In Florida, summer starts in May. By June the pool has turned into a bath. By July the pool has become a hot tub! Whether I’m sitting by the pool or in and out of the pool, I like to take advantage of the summer heat to explore and re-think all the research things. And that means reading, watching, and getting training.
Because I really can sit outside under the shade of the umbrella and watch a training video, or read a book while floating in the pool, or focus on thinking through a problem while swimming laps. New thoughts are sparked when I physically re-locate away from my office.
So, instead of the traditional summer reading list, I’m suggesting a summer research adventure list!
Explore your active donor list
Flex your descriptive analytics muscles and swim through your active donors, however you want to define that. Get curiouser and curiouser! Where do they live? How long have they been giving? What was the first gift amount overall, for those with lifetime giving of a certain amount, or any other interesting subset? This is like repeated cannonballs into your donor pool (pun completely intended). You will focus your pattern-detection skills, learn new data tricks, and who knows what else!
Dig into one of your tools
I love it that the market is so competitive that our research tools improve rapidly, but it also makes it tough to keep up. This month our team at Aspire focused on a tool we are thinking about not renewing. Is it really not performing as we need it, or are we using it “wrong?” Do we really know how to use it? Grab a pool float research tool and dive deep with your eyes wide open for new features and new possible use cases.
Pick up that intriguing prospect again
It’s Friday afternoon. You don’t want to quit work early, but… of course, you want to quit early because it’s summer! Find that profile you delivered on time but really wish you could have taken a deep dive into. While you drip dry from your pool dip or find yourself in the biography section at the library, follow your interest shamelessly – like when you lost yourself doing handstands in the water for hours as a kid.
Interview someone
This is a stretch exercise that is good for introverts and extroverts. Is there someone you like and wish you knew more about? It could be a co-worker or just about anyone. Ask to meet them to learn more about them – a coffee date as it were. Take the time to prepare for the meeting with a little research and write up some interesting open-ended questions. Be really curious (this is all about them, not you), and prepare to be surprised, maybe even amazed.
Take the Prospect Research Institute’s free Solid Intel course
I may be biased, but where better to adventure than the Prospect Research Institute? If you haven’t already, consider taking the Solid Intel course. Immerse yourself in the ever-changing challenge of determining whether a source is credible. Muse over how the CRAAP test might evolve over the next five years with the wave of artificial intelligence generated content.
Even if you don’t find any of my five research adventure suggestions interesting, hopefully it’s enough to get you jotting down your own ideas for when your motivation drops during the Dog Days of Summer … Research!
