Frequently Asked Questions

What size of organization do you work with?

For smaller organizations, we structure your data and provide an unparalleled level of insights and visibility into the donor journey.

For larger organizations along with the structuring and labeling of data, we provide custom AI modeling.

What do you mean by generating data?

Machine learning (AI) requires a tremendous volume and depth of data. The phenomenal AI success stories you hear about in the news have a tremendous amount of data to work with, far more than many of the largest nonprofits. However nonprofits are actually generating a tremendous amount of data in their digital footprints and analog activities. Eg. When you send an email you generate numerous data points that aren’t stored in your email system or CRM. You also generate data points in relation to other data points, or what we call meta-data.

At Fundmetric we generate a more robust and relevant data set for your organization.

What do you mean by labeling data?

In machine learning, data labeling is the process of identifying raw data and adding one or more meaningful and informative labels to provide context so that a machine learning model can learn from it.

The structuring and labeling of data is the first crucial step that prevents organizations from truly taking advantage of AI. Labeling is part of the groundwork that must be done correctly and it is usually time consuming and costly.

For those cyberspace cowboys who want to learn more about labeling data, here are some companies in the for-profit space who do it.

What platforms do you integrate with?

Fundmetric custom builds integrations for any of your data sources. Data is very human, therefore we believe that our integrations should not always be mechanical but instead be built to accommodate human inconsistencies. We may build a traditional integration (eg. API), but more often than not we build custom scripts to fit your data exactly.

For example: Some organizations split their donation credits differently between spouses, this can easily paint a misleading picture to machine learning as to who actually makes decisions around giving. This example is why our data science team moves data by hand, and then automates the process. These seemingly small details, have huge human implications and would be missed by mechanical integrations.

How does your support work? You reference training and adoption, what is meant by that specifically?

We sell software, not shelfware. Without a vendor team that learns the context of your organization, we would produce generic predictions. This leads to a lack of trust among staff in the predictive results. Therefore, when it comes to making artificial intelligence useful, adoption across your organization is critical.

When staff feel they are listened to and their input is incorporated, we are all more successful. This is why we include consulting and there is no additional charge for this. We frequently provide context and briefings to teams at all levels including executives and entire boards. Our collaborative approach and ability to fit the workflow of our clients leads to dramatically different outcomes.

We provide regular one on one meetings with an account manager who will bring specialty teams in as needed. This handles strategic fundraising advice, process and user adoption workflows and technical changes to make Fundmetric fit your organization. We also have live chat in-app and email support.

All support is included in your license.

Support includes:
- Dedicated recorded virtual sessions that will train staff how to use the software
- Training around common misconceptions about machine learning and metrics
- A dedicated point of contact at Fundmetric and access to our support team.
- Training of all new staff during transitions etc.
- Additional Training if needed. Retention of the information requires repetition and so we are happy to walk people through the application during dedicated training meetings.
- Real-time support, if a staff member wants to explore the data or develop a new segment, Fundmetric support staff is available through a - live chat and email function to respond during business hours.
- Access to documentation around how to use the product.
- The ability to schedule full or partial training for existing or new staff members
- Training on how the model(s) was created and how to further segment based on behaviors
- Training will also include best practices and the highlighting of opportunities that may have been historically missed.

How long does it take to onboard?

Onboarding varies from organization to organization, depending upon size and the state of your data. Below is a sample timeline of onboarding for medium to large size organizations.

Initial data analysis - 1-2 weeks
Data import and mapping - 2-4 weeks
Data Verification and Integrity - 2-3 weeks
Data Modelling - 2-4 weeks
Settings, Orientation and Platform Configuration - 2 weeks

What is your pricing?

Fundmetric charges one fee based on the size and scale of your organization. Our priority is to make sure Fundmetric is adopted by your organization and therefore there are no additional fees for support, additional users, or access to platform features.

Meet with us to get a quote

Do you do wealth screening?

Yes, Wealthmetric + is a data augmentation service we offer, and we have the ability to pull in publicly available data from multiple sources. This is on a pay per field basis and we only charge for values that are returned. We will also import any of your existing wealth data into Fundmetric free of charge.

- Examples of fields include:
- Household income
- Home value
- Length of time in the home
- Occupation level
- Gender
- Age
- Martial status
- Presence of children
- Education level
- Charitable donor

Can you find additional contact information?

