2023 Nonprofit Trends You Need to Know

Trends come and go. But staying on top of new trends will give your organization opportunities to grow. So, we dug into all aspects of the nonprofit sector. This article will provide insights into everything from tech to team building. Some of these 2023 nonprofit trends may not be a surprise to you. But others may make you reconsider your plan for the upcoming year. 

Read on to learn more about what to expect in the upcoming year. 

 Taking Advantage of LinkedIn

The first 2023 nonprofit trend to watch is LinkedIn. LinkedIn will become the social platform for nonprofits and nonprofit pros to utilize. LinkedIn presents a unique opportunity to shed light on your nonprofit’s mission and build your professional network. 

The platform has roughly 300 million active users each month. But here’s the kicker – only 1% of those users are posting. Only 3 million users share content weekly on LinkedIn. If you build up your profile and highlight your nonprofit in your posts, there are good chances it will be seen and shared. You won’t compete with as many user posts. Your content may reach the audiences you want. Aren’t you sure where to start? No worries – the Nonprofit Hub team talked to LinkedIn marketing pro Anthony Jones and discussed ways you can utilize the platform. 

 The rise of “donate now, pay later” fundraising platforms.

So what is a “donate now, pay later” fundraising platform? It’s just as simple as it sounds. Donors can donate and pay for their gift over time or later, while the nonprofit receives it upfront. 

BGenerous gives “donors the convenience of paying over time, but nonprofits get the money upfront, making the donor process much less stressful on everybody.” 

Givezy is also a similar platform. They “allow donors to split their payments over time so they can make a more significant gift today” and other flexible options. 

Companies like BGenerous and Givezy are innovating how donors can give to nonprofits. Consider utilizing their software to change up your fundraising plan in 2023. 

 The importance of internal team building and professional development

It’s no secret that there’s a shortage in the workforce. Nonprofits see a revolving door of employees coming and going. More and more organizations feel the repercussions of short staff. Nonprofits should look forward to finding ways to retain their staff. There will be an increased focus on internal team building and how to keep employees over a longer term. 

Nonprofits will also be more likely to invest in their long-term employees or those who wish to grow with their mission. Providing professional development for staff members will showcase the organization’s investment in their team. When the professional grows, the nonprofit can grow. Consider signing your team up for nonprofit conferences, courses, or other continuing education.

 Continuing with a flexible work environment 

One trend we’re sure to see keep up in the flexible work environment established in response to the pandemic. Nonprofits organizations will continue to see remote job opportunities. In addition, some organizations are implementing 4-day workweeks in the summertime. It’s easy to get burnt out in the nonprofit sector, and having a flexible schedule and work environment can help address that issue.

 Working smarter, not more complicated, by implementing technology

At Nonprofit Hub, we use technology to create automations, schedule content, and track engagement. Tech is our best friend. Technology can be your best friend, too. With a small staff and turnover, implementing tech to work for you is essential to saving time and money. In 2023, more organizations will turn to tech to help with the workload. With fundraising platforms that can help identify donor trends and CRMs to schedule and plan your subsequent campaigns, nonprofits will increase their focus on trying out new technologies. Looking for trusted tech businesses to partner with? Check out our Good Referral resource directory!

 Increased focus on donor retention 

Another 2023 nonprofit trend to consider is the focus on donor retention. We will see a more disciplined approach to donor retention in difficult economic times. Finding and developing relationships with new donors takes time and effort. With a murky outlook for the upcoming economy, nonprofits must create a strategic approach to donor retention and hold onto their established donors. Nonprofits will focus more on planning, tracking,, and implementing campaigns to ensure successful rates. Remember to create a baseline by utilizing the donor retention calculator. 

 The 2023 nonprofit trend to diversify revenue

We work for nonprofits. We’re not economists. We’re not sure what the 2023 economy will hold. However, the economic predictions for 2023 look gloomy. This is why nonprofits need to diversify their revenue streams. Nonprofit organizations can no longer rely upon one funding source. The donors you counted on may provide a smaller gift than you always received. The federal grants you applied for might not go through. The event you host may have fewer attendees. 

