Who Else Knows Your Donors?

Originally published October 1, 2014 on LinkedIn as “Who is talking to your donors?”

Updated September 2026

Years ago, CBC Calgary ran a morning radio piece about how many charity runs there were – some weekends, four or five in the city on the same day. People in the sector talked about it as competition for donors.

There is competition. But donors give to what they care about. An environmental charity and a health charity holding events on the same day are like a bakery and a toy store across the hall from each other. Both depend on the same household budget, and each wins by being valuable and relatable to the people who walk in.

You know your donors. Others know them better.

Most charities survey their donors. How are we doing? Will you keep giving? Boards love the answers, and they’re useful. But they only tell you how people feel about you.

Your donors’ car dealership, grocery store, bank, gym and favourite local coffee shop know a great deal about their lives – what they buy, where they spend time, what they care about. The businesses that serve your donors every day often understand them in ways your database never will.

How to learn more, respectfully

Privacy law has changed a lot in the past decade. Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), federal privacy law and Quebec’s Law 25 all shape how you can collect and use personal information. Build every approach on consent and transparency. Here are three that work:

1. Ask your own donors about their lives. Add a few questions to your next survey about their interests, the causes they care about and where they spend their time. Tell them why you’re asking and how you’ll use it.
2. Use aggregate data. Canadian segmentation tools like Environics Analytics’ PRIZM describe the lifestyles and values of neighbourhoods by postal code, without identifying individuals. Look up the areas where your donors are concentrated and see what the data says about the people who live there.
3. Ask your partners. When you meet a potential corporate partner, ask what they know about their customers. Compare it with what you know about your donors. The overlap is the heart of your pitch.

What you can do with it

1. Build better partnerships. Companies invest in causes their customers care about. If you can show a business that your supporters are already their customers, you’ve given them a reason to say yes. If your donors aren’t their customers, you’ve saved everyone a meeting.
2. Care for donors as whole people. When you know what fills their weeks, you can meet them where they are – the right channel, the right timing, a story that connects to their lives.
3. Show up where they live. Social media matters, and so do the grocery store bulletin board, the community newsletter, the local podcast and the rec centre. Your donors shop, eat, travel and scroll like everyone else.

Try this

Before your next corporate pitch, write down three things you know about the company’s customers and three things you know about your donors. If you can’t fill both columns, you have your homework.

Be well.

Sources

1. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, guidance on PIPEDA – https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/
2. Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, Law 25 overview – https://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca/
3. Environics Analytics, PRIZM segmentation – https://environicsanalytics.com/