2025 has come roaring in with a wave of uncertainty for nonprofits. Whereas nonprofits had been already struggling in a local weather of lowering donors and rising donor churn, funding freezes from the federal authorities have created a number of challenges.
Equally, 5 years in the past this month nonprofits confronted a surge of uncertainty amid lockdowns and world pandemic that put many conventional fundraising methods on ice.
The nonprofits that survived and even grew out of covid typically had one factor in frequent, digital maturity that enabled them to shortly evolve. Shifting galas, meals drives and extra on-line. Consequently they eliminated the price of producing in individual occasions, had been capable of attain extra folks at a low price per contact and had increased margins from their occasions circulation to their applications.
What’s clear is {that a} nonprofit’s resilience requires common analysis of its know-how stack, the price of letting antiquated techniques linger is just too nice within the midst of a turbulent macro and micro setting. However how ought to a nonprofit method evaluating their know-how? My mantra has all the time been that know-how isn’t your technique, it empowers it. The next is a roadmap for evaluating your know-how and figuring out in case your group has a stack that can drive long run sustainability whether or not dealing with pandemics or funding disaster.
I. Understanding Know-how Resilience within the Nonprofit Context
As I discussed, know-how in and of itself just isn’t a method. The perfect entrepreneurs on the earth work for SaaS firms convincing you that the answer to any enterprise drawback exists within the procurement of their know-how. However after a decade of tech consulting, I’ve seen a whole bunch of organizations over purchase know-how with no plan in place to put it to use.
Nonprofits, specifically, don’t have the luxurious of carrying know-how bloat. Each greenback counts. Creating resilience via know-how can also be greater than “having the most recent instruments.” In case you’re chasing the most recent and biggest you’ll drive your self mad. Simply discover just a few of the LUMAscapes to see how shortly you’ll be able to drive off a cliff pursuing “instruments.”
As an alternative, your focus must be on consolidation, adoption, activation, eradicating friction, and common evaluate.
For instance, Pinky Swear Basis a nonprofit in Minneapolis/St. Paul, who offers monetary grants to households battling childhood most cancers, accomplished a digital transformation mission that consolidated practically a half a dozen advertising and marketing and fundraising instruments into 2 platforms, HubSpot and Fundraise Up. The outcomes had been elevated inbound giving and eradicating friction from the donation course of for offline occasions like radiothon, elevating practically $500k in 2024, 40% of which got here via digital channels.
II. Consolidating Know-how Spend: Doing Extra With Much less
Advertising know-how began out harmless sufficient. A colleague remarks, “I must ship an e mail for this webinar.”
So an enterprising worker indicators up for a freemium software.
Throughout the corridor, advertising and marketing is onboarding a advertising and marketing automation platform. It has e mail, too.
Over in gross sales, the group is discussing CRM. They suppose it wants e mail as nicely.
Two of the three techniques additionally generate touchdown pages. All three retailer contact data somewhere else. Nobody talked to the opposite about syncing all of the prospect and buyer knowledge throughout platforms.
It began innocently sufficient. A workers member wanted to ship an e mail for an upcoming fundraising occasion, so somebody signed up for a free software. In the meantime, the event group was implementing a donor administration system (which additionally had e mail capabilities), and the company partnerships group was discussing a CRM (which additionally they thought wanted e mail). Two of the three techniques may generate donation pages, and all three saved contact data in several areas. Nobody thought of syncing knowledge throughout the platforms.
What you find yourself with is fragmented and redundant know-how with knowledge unfold throughout.
Not solely does this fragmentation create inner operational points, it inserts pointless friction within the expertise your donors and supporters have.
Nonprofits are significantly prone to this as a result of as a market phase, for too lengthy there’s been a notion that you just want constructed for nonprofit level options. Nonprofit CRMs, nonprofit advertising and marketing platforms, nonprofit fundraising widgets, nonprofit occasion registrations and many others. and many others.
The problem with nonprofit (insert level answer right here) is that it’s software program that’s developed by an organization’s model of how your nonprofit operates. Nonprofits aren’t monolithic entities that every one behave in a single singular style. Sure there are similarities, however as software program has matured from fixing level options to being versatile platform targeted growth, nonprofits have a chance. Consolidate spend and create a unified expertise for donors, your group and a singular view of your constituent stakeholder. Trade agnostic platforms like HubSpot could be deployed for nonprofits working the gamut from a bit of to a variety of customization primarily based on how your group operates, however as a unified platform that handles advertising and marketing, growth, reward monitoring and extra.
III. Prioritizing Ease of Use: Empowering Your Group
One of many key outcomes nonprofits can achieve from common know-how analysis is changing antiquated exhausting to make use of software program with newer, simpler to make use of software program. Ease of use in and of itself isn’t a golden ticket to adoption although. To essentially construct a resilient group that may get probably the most from the raise a contemporary tech stack can present you want an empowered group that buys into how the know-how allows your mission.
Person adoption of your stack is the true measure of success, with out it you’ll by no means see an ROI. Contain stakeholders from throughout features within the resolution making. Don’t let the know-how alternative dwell in a silo.
