Case Study: YWCA Metropolitan Chicago improves donor targeting with Slalom

Using data to connect with People who can change lives

The YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering women and eliminating racism, faced a challenge with its donor and constituent data. Their programs operated on disconnected systems with inconsistent data collection, making effective fundraising and engagement difficult. They partnered with the vendor Slalom, who provided pro bono advanced analytics services, to tackle this data unification and analysis challenge.

Slalom implemented a solution by first attempting to unify the disparate data sources. When data quality issues prevented direct analysis, the team pivoted by using US Census data to create demographic profiles of ideal donors. Through this analysis, Slalom identified ten specific ZIP codes with high donation potential that the YWCA was not currently engaging. This provided a clear, actionable roadmap for targeted marketing and helped the organization gain a much better understanding of its donor base and service gaps.

YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

Molly Silverman

Director