Virtuous Insights is a comprehensive donor and prospect research tool in Virtuous CRM+. It uses data from your CRM, third-party sources, and machine learning to provide predictive insights, scoring, and recommendations. The Scores measure a donor’s wealth, engagement, and other factors and are designed to help you understand your supporters’ capacity and affinity to your organization better. Insights Scores can be found in both the Aggregate View, as averages across your donor base, and on the Contact View, for the specific donor.
This article covers what Insights Scores and other indicators mean and what drives them.
Table of Contents
Virtuous Insights Scores
Insights Scores, ranging from 0 to 100, are assigned to each Household Contact in 8 areas that measure a donor’s wealth, engagement, and other factors. Each Insights score serves a different purpose, designed to help you understand your supporters’ affinity and connection to your organization better. For instance, a higher Composite Score indicates a greater likelihood of a donor becoming a Major Donor.
All scores are comparative to other supporters within your database. The Average Score section from the Insights Aggregate View helps you understand what your typical donor looks like and the averages of each score.
These averages are helpful in creating comparisons of specific Contacts’ scores, which can be seen in the Contact View. For example, if a Contact has a higher Composite Giving Score than the average Composite Giving Score, this Contact is a good candidate to be a Major Donor. This score comparison will place supporters into one of three Score Categories:
- Higher Than Most
- Inline With Most
- Lower Than Most
Use the reference below for details on what activity and actions influence each score.
Composite Giving Score
The Composite Giving Score is a holistic score that includes a range of factors to identify your best donors and prospects. It combines first-party data like engagement, volunteering, and giving patterns with third-party data like net worth and income. There are three separate "component scores" that make up the Composite Giving Score:
- Wealth & Capacity looks at how much money and property a Contact has using first-party and third-party data.
- Connection score is a unique rating of how closely connected they are to your organization through giving, volunteering, and email and web page activity using first-party data.
- Likelihood scores them on how likely they are to donate using first-party data.
Use the toggle in the top right corner to dive into more information of each of the three component scores that build the Composite Giving Score. Here, you’ll also find a comparison of how this donor ranks compared to others in your database for the chosen component score.
Social Score
The Social Score uses first-party data from CRM+ to rank Contacts based on how much social capital they may have. Scoring is based on relationships, their local community, and social presence.
Additionally, three cards and information on the ranking of this Contact’s Social Score display when you select the Social Score box:
- Contacts in Network: This is the number of Relationships this Contact has in Virtuous CRM+. The larger the number, the more connected they are to your community.
- Donors Nearby: This is the number of Contacts in your database who live nearby. Givers in a close-knit community of your supporters can help deepen your relationships.
- Online Social Presence: This indicates whether Virtuous CRM+ has identified social media accounts for this Contact. Supporters can help amplify your messaging to their followers.
Lapse Risk Score
The Lapse Risk Score rates the likelihood that a donor may lapse in the future using first-party data like giving patterns and recent giving. This score analyzes each donor's unique giving patterns to identify predictive trends. Note that a higher score indicates a higher risk of the donor lapsing.
Additionally, three cards and information on the Lapse Risk Score Category display when you select the Lapse Risk Score box:
- Most Recent Gift and Days Since Last Gift: Are they still an active donor? Contacts who have given more recently are less likely to churn. If it's been a while since they gave, their risk is higher.
- Overall Giving Trend: Gift Count and Total Giving are taken into account over the past two rolling years. If there’s a decrease, you may want to re-connect with this donor.
Volunteer Score
The Volunteer Score looks at volunteer history using first-party data in Virtuous CRM+ to identify your best volunteers.
Additionally, three cards and information on the Volunteer Score Category display when you select the Volunteer Score box:
- Total Volunteer Hours: Your best volunteers are those who spend more time volunteering. This count represents the total number of hours volunteered in the last year.
- Volunteer Attendances: How often do they volunteer? This count represents the total number of volunteer opportunities this household participated in over the last year.
- Last Volunteer Date: Are they currently active? Volunteers who have participated more recently are more engaged with your organization right now.