Yes, with Wealthmetric + we can also find additional contact information such as :
- Email activity first active data
- Velocity of email
- Longevity of account
- Last active date
- Postal address

We only charge when we return a value for the requested field.

Does Wealthmetric+ find social media information?

Yes, our social media data is currently included in your licence fee, including information such as:
- Social media
- Social follower count
- Interest data
- Employment history

What do I tell my constituents if they ask What Fundmetric has done with their data?

The following statement is designed to provide clarity for your constituents and help you provide concise, transparent information.




Your Data & Fundmetric

Dear Reader,

We are writing this because the world is changing. The ways in which companies and organizations use data is an important topic of public discussion.

As a leader in artificial intelligence for fundraising organizations, Fundmetric believes that it is important that people be aware of how we collect, store and use data.

Our clients are fundraising organizations. We provide data infrastructure and a data ecosystem that leverages artificial intelligence to help these organizations raise money through online giving, marketing and communicating the impact of those gifts. While we don’t interact with donors directly, if an organization you support is using Fundmetric, here is what you should know about the data we collect, store and use.

At the Foundation of Fundmetric’s data usage:

• Supporter Intention
- We exist to help those who intend to support organizations maximize their impact.    While it is important that everyone has the opportunity to support, it is important to respect people’s    choice to opt-in and out. 
Awareness- Everyone should be aware of how their data is being used and the ability to opt-in where    possible, and also to opt-out. 
Data Owner Empowered- Our clients have secure access and ownership of the data. Fundmetric is not    the data owner.
Ethical A.I.- Frameworks and standards that are laid out ahead of time to govern an emerging    technology, Standards need to be created by a third party, not solely the company implementing them. 


Why Do This?

The proliferation of data and digital footprints mean organizations rely on donations as a source of income needed to retain the attention of their supporters across both traditional (e.g. direct mail) and digital channels (e.g. email). Due to the volume of information that the average individual receives daily, these organizations need to be respectful and strategic about how, when and why they communicate with their constituents and donors.Technology like ours is essential for more efficient and effective decision making, reducing waste and noise pollution, and creating a stronger signal for fundraising organizations on where to focus their time and effort. Fundmetric A.I. models recommend more targeted lists than historical practices. This is because our technology identifies patterns that alternative methods of audience selection overlook.

What We Do:

Fundmetric collects, stores, analyzes and models using the following types of data:

 - Data provided by our organizations/clients including but not limited to:
      ○ Biographic and demographic data
      ○ Contact information including email, address, and phone numbers
      ○ Social Media Engagement on a client’s channels 
      ○ Other activities a constituent may have participated in connected with that specific organization (e.g.          volunteering for the specific organization) 
      ○ Donation History and Payment methods 
      ○ Credit Card Expiry Dates
      ○ Psychographic data a client has purchased or collected  - Data available from public sources including but not limited to:
      ○ Census Data
      ○ At the request of the client, publically available data from third party sources while respecting          privacy    settings (e.g. twitter handle, but not tweets)
  -
User-Generated data not limited to but including:
      ○ Information provided through surveys commissioned or executed by the client
      ○ Information submitted in Fundmetric web forms or emails including the device used, user          interaction,     time and general location at the time the content was clicked or was filled out and          submitted.(similar to    Google Analytics) 

At the request of the client, Fundmetric will securely transfer this information back to the client. 

What we don’t do: 

Fundmetric does not collect the following types of information:
   • Credit card numbers, ccv codes or banking information including debit card numbers
   • Other organizations that constituents may donate to
   • Usage data from other websites or apps (e.g.browsing/shopping preferences)
   • Mobile or wifi data,  phone or camera/microphone usage on other websites (e.g your facebook      activity)We don’t collect precise location data, (e.g. like ridesharing apps do)
  • We don’t track where you physically travel or who else you communicate with
  • We do not model on sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, minority statuses, disability status      information or accessibility feature usage (exceptions are made for accessibility data to fix system      errors) For example, Fundmetric may be provided information like your name, email address and the number of donations you have made to a client organization.. The organization can use our system to send you an email and we will record that you clicked on a series of links and submitted information required to make a donation. If you choose to direct your funds to an initiative, we record the initiative you have directed funds to. The credit card information used in that transaction, is transmitted directly to a third party, secure, verified and vetted payment processor. We store credit card expiry dates to help manage recurring gift plans for our clients. The organization may choose to send you stewardship or thank you notes, and other communications about the impact of your donation using some information collected during this process. 

