Reduced key pipeline runs from 15 to two minutes with Gemini Data Engineering Agent
Deployed new AI agents in three weeks versus months with Agent Development Kit
~50% reduction in time to onboard for new analysts
Unified data visibility across 10,000+ digital experiments and unified clients' data silos into a single source of truth
1,000 hours saved by consolidating dashboards into a single view with Looker
NextAfter uses BigQuery and Gemini to process donor data faster, empowering a lean team to scale nonprofit fundraising.
NextAfter uses BigQuery and Gemini to process donor data faster, empowering a lean team to scale nonprofit fundraising.
In the nonprofit sector, data is often trapped in silos. Organizations frequently manage direct mail programs in one place and digital fundraising in another, rarely seeing how a single donor interacts across touchpoints. NextAfter, a digital agency that specifically serves the nonprofit sector, was founded to bridge this gap. Using a rigorous, data-first approach to build a complete picture of donors, the agency helps nonprofits make better decisions based on behavioral science.
We design data-driven experiments that show our clients how to optimize their advertising efforts, then we do the heavy lifting to execute on those findings. But rather than making our clients dependent on us, we also give them the roadmap and tools to ultimately manage their own growth.
Brad Duff-Hudkins
Vice President of Data Analytics, NextAfter
"We design data-driven experiments that show our clients how to optimize their advertising efforts, then we do the heavy lifting to execute on those findings," says Brad Duff-Hudkins, vice president of data analytics at NextAfter. "But rather than making our clients dependent on us, we also give them the roadmap and tools to ultimately manage their own growth."
With clients ranging from higher education institutions to advocacy groups, NextAfter strives to provide high-level, multi-channel insights. The challenge? Doing so with a two-person data team that supports a broader client services team. The duo needed a platform that could consolidate vast amounts of CRM, donation, and ad spend data into a single source of truth without the overhead of maintaining complex, multi-vendor infrastructure. The solution was Google Cloud.
Building a fundraising operating system
on BigQuery and Looker
NextAfter chose Google Cloud as its core operating system to centralize its massive database of over 10,000 digital experiments that nonprofits can use to see what strategies work and how donors respond. At the heart of this setup is BigQuery, which allows the team to blend siloed CRM data with online donation platforms and Google Analytics. This, combined with Data Studio for data visualization, provides clients with personalized dashboards, giving them insights they've never had access to before. For instance, clients can now see that a multi-channel donor is three to five times more valuable than a single-channel donor.
To scale these insights, NextAfter is currently upgrading from Data Studio to Looker. This move will bring LookML into the fold, which will streamline reporting and ensure data consistency across the agency. Previously, to update a metric across more than 80 customer dashboards, the data team had to manually adjust each dashboard individually. With LookML, the team has unified these dashboards into a single version where they can define a metric once and have it populate across all client dashboards simultaneously.
"LookML will cut a massive amount of overhead and maintenance time that a team of our size simply couldn't handle manually," Duff-Hudkins explains. "This frees up the data team to spend more time on projects that drive client programs forward rather than maintaining tech overhead, ultimately saving us 1,000 hours that we can reallocate to expanding our capabilities for our clients and our team."
These tools will also enable NextAfter to demonstrate clients' ROI in ways that were previously impossible. "Our methodology, coupled with the visualization we get from Looker, will allow our clients to tie dollars raised back to their ad spend," Duff-Hudkins says. "They'll finally get to see not just the instant ROI, but the lifetime value of each donor."
LookML will cut a massive amount of overhead and maintenance time that a team of our size simply couldn't handle manually. This frees up the data team to spend more time on projects that drive client programs forward rather than maintaining tech overhead.
Brad Duff-Hudkins
Vice President of Data Analytics, NextAfter
Laying the foundation for
long-term innovation with Gemini
Beyond data unification, NextAfter has transitioned to Google Workspace with Gemini and Gemini Enterprise, which acts as a force multiplier for the company's lean team. Using Agent Developer Kit, a no-code agent builder, the team also created "Winston AI." This agent sits on top of the company's experiment database—called Winston—to help account leads brainstorm new A/B testing ideas based on historical learnings.
This has had a profound impact on the speed of development. A meta-optimizer tool that previously lingered in the prototyping phase was coded and standardized for Google Cloud in just six hours using the Gemini Data Engineering Agent in BigQuery. Similarly, Gemini helped rebuild a data pipeline that queries 55 different Google Analytics sources, reducing the run time from 20 minutes to just two.
"Data is bigger than just running queries. With Gemini, I can train my small team to do more," Duff-Hudkins says. "It gives our account leads the ability to ask questions themselves without relying on a data bottleneck."
Everything we do is data-related, and all our data flows through Google Cloud. Without it, we wouldn't be able to run our business as smoothly as we do.
Brad Duff-Hudkins
Vice President of Data Analytics, NextAfter
This philosophy of self-sufficiency directly supports NextAfter's goal to empower clients to manage their own growth. By providing transparent, near real-time dashboards that tie every dollar of ad spend back to a specific donor, the data team equips our client services group to help educate and train our clients on effective donor growth strategies.
With Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise, NextAfter has broken free from the limitations of a small agency. Now, the team is building a scalable framework for the entire nonprofit sector. "Everything we do is data-related, and all our data flows through Google Cloud," Duff-Hudkins says. "Without it, we wouldn't be able to run our business as smoothly as we do."
NextAfter is a fundraising research lab and digital agency that helps nonprofits acquire more donors and raise more money through data-driven insights and consulting.
Industry: Other
Location: United States
Products: Google Cloud, BigQuery, Looker, LookML, Data Studio, Gemini Enterprise
About Google Cloud partner - Zazmic
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