Organizations should not put all their eggs in one basket. Think of multiple ways to keep your nonprofit in the financial green. Get creative and begin to diversify your revenue this new year. 

 SMS communication 

In 2023, mass texting has become a preferred communication method for non-profits, enabling them to reach audiences instantly. Its rising popularity is due to its high open and response rates, making engagement with donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries highly effective.

Did you get my text? You probably did. Text messages have an average open rate of 98%. That’s huge compared to the average email open rate, which is about 21%. More nonprofits will implement SMS communication in their fundraising efforts. Organizations can use SMS to create fundraising campaigns. But it also creates an opportunity for general communication with their audience, volunteer, and donors. You can send a quick “thank you” text to the volunteers at your event. Or, send out pictures to the donor list. The options are endless for this 2023 nonprofit trend. 

5 Free Tools For Nonprofits to Save Time and Money

If your nonprofit is looking for ways to streamline projects while you grow awareness for your mission, you’re not alone. Nonprofits of all sizes often struggle with not having enough hands on deck to complete large projects and handle all sides of  communication.

Since your organization runs on charitable donations, you’ll naturally want to lower the amount you have to spend on business tools. This is why free business tools are essential to preserving those funds for your life-changing work.

We’ve compiled a list of 5 free tools that you should utilize today:

1. Canva for Design 

Canva is excellent for creating professional designs. You may be quite familiar with this design tool already, but did you know that Canva has a program specifically for Nonprofits? 

While the basic Canva version is free to everyone, you may have noticed that you cannot remove the background for logos or that you don’t have access to all the design features and templates. Therefore, it is best to have a Pro Account with Canva, which unlocks many features. The Canva for Nonprofits Program gives 501(c)(3) organizations free access to Canva Pro. 

With the use of Pro, you can create designs for just about any project. This plan includes features you may not have explored yet, such as the following : 

• Create professional videos. You can now create videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube, and your website. Canva has a library of music you can pair with your videos. It allows you to adjust the audio to the section that is best for your video, just as you would within social media apps. Can also allow you to adjust video clip length to time perfectly for a professional and polished video. Additionally, there is an extensive library of pre-made videos within the Canva platform that you can customize and use for your introduction or transition between clips. 

For example, our Nonprofit Megaphone team made this Instagram Reel with Canva Pro for Earth Day this year. While our Reel consisted of a slide show of original photos from our team, Canva’s intro video clip was beneficial in showing viewers initially what our Reel was about. Social media experts agree that Reels with text intro clips perform better than those without an introduction. Remember that many of your viewers might be scrolling their feed with the sound muted, but they are more likely to listen to your reel if they understand what it’s about first.

• Access an extensive library of infographics. As with its most frequently used design features, you can use Canva Pro to create infographics. This is an excellent way to demonstrate your nonprofit’s mission, year-end stats, and goals. Consider sharing infographics in your blog articles or on social media. In our experience, we have found that educational infographics provide more value to our viewers than single photo posts. Audiences seem to appreciate being able to absorb your message quickly, which helps them decide if they want to interact with your post. 

• Save time with social media templates. For just about every holiday, Canva has a template available that you can customize with your brand colors or message. It also has a searchable feature to help you create your post in the right size and format for the platform you want to post to.  

• Use free images. There is also a vast library of copyright-free images to use for your website, articles, and social media. With the Pro version of Canva, you’ll have access to many more images than you do with a Basic version. Many of these Pro-only images are less common and generic. As a nonprofit, you likely have many authentic images of your own, but additional pictures may help tell your story. 

You can access the Pro version in the Canva for Nonprofits Program by providing your official 501(c)(3) documentation. To learn more about Canva’s program for nonprofits, click here. 

2. Google Workspace for Collaboration

You may already have Google Workspace for your Nonprofit, but there may be features that you haven’t utilized yet. For collaboration, Google Drive is a perfect tool within Google Workspace. In case you are unfamiliar with its functions, your team can work on the same document simultaneously, suggest edits, and make comments. 