Planned Giving Score
The Planned Giving Score indicates how likely a Contact is to make a planned gift. Scoring is based on first-party data like age, giving history, and their engagement with your organization as well as third-party data like marital status and if they have children. (To learn more about Planned Gifts in Virtuous CRM+, check out this Support Article.)
Additionally, three cards and information on the Planned Gift Score Category display when you select the Planned Giving Score box:
- Age of Primary Individual: Studies have shown that age is a key factor in planned giving. Individuals are more likely to think about estate planning once they reach a certain age.
- Lifetime Gift Count: More loyal donors are generally more likely to make an estate gift. This is reflected here by the total amount of Gifts received from this Contact.
- Consecutive Years Given: How many years in a row have they given? Donors who give annually for longer stretches are more likely to consider a planned gift.
Aggregate View
The Aggregate View of Insights gives you Predictive Insights, Wealth and Giving Trends, Donor Engagement, and Demographic Charts for all donors and prospects to your organization.
Predictive Insights
The Predictive Insights section prioritizes donors and prospects for engagement and provides lists of Contacts your organization should connect with. Predictive Insights identifies specific people with the potential to make a big impact or those who need to be re-engaged. Select into each list to view the donors, sort, or create bulk actions.
Potential Major Donors
These are Contacts in your database who are most likely to make a major gift using both first-party data like largest gift and Connection Score, as well as third-party data like income and new worth. A major gift is defined here as a single gift of at least $10,000. These Contacts do not have a ‘Major Donor’ Tag. Note: The ‘Major Donor’ Tag filter is not case-sensitive.
How to Use This List: Prioritize these Contacts for one-on-one cultivation meetings to understand their interests and explore opportunities for giving that aligns with their passions.
Potential Recurring Donors
These are Contacts in your database who are most likely to commit to a recurring gift. These are donors who show patterns of more frequent giving and increasing engagement but do not yet have a Recurring Gift created in CRM+. This list is created based mostly on first-party data like frequency of giving and engagement but it does consider third-party data like the donor’s connection score.
How to Use This List: Reach out to these Contacts with a targeted campaign that highlights the sustained impact of monthly giving, makes sign-up easy through your giving page, and emphasizes how their consistent support powers your mission long-term.
Potential Planned Givers
Potential Planned Givers are the Contacts in your database who are most likely to commit to a Planned Gift. These Contacts are identified based heavily on first-party data like age, giving history, and their engagement with your organization but consider some third-party data like marital status and if they have children.
How to Use This List: Engage these Contacts through legacy giving communications that share stories of lasting impact, invite them to heritage society events, and provide resources about planned giving options that can help them leave a meaningful legacy.
Contacts with High Connection
Contacts with High Connection are those who are closest to your organization. These Contacts may be frequent donors, active volunteers, and often attend events or engage with email content based on first-party data.
How to Use This List: Deepen relationships with these highly engaged Contacts by inviting them to exclusive events, gathering their feedback, and exploring leadership volunteer opportunities or advocacy roles that leverage their passion.
Donors at Risk of Lapsing
Donors at Risk of Lapsing are those Contacts most likely to churn in the near future. They are identified by analyzing first-party data like each donor's unique giving patterns and recent giving to identify predictive trends.
How to Use This List: Re-engage these Contacts with personalized outreach that acknowledges their past support, shares compelling impact stories showing how their gifts made a difference, and invites them to reconnect with a new opportunity.
Wealth and Giving Trends
The Wealth and Giving Trends section includes average wealth data and scores across all Contacts in your database to create baseline statistics. These are helpful in creating comparisons to specific donors on their Insights Contact View.
Giving Stats
Giving Stats are key statistics from CRM+ about average Household giving to your organization across all donors. These statistics include Passthrough Gifts but do not include grants or corporate giving.
How to Use These Stats: Use these benchmarks to set realistic Campaign goals, compare specific donor giving against your average to identify upgrade opportunities, and establish appropriate Gift Ask amounts that reflect typical patterns within your donor base.
Average Scores
The Average Scores listed here represent the average of all scored Households in your database, meaning they are relative to other supporters in your database. These scores are useful for establishing a baseline understanding of your typical donor which allows you to compare and contextualize the scores of individual Contacts. These scores do not include Grants or corporate giving.
