Flipping 80/20

In nonprofit fundraising the Pareto Principle, commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule, tells us that about 80% of an organization's individual donor revenue will come from 20% of those donors. The suggestion here is to focus more energy and resources on the 20%.

I'd like to flip the 80/20 rule around to reimagine how it applies to nonprofit askers and their use of donor data. Call it the Asker 20/80 Rule.

Nonprofit askers spend most of their time in ask mode which is good and necessary. In the Asker 20/80 Rule, askers spend 20% more time working with donor data to raise 80% more from donors.

This means an asker who currently spends an hour a week working in the database, would spend twenty additional minutes a week doing tightly focused donor analysis to determine things like next ask amount, total giving to specific initiatives, and matching gift opportunities to name just a few.

How do you feel this would impact a nonprofit's fundraising goals?