Google Drive integrates with Docs (similar to MS Word), sheets (similar to Excel), and slides (similar to Powerpoint). This allows you to create files within Drive or convert your existing files into Drive’s formatting to allow team collaboration. 

Teams can work on Google Sheets together to share ideas and numerical progress or gather data from each team member. Additionally, Google Docs eliminates the need for excessive emails because it allows your team to comment back and forth about suggested edits within the document. You can use the “suggestion mode” feature to demonstrate what you would change without altering the original document.  This can be very helpful with collaboration on large projects.

Did you know that Google offers a Google Workspace for Nonprofits? It’s free! The benefit of using this program is that it provides a professional Google Workspace for your nonprofit organization, including many features that are not free to businesses. 

Google Workspace for nonprofits includes

• Professional email addresses at your nonprofit’s domain
• 100-participant video meetings
• 30 GB cloud storage per user
• Security and management controls
• Standard support 

As Google states, their Nonprofit-only offer is zero dollars per month per user! This program is available for charitable organizations that meet eligibility requirements in their country. Please note that certain entities do not qualify, such as government organizations, hospitals, healthcare organizations, and academic institutions. However, Google does offer a separate program for schools. 

To view the full eligibility requirements, click here. 

3. Free Conference Call for Large Team Meetings

Although other services offer audio and video communications for nonprofits, the limit on participants within most free plans can be quite restrictive for a larger team. To obtain free conference calls and meetings for a large nonprofit team, you may want to look into FreeConferenceCall.com. 

This service not only provides free services but is also dedicated to helping charities. Free Conference Call has a “pay what you can” pricing model, and this is just as it sounds. Free Conference Call encourages all entities to pay any amount possible towards their services, but they still provide free conference calls and meetings if payment is not feasible.

Although this free service has some limitations on features, nonprofits can take advantage of free online video conferences with up to 1,000 participants and no time limit! Additionally, you can record your meetings with the speaker displayed as well as use chat and track attendance.
View their quick video to understand everything that comes with a free account.

4. Slack for Team Communication

If your nonprofit team hasn’t tried Slack yet, what are you waiting for? Slack is a cloud-based tool for workplace chat, collaboration, team building, and meetings. The best part is they offer a Slack for Nonprofits Program.
Benefits of Slack
While it has been thought of as simply a chat tool, it can provide much more than that. Slack is perfect for remote teams and a great help to on-site teams as well. Do you ever just have a quick question for a teammate that seems unnecessary for an email? The use of Slack can drastically reduce emails clogging up your inbox. You can easily chat with your collaborators directly from each of your desks.
Since Slack offers the ability to create different channels, you can boost team morale by having channels for birthdays, pets, GIFs of the day, or polls to see who wants to attend Game Night. Creating these channels offers a form of team building that tends to gain more participation from the entire team versus asking for feedback in large meetings. Of course, not everyone loves to speak in front of a group, but your office introverts might jump at the chance to participate in group chat.
Additionally, Slack offers other valuable features. For instance, you can connect your Google Calendar with Slack to create meeting reminders and embed meeting links directly on Slack for convenience. Also, you can make 1:1 voice and video calls between teammates.
For remote teams, Slack provides a unique team environment for your nonprofit. Not only can you utilize the previous features described here, but teammates can use status updates to communicate more efficiently. They can easily set their status to communicate when available, in a meeting, at lunch, or running an errand. The status-update feature drastically reduces confusion and prevents team members from feeling ignored or overwhelmed.

5. HeyOrca! for Social Media News and Trends

This service provides social media scheduling services, but they also serve as a great source of information on all things social media-related. We recently learned the benefits of HeyOrca’s free weekly social media newsletter and are happy to spread the word to nonprofits. 

“HeyOrca! Brief” is their free weekly social media newsletter that provides valuable insights relevant to any organization with a social media presence. They make it concise and fun for busy social media managers, as it usually only takes a minute to read or scan. 

