Analytic tools boost WWF fundraising

BI and web 2.0 tools are helping the WWF in its efforts to protect endangered animals

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is extending the use of business intelligence (BI) tools and implementing more web innovation to better use data about charitable donors.

A period of ineffective information management in the early 2000s prompted a rollout of business analytics software provided by SAS as the charity needed more sophisticated tools to improve revenue.

Use of BI in direct marketing has already generated a 25 per cent return on investment to WWF and more than $1bn (£625m) of donations for its latest campaign. Now the charity wants to integrate the systems into the GPS-based applications used by its research division to measure progress in achieving environmental conservation.

“We need to see what else is beyond direct marketing for BI,” said Terry Macko, chief marketing officer at WWF. “We are investigating ways to give that functionality to our scientists to support their work via improved planning and construction of advanced environmental patterns.”

To attract more supporters, WWF’s upcoming projects may also include further use of Web 2.0 tools and neural network systems.

“We are not sure of the extent to which the downturn will affect fundraising but it is important that we have a steady stream of donations. And to get them, we need to know who to ask, as well as when and how much we should ask,” said Macko.

“BI is not something you just turn on and off; it needs to be embedded.”