Why Nonprofits Should Have a Software Platform

Solicitation donations for a cause are serious business. In many cases, nonprofits operate in a very competitive environment with a number of organizations competing for the donation for similar causes.

Given this environment, it is no wonder that nonprofits are willing to exploit any edge that they could find over the competition. In many cases, managers who have experience in for-profit sector run nonprofits. The techniques and experiences of these managers ensure that nonprofits remain competitive, and above all, profitable for their stakeholders.

Fundraising has become an immensely complicated campaign with various stages that are run concurrently. Te idea that one single donation of large amount is the ideal way of generating funds for a particular cause is rapidly loosing traction in nonprofit sector. For many organizations, experience has shown that a small recurring donation works better than a large one-off donation. It is easy to persuade a donor when the nonprofit has already established a relationship based on trust. This way, a nonprofit organization could easily approach the donor for a separate but related cause with little or no resistance.

Organizing fundraising activities has become one of the toughest jobs in nonprofit sector. Gone are the days when the fundraisers used to be a dinner with costly entrance passes. Nowadays, fundraising activities are a year round event that nonprofits have to support with time and effort. Managing various aspects of these activities requires a lot of involvement by the staff and volunteer.

An efficient way of maintaining all the details of the fundraising operations is to use a dedicated software platform. There are three important aspects of the process of running a successful fundraiser.

The first is the management of all the relevant information. Eve a small nonprofit is able to amass a surprisingly huge amount of information about donors, potential donors, various stakeholder and volunteers. The efficient management of the information is an essential first step on the road to success.

A fundraising drive is actually a set of related activities that focus on reaching out to the potential donors, persuading them to donate their money or skills and they follow up the donations with reinforcement. This process is often spread over so many steps that it is difficult for a group of people to keep track of the process. This is just for one fundraising drive. A mid sized or large nonprofit usually works o two or three drives simultaneously.

Finally, management of the donation collected is another important area that requires direct and indirect software support. A record of all the monies collected during the drive has to be kept for tax purposes. This is an important aspect of fundraisers and software support in this regard is very valuable for a nonprofit organization.

The three aspects of nonprofit operations mandate the use of a dedicated software platform. For many organizations, an off the shelf solution is enough for almost all requirements. However, large organizations must explore the possibility of custom-built solutions.

How to Turn Your Nonprofit Donors into Repeat Givers

If you’re involved in any type of nonprofit organization that works off donations, you probably know just how hard it can sometimes be to keep those donations flowing. After all, the economy is not at its best and people work hard for the money and items that they possess. And while people usually do want to help out in some way, not everyone is going to be eager to give you the time to hear you out and listen to your cause. So how can you ensure that you’re doing everything that you can to get your message out and convince people to not only donate, but give again and again?

The following tips are good for keeping your donors repeat givers:
• Be sure your donors understand exactly what your nonprofit is all about-The best way to get people to continue donating to your nonprofit is by educating them on your organization and emphasizing why their donations are needed. If people understand the reason they’re giving and exactly why their help is crucial, they’ll be much more likely to repeat their donations.

• Keep your donors well informed on all your nonprofit’s activities-People will only continue giving if they can see progress being made. After all, what else would their donations be going toward? Be sure all of your nonprofit’s progress is highlighted, and donors are informed of all major steps and milestones. Creating a website for your nonprofit would be a great way of relaying a lot of information to a lot of people in a very short period of time. 

• Inform your donors on exactly where and what their donations will be going to-If you’re asking for donations, people have a right to know exactly where their contributions will go, or what they’ll be spent on. The more detailed you are in this explanation, the more comfortable people will feel with giving more, and more often.

• Be interactive with your donors and get them involved with your nonprofit’s activities-The better relationship that you have with your donors, the more inclined they will be to return to your nonprofit to help and give their support. It’s important to remember to always be pleasant with your donors, but it’s even more effective to take it a step further and get to know your donors on a personal level, if at all possible. Invite your donors to any campaigns that you may have, and make them feel welcome at any meetings or gatherings. Brining your donors together and involving them in your nonprofit’s activities will motivate them to donate more by enabling them to see the work you are doing as it happens, and making them feel like a part of a group .

• Make your donors feel appreciated- A little appreciation goes a long way and your donors will be much more likely to donate again if they feel valued and respected. Spending money on gifts isn’t necessary. There are plenty of ways that you can show your appreciation without spending a single dime.

Repeat donors are the foundation of any successful nonprofit. You can better incorporate all of the tips mentioned with great donor management software that allows you to manage donor relationships with ease. Focus your efforts on cultivating a loyal donor base for sustainable success!

Four Functional Areas of Nonprofit Software Platforms

For laypeople, the variety in fundraising management software could be overwhelming. There are a number of vendors to choose from and every vendor offers a lineup of products and services as their standard offering.

However, on careful analysis, it appears that all the platforms share some common features that allow for excellent performance and support that all nonprofit organizations need for successful operation.

According to experts, all successful nonprofit management platforms have four key functional areas in common. The interesting thing is the differences in implementation of the theoretical idea. All platforms agree on the nature, core functionalities and additional features that these four areas must provide. However, all vendors implement these theoretical ideas in their own way. The main reasons of the difference are the cost of implementation and the potential clients of the vendor.

There has been an argument that the vendors should produce a single product that could be further customized according to the requirements of every client. This argument stems from the classical ideas of software development where the SDLC dictates development of a single product with heterogeneous applications. Thus, a single product such as a software programs should be robust enough to cater to different clients, each with their own implementation requirements.

However, the development cycle of such a product is very long and costly. In order to incorporate all the bells and whistles into the platform, many vendors have to sink in a large development budget on development and marketing. In many cases, the recovery of this development budget is slow enough to ensure that the vendor sinks under.

The new approach of software development, particularly nonprofit software, is to develop modules rather than a homogenous product.  This idea focuses on key function areas of the operations of nonprofit organizations. Experts usually divide the requirements of these organizations into three key areas. Thus a software platform designed for these organization usually have at least there modules.

Information management is the key to successful operations of the organization. Information about past, present and future donors, volunteers and staff is vital for generating donations for a cause.

Management of fundraising activities is an ongoing process that requires the support of the software platform. The volume of any donation collection drive has expanded to include such wide activity area that the staff of the nonprofit usually needs automation of the routine tasks. This is only possible through a dedicated module that takes over the management of the campaign.

Processing of the donations collected as the result of the activity of the organization is important because of the strict requirements of tax authorities. Many of these modules offer direct connection to the bank account of the organization, either directly or through third party payment gateways.

All three functional areas are connected through an underlying system of sub modules that are supervised by a dedicated management system. This management system offers the managers of the organization powerful reporting capabilities that could zero down to any combination of variables.