They will give you the latest news or upcoming changes you can expect on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. For instance, you will likely get the inside scoop on new design features and format changes before they take place. 

Why might you need to keep track of what these platforms are doing? Due to the competition between the different social media platforms as they battle it out to be number one, they seem to be making a lot of changes without slowing down. 

Algorithm changes are frequent these days, which can impact the growth of your Nonprofit’s social media presence. Consequently, getting lower reach on any platform you regularly use can affect how many donors and volunteers learn about your organization. Likewise, you can take advantage of tremendous growth opportunities if you are on the right side of these algorithm changes. Therefore, it is worthwhile to keep track of this as best you can. 

In addition to social media news, HeyOrca also provides you with a list of trending audio and information about what content is succeeding. As you may be familiar with this concept when creating Reels and TikToks, using trending audio increases the likelihood that your video will get more views. Keep in mind that this method is best utilized when you can use popular audio near the beginning of the trend before this audio use becomes oversaturated. 

HeyOrca provides social media scheduling services and may offer additional services that are not free. However, they provide options when you sign up to select what you may or may not be interested in. You can simply select that you only want the weekly newsletter if that is the case. 

Takeaway: Free Services Elevate your Nonprofit

As we wrap up this list of five free nonprofit tools, we hope that you are taking advantage of them all. Should you have any questions about the information covered here, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Nonprofit Megaphone Team via our website or social media pages. We are happy to help you grow. 

Nonprofit Megaphone specializes in Google Ad Grant management services for nonprofits. Another free tool for nonprofits, the Google Ad Grant provides eligible nonprofits with $10,000 in ad credits monthly to spend on Google ads. To learn more about this incredible grant for Nonprofit marketing or to contact us, click here.

Talking Crypto: Should your organization accept it?

What is cryptocurrency? Simply put, it’s money that’s not in a physical form, otherwise known as digital money. Nonetheless, it shares some of the same characteristics as paper money which can be earned, used, and invested. 

Why should you care? According to Gemini’s 2021 State of U. S. Crypto Report, 21.2 million adults own cryptocurrency (crypto), with an additional 19.3 million expecting to purchase it in the next 12 months. That adds up to a lot of potential donors! But, to get the donation, you must be able to accept the gift. Here’s why that’s a good idea…. 

For the donor, the tax benefits of donating crypto can be significant. Why? Because donating crypto is like donating a car or a piece of art. None of these items must be sold to be donated. By avoiding a sale, the donor avoids taxable gains, which may be extremely attractive to someone who purchased crypto early on; and it gets even better. Not only can they avoid a taxable gain, but they may also be able to take advantage of a charitable deduction at the full market value of the crypto on the date of the donation. Win/Win/Win. 

And it’s not just donors that make accepting cryptocurrency something worth considering. Certain foundations may begin designating crypto grant money. In 2017, The Pineapple Fund donated $55 million in Bitcoin to over 60 charities. Therefore, if your organization can accept crypto, it may qualify for unique grants. 

But crypto seems confusing! It does, but it’s not. Accepting it is analogous to receiving a stock donation or a donation paid by credit card, depending on your chosen method.   

• The stock donation analogy: Set up a wallet. A wallet is a place to receive and store crypto. It’s similar to the accounts you’ve probably set up to accept stock donations. It is a bit more complex, however, because it is not always easy to navigate, and it requires strong internal controls, including a policy surrounding liquidating crypto assets. (Because of the price volatility surrounding crypto, most nonprofits choose to liquidate it immediately.) The advantage is lower trading costs. The disadvantage is that this option is best suited for organizations with some level of sophistication around the understanding of cryptocurrency.  
• The credit card analogy: Open an account with a crypto payment processor. This is similar to the steps you took to accept credit card payments. Crypto payment processors allow you to accept crypto donations, usually from your website, and then they automatically convert those donations into U.S. dollars for transfer into your bank account. 

You’ve convinced me. Now, what are the back-end processes I should put in place? 