Fundmetric will never:

   
• Share your data
   • Sell your data 
   • Distribute your data to other entities except where required by law
   • Fundmetric does not use automated bots on third-party websites to scrape information about youWe don’t share your information with anyone except our clients (the organization you engaged with). We also don’t share personally identifiable information with other clients or organizations. The system works only with the data that our client organization either collects, or that is generated as supporters and potential supporters interact with the Fundmetric system. 
For example, if “Organization A” uses Fundmetric and “Organization B” also uses Fundmetric, and you donate to both, neither organization, nor the Fundmetric system would know you donate to the other. If “Organization C” regardless of whether they are a client or not, offered to buy or trade the information, that request would be declined by Fundmetric.

How the System Uses Your Data:

Our clients can use Fundmetric to contact you and to select audiences using our AI insights, Fundmetric does not contact you on behalf of the organization. Client organizations may use our system to reach out to you via video, text, email or direct mail etc. or collect donations. Fundmetric believes that the future of data usage is most likely going to be an opt-in activity. To this end, we have built in many safeguards to give donors the best experience and the fundraising organizations sustainable results in the future. This includes but is not limited to:

   • Email opt-in forms available for users to opt-in for emails 
   • Opt-out pages for email communications including an “opt-out of everything”. 
   • Transactional emails that are required for transparency such as donation confirmation emails are      exempt from Opt-out.
   • We send emails through third party email service providers who do not sell or share data. 
   • Granular contact preferences (opt-in/out) for every channel (e.g. email, direct mail, phone etc.) 
   • We use non-identifiable information in the system where possible to ensure privacy
   • We don’t build or facilitate the use of bots in communications, such as generic automated linkedin            messages.
   • We use your engagement on our platform as both an indicator of interest but we also use lack of      engagement to remove you from things that you aren’t engaged with. 
   • We enable clients to provide you with a complete export of your data 
   • We train our models when they make an incorrect prediction so it makes less mistakes.
   • We don’t do facial recognition or model on connections outside the organization
   • We provide guidelines to our clients to ensure effective, not harassing amounts of contact with you.
   • We may aggregate non-identifiable data of that specific client to provide insights (e.g, donors in the      last    year donated an average of $100)
   • If a relationship with a client is terminated, the data associated with that client is deleted permanently.


Data Protection & Security

Each organization's data is encrypted and stored in its own database. We use secure 256 bit SSL and we do not store personal-identifiable information on company devices. We also have secure physical access to our office and we use Digital Ocean, Microsoft Azure and AWS cloud services including their respective security products.

In the event of data breach, Fundmetric has a data breach policy and procedure that includes prompt notification of the client and support to notify their supporters.

People

All individuals with access to Fundmetric receive privacy and security training annually and are subject to background checks. Except where required by law, Fundmetric only discloses personified information to the client organization. All of an organization's users are verified with the organization on a regular basis and new users must be requested through a verified process.

Fundmetric does not release information to individual supporters directly. Any and all requests must go through the client organization of Fundmetric.

Ethics in A.I.

We believe in the responsible use of artificial intelligence for good. We are members of the Digital Governance Council (formerly known as the CIO Strategy Council.) As members, we support and implement the standard created by the council for the Ethical Design and Use of Automated Decision Systems. While this provides a great framework for ensuring ethical uses of artificial intelligence, we have also had peer-reviewed portions of our work, which includes a robust adherence to ethical research practices. Fundmetric has and continues to host discussions with diverse communities on artificial intelligence and has a consistent and constant focus on being aware of potential bias introduced into our ecosystem.

In conclusion, we believe that the approach outlined above can serve the greater good by working to help the organizations you care about, work smarter. We know there will be ethical dilemmas as we enter a data-driven era, and we will address them in collaboration with our partners. We believe in constant vigilance to ensure our technology delivers in a way that people support, a way that promotes transparency and that it makes sense for any organization servicing a social need through fundraising.

Sincerely,

Mark Hobbs and Rachel Crosbie
Senior Management


Organizations are using Fundmetric to help solve their toughest problems.

We are living in the era of data, and with AI implementation on the horizon for so many organizations, never before has it been more important that people and technology are brought together.

Schedule a demo