The message is clear. If your charity is not getting more tech-savvy, if you are not using technology to change the way you work, the way you relate, the way you make a difference, then, frankly, you’re still in the dark ages.
So-called charity management has been dealt some mean beatings over the years. I should know – I’ve been there, doing it.
Tech Isn’t Just for the Techies:
Second, stop thinking of tech as the domain of IT geeks with degrees from MIT. There is no reason why products designed for charities should be hard to use, for surely they have been designed so that staff don’t have to spend too much time learning how so they are as easy as pie.
You do not need to know how to build a computer to know how to use a good CRM, or send out your donor newsletter, or even your appeals. If it has taken me this long to figure it out, I promise you, it won’t take you anywhere near this long.
Streamlining Everything:
But among the advantages of integrating technology into everyday work, surely one of the biggest is the boost in efficiency you can often achieve. Just look at donor relationship systems. In the Bad Old Days, we’d be drowning in spreadsheets, information was stored in inaccessible silos, and any kind of analysis was a nightmare.
Now, with a few keystrokes, we can generate a record of every donation they’ve ever made, craft customised communications focused on their passions, and track their interactions across devices. It resembles a treasure map of every chest ever buried – except that instead of trésors, we’re talking donor goodwill, and money.
Real-Time Data – A Game Changer:
And then there’s the live feed. This stuff is… I dunno, it might as well be gold dust. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Except, not when you’re running a campaign. ‘What works, what doesn’t’ is the key question for any business. As real-time analytics are concerned, the answer might be here, might be now.
Automation – Because We’ve Got Better Things To Do:
And by automation, I’m not just referring to reducing gruntwork (although that’s something it does very well), but to the way the technology, integrated through sophisticated charity management software, multiplies our efficacy and leverage, allowing us to focus on what matters, our mission.
Streamlining Donor Communications
Keeping in regular contact with donors in an active and meaningful way is one of the most time-consuming jobs that any charity has to do. Now here’s where automation steps in to be your superhero. Charity management software can be programmed to fire off personalised thank you messages and donation receipts, but also something as simple as an email on a donor anniversary to acknowledge their commitment. This is about more than manners: it’s a strategic move to keep donors involved without using up all your staff’s time and effort in hours of data entry.
Event Management Made Easy
Then there’s event management. Remember those sleepless nights you spent desperately trying to keep track of your registrations, sending out confirmations and updating your attendee lists? Automation through charity management software turns that nightmare into a dream: from automated sign-ups and reminders to post-event feedback surveys, you can engage your audience like never before while generating invaluable data to deliver even better events in the future.
Scheduled Reporting – Insights on Tap
Routine reporting is a real pain to deal with. Coming up with reports on fundraising campaigns, donor profiles, or budget allocations can necessitate a lot of manipulation of data and can demand a lot of labour. Your charity management software can automate reporting since it can send reports to your inbox as soon as they run. You can schedule reports for whatever frequency you need, be it weekly, monthly or otherwise.
Automating Financial Transactions
Let’s hit the balance sheet. You need to be able to pay your bills, and automation ensures accounting is accurate and accountable. A program can track every dollar, code your expenses and even reconcile your bank statements, ensuring that your financial reporting is perfect and ready for audit. It reduces the risk of human error and allows your finance team to focus on the big picture instead of getting stuck in the processing of numbers.
Moving to automation in the management of your charity is not just about keeping up with technology; it is about moving your charity forward with smarter, more effective practices, reducing manual effort, cutting costs on errors, and freeing up your team’s time to focus on strategic initiatives. This is a change worth talking about, because it doesn’t just make your organisation more effective; it multiplies your impact. And if you haven’t yet started looking at these options, it’s worth diving in, because the benefits go well beyond the merely big. They are transformational.