• Gift acceptance policies. It all starts here. Gift acceptance policies should be updated to set parameters for crypto gifts. Your advancement team should be aware that the IRS considers these donations noncash. That means any advantage over $5,000 must have a qualified appraisal. Your organization doesn’t need that to accept the gift; however, the donor needs it to support the charitable deduction.  
• Appropriate internal controls. Internal controls should be more extensive if you establish a wallet instead of a crypto payment processor. Who will be authorized to obtain the wallet? Who will have access to it? Who will be allowed to sell the assets in it? How many signers will be required to do this? How quickly should the assets be sold after receipt? 
• Proper accounting. It is important to note that digital assets are an evolving area and accounting guidance is subject to change. However, as of this writing, cryptocurrency is treated as an intangible asset, just like patents or trademarks. 
• The easy part occurs when it’s liquidated. When liquidating stock donations, a gain or loss is calculated using the same methodology. The more complicated part happens if your organization decides to hold it. If it is held, it must be evaluated to determine if it has a finite or indefinite life. 

Although that sounds like a lot, most crypto will be considered an indefinite-lived asset, which means it should be tested annually for impairment, and more frequently if events indicate it is “more likely than not” impaired. With the volatility of crypto, these events could often happen throughout the year, possibly leading to an impairment loss that most certainly would affect your surplus or add to your deficit.  

Since cryptocurrency now seems to have a permanent place in our lives and the news, it seems complicated and risky. Mining it, investing in it, purchasing it, and holding it are complex transactions that require considerable knowledge. However, for a nonprofit that is not interested in any of those types of transactions, obtaining the ability to accept it as a donation could increase your donor pool and escalate your annual donations.  

Watch this Episode of Counting on Chazin to learn more about Cryptocurrency

For more resources and free content for your organization, please visit us here. 

Chazin & Company

How To Increase Online Donations In 5 Easy Steps

Gone are the days of simply sending a postcard or making a phone call to acquire donations for your organization. In today’s increasingly tech-based economy, it is crucial to embrace online giving as a primary way of collecting donations. Not only is technology fueling the world we know today, but by accepting online donations, your fundraising is accessible. It can become a state-wide, national, and even global fundraiser. The best part about online giving is that it is extremely simple to implement with the right tools. So, let’s lay the foundation to increase your online donations with these five easy steps.

One: Understand Your Donors

The best first step in online donor acquisition and online fundraising is getting to know your donors. And it all begins with a little research, well, a lot of research. Let’s face it. Your organization needs to understand your donors’ demographic details, financial signals, affinities, and interests. Then, you can garner great results from your fundraising efforts. The good news is that there are companies to do all this work for you by delivering donor details you never knew were possible. 

You might be asking yourself, but why is all that information important? Surely I know everything there is to know about my donors, right? It’s true. You have a plethora of detailed information about your donors. But it’s impossible to know each one on a personal level. Knowing just what makes them tick will guide your outreach. It will land you amongst the donors who genuinely care about your cause. They say knowledge is power. In this case, it’s power that will help your organization reach new levels of donor retention and acquisition. 

One of the million dollar questions, quite literally, is, “how do I know the appropriate ask amount for my donors?” Sure, you can base it on their past donations. But what if you could formulate a plan to ask for more, and they delivered? By knowing more about your donors, you could end up like one of our clients who received a $20,000 donation from a donor who had regularly made $100 donations. If they had remained under the assumption that this donor only wanted to give $100 per year, they would have missed out on a huge opportunity to make a difference for their cause. They partnered the power of AI with their donor data to determine that this donor had characteristics that matched those who had donated at much higher levels. Therefore, it allowed them to approach the individual with a higher ask amount and experience astounding results. 

However, it’s not just about the “ask.” Yes, that is important. But how you approach your donors is just as important as the question you ask them. Knowing how to reach them, what messaging would appeal to them, and when is key to a successful campaign. One message and one mode of delivery will not fit each of your donors’ needs. Segmenting them into groups of individuals with similar qualities is key to ensuring successful delivery and receipt of your message for optimal engagement. 

