2025 has come roaring in with a wave of uncertainty for nonprofits. Whereas nonprofits have been already struggling in a local weather of decreasing donors and increasing 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 international pandemic that put many conventional fundraising methods on ice.
The nonprofits that survived and even grew out of covid usually had one factor in frequent, digital maturity that enabled them to shortly evolve. Shifting galas, meals drives and extra on-line. Because of this they eliminated the price of producing in individual occasions, have been in a position to attain extra individuals at a low value per contact and had larger margins from their occasions movement 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 programs 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 at all times 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 Expertise Resilience within the Nonprofit Context
As I discussed, know-how in and of itself just isn’t a method. One of the best entrepreneurs on the 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 lot 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 by way of know-how can be greater than “having the newest instruments.” In case you’re chasing the newest and best you’ll drive your self mad. Simply discover a number of of the LUMAscapes to see how shortly you possibly can drive off a cliff pursuing “instruments.”
As an alternative, your focus must be on consolidation, adoption, activation, eradicating friction, and common assessment.
For instance, Pinky Swear Foundation a nonprofit in Minneapolis/St. Paul, who gives monetary grants to households battling childhood most cancers, completed a digital transformation project that consolidated practically a half a dozen advertising and fundraising instruments into 2 platforms, HubSpot and Fundraise Up. The outcomes have 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 way of digital channels.
II. Consolidating Expertise Spend: Doing Extra With Much less
Advertising know-how began out harmless sufficient. A colleague remarks, “I have to ship an e-mail for this webinar.”
So an enterprising worker indicators up for a freemium device.
Throughout the corridor, advertising is onboarding a advertising automation platform. It has e-mail, too.
Over in gross sales, the crew is discussing CRM. They suppose it wants e-mail as properly.
Two of the three programs additionally generate touchdown pages. All three retailer contact info somewhere else. 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 device. In the meantime, the event crew was implementing a donor administration system (which additionally had e-mail capabilities), and the company partnerships crew was discussing a CRM (which in addition they thought wanted e-mail). Two of the three programs may 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 inside operational points, it inserts pointless friction within the expertise your donors and supporters have.
Nonprofits are notably inclined 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 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 each one behave in a single singular vogue. Sure there are similarities, however as software program has matured from fixing level options to being versatile platform targeted improvement, nonprofits have a chance. Consolidate spend and create a unified expertise for donors, your crew and a singular view of your constituent stakeholder. Business agnostic platforms like HubSpot can be deployed for nonprofits working the gamut from a bit to lots of customization primarily based on how your group operates, however as a unified platform that handles advertising, improvement, present monitoring and extra.
III. Prioritizing Ease of Use: Empowering Your Staff
One of many key outcomes nonprofits can achieve from common know-how analysis is changing antiquated arduous 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 raise a contemporary tech stack can present you want an empowered crew that buys into how the know-how permits 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 capabilities within the resolution making. Don’t let the know-how selection reside 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 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 could be a extra environment friendly solution to resolve the issue.
Lastly, the necessities doc will show you how 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 Knowledge: From Info to Influence
One of many largest challenges with know-how is the piles of information that will get generated. There’s a key distinction that’s value mentioning – knowledge assortment isn’t the identical as actionable insights.
Simply since you’re accumulating knowledge doesn’t imply it’s worthwhile. I’ve seen extra CRMs than I care to say with a large number of information that’s inconceivable to behave on. Lacking contact information, duplicates, clearly misplaced knowledge within the unsuitable property.
It’s cliche however true, rubbish in rubbish out. Nonprofits wrestle with this as a result of usually occasions the individual answerable for managing the database modifications out a number of occasions over time and there’s no governance.
In the case of making selections from knowledge, much less is extra. Maintain what you accumulate easy and simply comprehensible by anybody coming into the group.
Concentrate on actionable knowledge that drives actual influence: error-free contact info, full giving historical past, and fast associations – the individuals and organizations immediately related to your donor. Don’t overcomplicate this; consider fast household and first work relationships – info you possibly can really leverage in your communications.
The connection between knowledge high quality and resilience is easy however highly effective. In a disaster, if you must 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 – shortly. Let’s say you may 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 could be misplaced.
If you must provide you with particular “coding” it’s most likely not an incredible thought and also you would possibly wish to revisit how the information is being collected.
When you get snug with an information framework, what actually issues, you possibly can advance your organizational tradition to being an information 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 fall outcomes, after we share X about our influence we see a 20% enhance in donation dimension.”
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 check out in a new tab, ends in a few 10% lack of donors, transferring them to a different area general can scare them off as a result of it seems to be like a phishing try.
What about trendy transaction choices? PayPal, Apple/Google Pay, digital pockets?
What’s the expertise like publish donation? Are you hand mailing a thanks 8 – 10 weeks later?
Having a unified stack like HubSpot for Nonprofits, permits you to orchestrate multichannel engagement together with your donors, instantly and trendy giving platforms like FundraiseUp make it potential to deploy a frictionless online giving experience that plugs into your unified tech stack seamlessly, in minutes.
If donors are telling us they want more personalized experiences, ask your self in case your present know-how will show you how to ship that at scale?
VI. Creating Your Expertise 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 be sure to have the tooling you must keep forward of the sport.
With this group implement a assessment cycle, biannually to be sure to 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 crew, 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)
Upon getting the individuals part in place, it’s all about course of, how do you consider your state of affairs. We offer a free scorecard on our website, however you can too 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 sequence of inquiries to assess on a scale of 1-3 or 1-5 how robust your crew feels your know-how is in every class.
Upon getting 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 way of the motion plan.
Conclusion
Expertise 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 may have a robust basis that ensures your group can climate the storms that come by permitting your crew to react and be resilient from altering the way you have interaction stakeholders to the way you generate income.
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