Managing Volunteer Programs with the Help of a Good Charity CRM
Managing a volunteer program is one of the most rewarding responsibilities of a charity’s management, but it’s also one of the most complex. Nonprofit volunteers are the lifeblood of many organisations, providing the people-power so many missions and community services require. But coordinating that workforce is a multifaceted challenge that demands an organised approach: managing a flow of goodwill from scheduling and communications to the tracking of their contributions. A good Charity CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can transform a convoluted operation into a well-run, efficient process. Here are some of the ways in which a CRM can relieve your volunteer management headaches.
Centralised Volunteer Database
Good records are the starting point of effective volunteer management. A good CRM system allows a charity to build an accessible database of volunteers’ details, including contact information, skills, availability and areas of interest. As well as making it easier to find a volunteer who will be suited to a particular task, this allows a charity to build up a relationship with them over time by updating personal details.
Enhanced Communication
Communication is essential for both maintaining volunteer interest and communicating news. A CRM can facilitate this by allowing for one-off and mass communications, depending on the needs of the organisation. A CRM can send bulk email about upcoming opportunities, personalise email messages to volunteers thanking them for their service, or send newsletters about upcoming events and volunteer-related news. All of these communications can be automated and personalised to the extent that information has been added to the volunteer’s profile. This means that volunteers can receive communications that are targeted to their interests, experiences and relevant to them.
Efficient Scheduling and Task Assignment
Matching volunteers to opportunities efficiently and expediently, assigning responsibilities, and coordinating schedules can be a logistical nightmare unless you have the right tools. A CRM can automate these processes, assigning individuals to opportunities that are a match for their interests and availability. At its most sophisticated, a CRM might enable volunteers to book themselves for shifts via an integrated calendar, receive automatic reminders, and sign in and out through the same system, instantly updating their availability, thereby eliminating much of the administrative overhead.
Tracking Participation and Impact
The importance of volunteers to your charity cannot be underestimated, and a CRM can be used to track the hours they’ve contributed, and the tasks they’ve completed, and even whether the task achieved the desired outcome. All these can be used to report back to funding bodies, as well as for planning and strategy, but also to acknowledge and reward the efforts of the volunteers. For example, the CRM might identify which volunteers are the most active and might be suitable for leadership roles, or additional jobs to take on.
Feedback and Improvement
Feedback is a key element of any volunteer programme, and it is important to have a way to gather and review that feedback; feedback can be provided by the volunteer to the programme in terms of what is working or what needs to be improved, and it can also be received by the volunteer to the programme, such as feedback about a volunteer’s performance. A CRM system can facilitate the collection and analysis of this feedback. A volunteer can be asked to provide feedback about their experience in a way that does not violate the volunteer’s right to privacy. This feedback can then be used to improve the volunteer programme, by correcting issues and improving volunteer satisfaction. Having a record of this feedback saved in the CRM will ensure that any actionable insights are not lost.
Integration with Other Tools
The best CRMs can also plug into the other tools and platforms charities use – for social media recruitment, for example, or for online fundraising or event management. In this way, all aspects of volunteer management can be joined up – from recruitment to retention and beyond.
Having a volunteer programme powered by a good charity CRM can help you make your programme more efficient and effective. This is because it can help you centralise data, take care of all your communications, automated scheduling and tracking of the participation, and therefore not only save you your own time and resources but also make your volunteer experience better so that you can attract more volunteers who will be more engaged and loyal to your charity. A good CRM tool is more than just a software that you have to buy; it is a strategic tool that can help you manage your volunteers and achieve your charitable objectives more effectively.
Connectivity That Counts:
Plus, connectivity: on the cloud-based platforms, we can work from wherever we are, and can be more flexible. When the world was shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we could keep moving, without being able to be in our office. It was how we kept moving, and together, and it helped us feel connected to donors and beneficiaries alike – no distance, no physical meeting was an obstacle.
To make things worse, if you’re not using technology, it’s not just that you’re working harder. You’re working less effectively. Tech is the great leveller. It enables the little charities to punch above their weight. If you haven’t moved to using technology, you need to start now. Get on board – or fall behind – because, in charity terms, there is no ‘silver medal’. If your cause matters, you have to be the best.