How to Use These Stats: Use these averages when segmenting your donor pool to identify above-average prospects who warrant more targeted cultivation.
Net Worth
This section provides insights into the average wealth data of your donor pool from third-party sources which help inform donor capacity assessments. Use the data here to see the average net worth and income for households in your donor pool. Additionally, SEC Insider status is a traditional wealth marker that can indicate valuable giving potential.
How to Use These Stats: Use these wealth indicators to refine your major gift prospect pipeline and set benchmarks for realistic fundraising goals.
Donors by Lifecycle Category
This section provides statistics on how your organization is performing in a few categories within the donor journey based on first-party data from CRM+. Use this breakdown of your donor pool by category to assess your fundraising success at converting and maintaining different donor segments. Click to view and perform bulk actions on the Contacts in each category.
How to Use These Stats: Monitor these lifecycle metrics regularly to identify areas of improvement in your donor pipeline, create targeted campaigns that move donors from one stage to the next (such as First Year to Second Year Donor,) and measure the effectiveness of your retention and upgrade strategies over time.
Donor Engagement
The Donor Engagement provides two charts, Engagement by Channel and Top 5 Cause Areas, to help you understand patterns in donors’ behavior and causes, which can help your organization build better relationships. The Engagement by Channel chart uses first-party data to display the most frequent ways your supporters are interacting with your organization. The Top 5 Cause Areas uses third-party data to compare how your donors support different philanthropic causes.
How to Use These Stats: Focus your communication efforts on the channels where donors are most active to maximize engagement, and craft Campaign messaging that connects your mission to the broader cause areas your donors care about.
Demographics
The Demographics section, similarly, provides chart data on the backgrounds and interests of your donor base including Religious Affiliation, Political Ideology, Education, and Top 5 Interests and Hobbies. This information may help you target or tailor your communication to specific audiences. These demographics come from third-party sources that can provide helpful insights into donor interests but should be reviewed for accuracy.
How to Use These Stats: Segment your communications based on shared interests and backgrounds to create more resonant messaging and potential groups for peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities.
Contact View
The Contact View from Insights gives you Donor Scores, Wealth Insights, Engagement Insights, Individual Insights, and Giving Stats.
Scores
The scores on the Contact View give you the specific donor’s rating in the 8 areas detailed above. As mentioned above, the Contact is compared to the Average Score of donors in your CRM and placed into a Score Category (Higher, Inline, or Lower.) Each Score will also have a Confidence Match indicator next to the title to represent how much available data exists related to that Score.
Wealth & Giving Insights
The Wealth & Giving Insights section includes the donor’s Suggested Gift Potential, estimated Net Worth, Political District, Real Estate and Additional Indicators. Use the values here to better understand supporters capacity to give.
Suggested Gift Potential
Use this section to provide specific, data-driven giving recommendations. These insights are powered by a combination of your own 1st party data and verified 3rd party wealth indicators. You can toggle between three strategic views based on your fundraising goals:
- Single Gift: View a specific Gift Suggestion representing the mid-point of a donor's annual capacity. Use the Annual Gift Potential Range bar to see the full spectrum of their giving ability, from minimum to maximum.
- Recurring & Direct Response: Identify "Medium" to "High" likelihood candidates for sustained giving. For high-value donors, we recommend an "Open" ask, allowing them the flexibility to choose their own amount.
How to Use These Stats: Use the low Annual Gift Potential Range estimate for initial asks with newer relationships, the mid estimate for established donors showing regular engagement, and the high estimate for very connected supporters
Net Worth
Use the values here to better understand which donors could make a large financial gift. These statistics come from third-party data sources and should be reviewed for accuracy. The Net Worth section includes:
- Estimated Net Worth
- Annual Income
- Discretionary Income
- SEC Insider (Insiders own at least 10% of a public company or are one of top officers of a public company.)
How to Use These Stats: Prioritize donors whose capacity significantly exceeds their current giving level, and craft tailored solicitation strategies that match the sophistication and scale appropriate for high-net-worth individuals.
