels. However, this may not always be possible and historical data is often not structured this way.

In these situations, we suggest you make a 'best effort' or go with the 'majority' case or the case that is most relevant for costs or income.

A very common situation is that an Appeal type campaign is sent out via Mail and Email and the data has not been captured to separate the two channels. In this situation, our recommendation would be to label the campaign as 'Mail' as that channel has the biggest cost and generally the highest response rates associated with it. 

While it can sometimes be difficult to pin down a campaign to one specific category and channel, the important thing is to be consistent in how you approach the labelling so we can effectively group and understand similar types of campaigns, revenue and interactions.