2025 has come roaring in with a wave of uncertainty for nonprofits. Whereas nonprofits had been already struggling in a local weather of reducing donors and rising donor churn, funding freezes from the federal authorities have created a bunch of challenges.
Equally, 5 years in the past this month nonprofits confronted a surge of uncertainty amid lockdowns and international pandemic that put many conventional fundraising methods on ice.
The nonprofits that survived and even grew out of covid typically had one factor in widespread, digital maturity that enabled them to rapidly evolve. Shifting galas, meals drives and extra on-line. Consequently they eliminated the price of producing in particular person occasions, had been capable of attain extra individuals at a low price per contact and had larger margins from their occasions stream 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 methods linger is simply too nice within the midst of a turbulent macro and micro atmosphere. 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 may drive long run sustainability whether or not going through pandemics or funding disaster.
I. Understanding Know-how Resilience within the Nonprofit Context
As I discussed, know-how in and of itself will not be a technique. The very best entrepreneurs on this planet work for SaaS firms convincing you that the answer to any enterprise downside 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 posh of carrying know-how bloat. Each greenback counts. Creating resilience by means of know-how can also be greater than “having the newest instruments.” If you happen to’re chasing the newest and best you’ll drive your self mad. Simply discover a number of of the LUMAscapes to see how rapidly you possibly can drive off a cliff pursuing “instruments.”
As a substitute, your focus must be on consolidation, adoption, activation, eradicating friction, and common assessment.
For instance, Pinky Swear Basis a nonprofit in Minneapolis/St. Paul, who gives 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 by means of 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 instrument.
Throughout the corridor, advertising and marketing is onboarding a advertising and marketing automation platform. It has e mail, too.
Over in gross sales, the staff is discussing CRM. They suppose it wants e mail as properly.
Two of the three methods additionally generate touchdown pages. All three retailer contact info elsewhere. Nobody talked to the opposite about syncing all of the prospect and buyer knowledge throughout platforms.
It began innocently sufficient. A employees member wanted to ship an e mail for an upcoming fundraising occasion, so somebody signed up for a free instrument. In the meantime, the event staff was implementing a donor administration system (which additionally had e mail capabilities), and the company partnerships staff was discussing a CRM (which in addition they thought wanted e mail). Two of the three methods might generate donation pages, and all three saved contact info in numerous places. 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 notably vulnerable 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 so on. and so on.
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 each one behave in a single singular trend. Sure there are similarities, however as software program has matured from fixing level options to being versatile platform centered improvement, nonprofits have a possibility. Consolidate spend and create a unified expertise for donors, your staff and a singular view of your constituent stakeholder. Trade agnostic platforms like HubSpot might be deployed for nonprofits operating the gamut from somewhat to loads of customization primarily based on how your group operates, however as a unified platform that handles advertising and marketing, improvement, present monitoring and extra.
III. Prioritizing Ease of Use: Empowering Your Workforce
One of many key outcomes nonprofits can acquire 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 actually construct a resilient group that may get essentially the most from the carry a contemporary tech stack can present you want an empowered staff 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 determination making. Don’t let the know-how selection reside in a silo.
One other key element 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 might be solved by Y as a substitute of Z”. Typically, 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 may be a extra environment friendly solution to resolve the issue.
Lastly, the necessities doc will allow 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 function set. Does it add or distract?
IV. Harnessing Actionable Information: From Data to Impression
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 mentioning – knowledge assortment isn’t the identical as actionable insights.
Simply since you’re gathering knowledge doesn’t imply it’s useful. I’ve seen extra CRMs than I care to say with a multitude of knowledge that’s not possible to behave on. Lacking contact data, duplicates, clearly misplaced knowledge within the improper property.
It’s cliche however true, rubbish in rubbish out. Nonprofits battle with this as a result of typically instances the particular person in command of managing the database modifications out a number of instances through the years and there’s no governance.
Relating to making choices from knowledge, much less is extra. Hold what you acquire easy and simply comprehensible by anybody coming into the group.
Concentrate on actionable knowledge that drives actual impression: error-free contact info, full giving historical past, and quick associations – the individuals and organizations immediately linked to your donor. Don’t overcomplicate this; consider quick household and first work relationships – info you possibly can truly leverage in your communications.
The connection between knowledge high quality and resilience is straightforward however highly effective. In a disaster, if you might want to elevate funds or pivot your fundraising technique, you want to have the ability to phase and attain essentially the most related individuals in your database – rapidly. Let’s say you’ve 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 along 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 may be misplaced.
If it’s a must to give you particular “coding” it’s in all probability not an awesome thought and also you would possibly need to revisit how the info is being collected.
When you get comfy with an information framework, what actually issues, you possibly can advance your organizational tradition to being an information pushed one.
As a substitute 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 fall 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 couple of 10% lack of donors, transferring them to a different area general can scare them off as a result of it appears 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 along with your donors, instantly and fashionable giving platforms like FundraiseUp make it potential 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 personalised experiences, ask your self in case your present know-how will allow you to ship that at scale?
VI. Growing Your Know-how Analysis Framework
So how does a nonprofit go about evaluating their know-how? The reply to that’s in two elements. First the individuals. Put collectively a cross-functional know-how committee that’s accountable all year long to ensure you have the tooling you might want to keep forward of the sport.
With this group implement a assessment cycle, biannually to ensure you aren’t over spending on tech bloat the place individuals join issues to strive it out after which neglect. Yearly to see in case your general stack nonetheless aligns with supporting your mission and protecting your group resilient. Is the know-how simple to make use of, adopted by the staff, eradicating friction from stakeholder processes, enabling your group to be nimble (suppose covid, might you rapidly pivot and do one thing totally different with this stack if push involves shove, i.e. host digital occasions, or launch a brand new income stream like ecommerce)
After you have the individuals element 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 may as well create one thing related. Define key areas of evaluation: consolidation and integration in your group, use and adoption, knowledge entry, and so on. Put collectively a sequence of inquiries to assess on a scale of 1-3 or 1-5 how sturdy your staff feels your know-how is in every class.
After you have gaps, define what the problem is with the hole, what your required consequence is and begin documenting potential options and have your committee work by means of the motion plan.
Conclusion
Know-how can really feel overwhelming. Like consuming an elephant. Take it a chunk at a time and also you’ll rapidly be able the place you’ve a powerful basis that ensures your group can climate the storms that come by permitting your staff to react and be resilient from altering the way you interact stakeholders to the way you generate income.
Further Assets