Real Estate
Understanding a donor's property holdings is key to gauging liquidity and long-term wealth. The Real Estate section includes:
- Portfolio Totals: Summaries of Total Estimated Value, Total Number of Properties, and Total Estimated Equity.
- Each holding is identified as a Primary Residence or Additional Property and includes details like Owner Occupancy, Tax Exempt Status (e.g., Veteran or Disabled), and Property Type (e.g., Single Family vs. Condominium).
Each property includes a Confidence Score indicating data reliability and a direct Zillow Link for real-time market research.
How to Use These Stats: Identify donors with high home values or investment properties as major gift prospects.
Political District
Organizations involved in advocacy or lobbying can also use political district details for targeted outreach. Districts include:
- Congressional District
- State Senate District
- State House District
Additional Indicators
These fields may indicate a donor’s capacity to give. They include:
- SEC Insider
- Known Political Donor
- Likely Supported Causes
How to Use These Stats: Leverage legislative district information to mobilize donors for advocacy or policy-related initiatives.
Engagement Insights
Highly engaged supporters are more likely to donate to your organization. Use the chart data here to see how your Contact is interacting with your organization through email activity, Volunteering, web visits, Event attendance, and Giving. This information is based on the first-party data used in CRM+ Marketing and Events.
The charts includes:
- Engagement Signals Over Time: This chart details engagement activities over time. Use the toggles to view data for specific Individuals or the entire Household.
- Engagement Frequency by Channel: What's the best way to connect? This graph provides counts of interactions by channel. Use the toggles to view data for specific Individuals or the entire Household.
- Last Engagement Date: When was the last time you connected with this giver? See the dates for their most recent interactions here. Use the toggles to view data for specific Individuals or the entire Household.
How to Use These Stats: Prioritize outreach through the channels and during timeframes where each Contact is most active, and re-engage supporters whose last interaction date reveals they're drifting away before they become fully lapsed.
Individual Insights
This information helps you gather more personal and professional background on specific Individuals in the Household record. Responsive Fundraising is about connecting with your donors personally, and these Individual Insights help create meaningful touch points. The Individual Insights come from third-party data sources that can provide helpful insights into donor interests. However, this information should be reviewed for accuracy.
Use the details in the Personal Life, Professional Life, and Business or Employer sections to get to know your donor better and engage with them based on their interest, employment, education, and veteran status. Education and Current Occupation will sync from LinkedIn-sourced data.
How to Use These Stats: Personalize outreach by referencing shared personal or professional backgrounds, tailor impact stories to align with their specific interests and life stage, and look for natural commonalities that make your solicitation feel relevant and personal.
Giving Stats
The Giving Stats display how the donor currently supports your organization with their direct and Passthrough Gifts, Giving from their Network of relationships, and if they have an Open Gift Ask. These statistics come from the first-party data in CRM+.
These include:
- Life-to-Date Giving: Total amount and gift count received from a Contact over their entire giving history with your organization
- Single Highest Gift: Based on Largest Gift Amount and Largest Gift Date in Virtuous CRM+,) including amount and date the gift was made
- Most Recent Gift: Based on Last Gift Amount and Last Gift Date in Virtuous CRM+.
- Life-to-Date Passthrough Giving: Amount and gift count for Passthrough Gifts, or soft credits
- Giving from Network: This considers giving from anyone this Contact has a Relationship with in the database. Giving amount is the total dollars given by everyone this Contact has a Relationship with, and the number of Contacts is based on the number of Relationships this Contact has in the database.
- Open Gift Asks: Whether or not there are open Gift Asks for this Contact. (For more information on Gift Asks, check out this Support Article.)
How to Use These Stats: Anchor your Gift Ask amount around their highest previous gift to demonstrate upgrade potential, acknowledge their giving consistency and total impact in stewardship touch points, leverage their network connections to explore peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities, and check for open Gift Asks before making new solicitations.
Next Steps
If you've made it this far, congratulations! Now that you know what these values mean and actions to consider for your donors, you can check out this Support Article to learn more about what you can do with this data in bulk, including Query and Automation building!