“The bad economy is a good time for nonprofits to retool their technology and the way they use it for fundraising,” says Todd Cohen, a writer for the Philanthropy Journal.
Spending money on technology or software during a bad economy might seem to go against common sense. However, this is a misconception. One of the strengths of the software and technology available is that it helps improve communication and ultimately relationships. In a down economy, maintaining strong relationships is the number one key for success.
So how does technology help in this process? Cohen writes, “Nonprofits’ goal in using their technology should be to tell their stories simply land clearly, and use what they know about their givers to generate donations.”
Using technology to look at the data on your donors—giving amounts, events they’ve attended, etc.—helps you determine to how to best reach them. This is not a complicated software program to get this information. Simplistic programs will be the most helpful, actually.
Within this investment is “the cost of software and integrating it into existing databases and systems, but also the effort involved in training staff and reengineering business processes to make the most product use of the new tech setup.” It may sound like a lot of work, but it is important investment nonetheless. Always keep perspective as you make changes. Details need a balance of vision.
An overview of what this software can look like:
-- Using several databases to separate donors into categories—Having these separate groups is helpful because you can easily contact various groups according to their needs and the best forms to contact them. These databases help supplement the other systems used to reach donors through-out the gifting process.
-- Staff can access this information—Allowing staff members to access the information on donors on each of their individual computers can be helpful because this gives them a chance as well to make their own notes on the donors they interact with and maintain the information.
--Tracking data on donors—Holly Ross, who works with nonprofit technology groups, says one of the strengths of using technology is “getting data to work together so you have a 360-degree view of donors and are communicating effectively with them.” Keeping data on which donors are active, inactive, and their giving patterns is essential. Barry Newstead, a partner in a nonprofit consulting group, says “the ability to have an institutional view of those relationships and their history and status is a valuable resource, and most nonprofits can’t keep track of that. An individual who gives a small gift this year can be the one who gives a big gift next year.”
If you are looking at cost, Ross even says that for “small nonprofits with homegrown databases […] should be able to acquire a constituent-relationship-management system for less than $4,000 a year. There are many affordable options; it just takes the research time. Newstead suggests looking for “add-ons and other applications to help […] send emails and get more mileage out of […] databases.”
Ross uses email services that allow organizations to track information as an example of the power of technology. “Technology now allows nonprofits to see who opened an email message, or clicked on a link or took action, for example, or to track which of several links attracted the most clicks. You can see what content they’re accessing. Everything they do to consume information about your organization is not data, and we need to be able to turn that into intelligence that lets us understand how to better communicate with our donors, and it’s even within the grasp of smaller organizations.”
Keep the vision in mind and make an investment.
Additional information taken from Todd Cohen’s article “Back-to-basics technology critical for fundraising”
-- Jessica High is a Research Assistant at Christian Foundation Grants (www.christianfoundationgrants.com) which is a subscription database of foundations that provide grants to faith based organizations. iDonate.com is a website (www.iDonate.com) that allows ministries to receive non cash gifts online