One other key part is focus. Construct a necessities listing and assign weights to the issues your know-how wants to have the ability to do, however be open to discussions round “X could be solved by Y as an alternative of Z”. Usually, we get tunnel imaginative and prescient primarily based on the know-how we’re used to utilizing and suppose a course of can solely be supported in a method, when there is likely to be a extra environment friendly option to remedy the issue.
Lastly, the necessities doc will assist you to not get distracted by superior options that may crowd out usability. Take AI for instance. Each platform is cramming some model of AI into their characteristic set. Does it add or distract?
IV. Harnessing Actionable Knowledge: From Info to Affect
One of many greatest challenges with know-how is the piles of knowledge that will get generated. There’s a key distinction that’s price declaring – knowledge assortment isn’t the identical as actionable insights.
Simply since you’re gathering knowledge doesn’t imply it’s invaluable. I’ve seen extra CRMs than I care to say with a multitude of knowledge that’s unimaginable to behave on. Lacking contact data, duplicates, clearly misplaced knowledge within the flawed property.
It’s cliche however true, rubbish in rubbish out. Nonprofits battle with this as a result of typically instances the individual accountable for managing the database modifications out a number of instances through the years and there’s no governance.
In terms of making choices from knowledge, much less is extra. Preserve what you acquire easy and simply comprehensible by anybody coming into the group.
Concentrate on actionable knowledge that drives actual impression: error-free contact data, full giving historical past, and quick associations – the folks and organizations instantly related to your donor. Don’t overcomplicate this; consider quick household and first work relationships – data you’ll be able to truly leverage in your communications.
The connection between knowledge high quality and resilience is straightforward however highly effective. In a disaster, if you could increase funds or pivot your fundraising technique, you want to have the ability to phase and attain probably the most related folks in your database – shortly. Let’s say you will have a funding hole in a area of the US the place your programming is brief. It could make sense to achieve out to donors in that area first together with your particular ask to assist shut the hole. With clear, well-structured knowledge, this focused outreach can occur instantly; with messy knowledge, the chance is likely to be misplaced.
If you must provide you with particular “coding” it’s most likely not an amazing thought and also you may wish to revisit how the info is being collected.
When you get comfy with a knowledge framework, what actually issues, you’ll be able to advance your organizational tradition to being a knowledge pushed one.
As an alternative of speculating about what strikes the needle and influences your stakeholders, you’ll change language internally from “I believe” to “primarily based on our This autumn outcomes, once we share X about our impression we see a 20% improve in donation measurement.”
V. Eradicating Friction from the Donor Expertise
What’s your on-line giving expertise like? Is it so simple as shopping for one thing from Amazon? It must be.
Issues like opening the donation take a look at in a brand new tab, ends in a few 10% lack of donors, transferring them to a different area total can scare them off as a result of it seems like a phishing try.
What about fashionable transaction choices? PayPal, Apple/Google Pay, digital pockets?
What’s the expertise like put up donation? Are you hand mailing a thanks 8 – 10 weeks later?
Having a unified stack like HubSpot for Nonprofits, lets you orchestrate multichannel engagement together with your donors, instantly and fashionable giving platforms like FundraiseUp make it attainable to deploy a frictionless on-line giving expertise that plugs into your unified tech stack seamlessly, in minutes.
If donors are telling us they need extra customized experiences, ask your self in case your present know-how will assist you to ship that at scale?
VI. Creating Your Know-how Analysis Framework
So how does a nonprofit go about evaluating their know-how? The reply to that’s in two components. First the folks. Put collectively a cross-functional know-how committee that’s accountable all year long to ensure you have the tooling you could keep forward of the sport.
With this group implement a evaluate cycle, biannually to ensure you aren’t over spending on tech bloat the place folks join issues to strive it out after which neglect. Yearly to see in case your total stack nonetheless aligns with supporting your mission and preserving your group resilient. Is the know-how simple to make use of, adopted by the group, eradicating friction from stakeholder processes, enabling your group to be nimble (suppose covid, may you shortly pivot and do one thing completely different with this stack if push involves shove, i.e. host digital occasions, or launch a brand new income stream like ecommerce)
After getting the folks part in place, it’s all about course of, how do you consider your state of affairs. We provide a free scorecard on our web site, however you can even create one thing related. Define key areas of evaluation: consolidation and integration in your group, use and adoption, knowledge entry, and many others. Put collectively a collection of inquiries to assess on a scale of 1-3 or 1-5 how sturdy your group feels your know-how is in every class.
After getting gaps, define what the problem is with the hole, what your required final result is and begin documenting attainable options and have your committee work via the motion plan.
Conclusion
Know-how can really feel overwhelming. Like consuming an elephant. Take it a chew at a time and also you’ll shortly be ready the place you will have a powerful basis that ensures your group can climate the storms that come by permitting your group to react and be resilient from altering the way you have interaction stakeholders to the way you generate income.
Extra Assets