Two: Get A Pool of Ideal Prospects

Ok, so now you know your donors, what is next? Well, why not try to find more people like them? You already know all the traits of what a great donor looks like based on the exercises you did in step one. Now it’s time to expand your reach using affinity-driven donor prospecting. This will enable you to focus solely on your target audience rather than spending time and effort casting a wide net and hoping that something resonates with someone. Not only does this give you confidence in your outreach when looking to engage new prospects, but in the end, this will save you time, money and reduce wasted effort for the long haul. 

You can start by looking within your network or purchasing prospecting lists with individuals with similar qualities to those already committed to your cause. At first, this might seem like a daunting task. However, getting your feet wet will make you find your groove and become a powered-up prospect detector in no time. If you ever get overwhelmed, there are organizations that specialize in this work and can find your best donor lookalikes in no time. 

Three: Utilize Digital Advertising

Once you have your target audience, it’s time to decide how you want to reach them. Great tried and true ways such as direct mail, calling, or texting have become staples for nonprofit outreach. But with electronic devices becoming the focal point of every eyeball these days, fundraisers would greatly benefit from dedicating themselves to digital advertising. 

Non-profits should use platforms like DialMyCalls to leverage texting for donations due to its immediacy and directness, which foster real-time engagement and a sense of urgency with donors. The convenience of texting also broadens donor accessibility, facilitating easier and potentially more frequent contributions.

There are various types of digital advertising available. Something tells me that the list will keep growing over the next several years. Top digital advertising methods are banner ads, video ads, social media ads, and over-the-top ads (or streaming ads). Each one will help get your message in front of your target audience easily and efficiently. When you use an omnichannel approach to marketing your organization, you are far more likely to garner greater support through your online donation page. 

How would this omnichannel marketing strategy look exactly? Try delivering advertisements to your prospects and donors using multiple channels throughout their donation cycle. This will keep your organization in their mind for the giving season or a time when they are ready and able to give. It will also aid in meeting your audience where they are to improve their overall experience with your organization. Creating these more personalized touch points over time will attract more donations and enhance your donors’ lifetime value. Ultimately, it gives you a better return on your investment. 

Four: Create Effective Messaging and Eye-Catching Creative

Your messaging and creative is one of the most critical parts of the equation. When beginning the process of producing these for each of your different ad placements, it is important to consider the following: 

1. The interests of my target audience
2. The story that will resonate
3. The creative sizes needed 
4. The length of video desired (if video ad) 
5. The donation page the audience is sent to (this is covered in step 5 below)

Your work in steps one and two is now ready to pay off. With the detailed interest, affinity, financial signals, and demographic details, you will be able to know who you are looking to reach with your messaging and creative. For example, if you are a nonprofit whose mission is to educate children in arts and sciences, you may find your supporters interested in museums. The audience’s average age is 45-60, and they have an average household income of $60,000. This would help you determine the type of imagery, the ask, and the message you put in front of them on the various channels you are using.  

Regarding the creative you deliver, there are some overarching rules you should follow. One, make the graphic simple and clean. While simple, still ensures that the image is relevant and will pop in a sea of ads to attract your donors’ attention. Two, pay attention to the details. What do you want the outcome to be? Deliver a clear and concise story to your viewers that make them want to take the next step. Three, ensure there is a clear call to action. Whether that’s “Donate Now”, “Learn More”, or another relevant next step, make sure that it is prominent on the ad. Lastly, ensure that your ads are in the appropriate format, size, and length (for video) for the shared platform.

When you have all these parts set up, you are on track to increasing your online donations and awareness for your cause. To further prove the importance of knowing your donors, creating a multi-channel marketing strategy, and crafting a compelling advertisement, one of our clients has seen some amazing results using this method for elevated online giving. They raised $34,970 in donations from 55 new donors through a $2,750, three-week campaign. That’s a 12X return on their investment! These were terrific results, and their conversion rate was 88.7% on their digital ads – well above the industry average.

Five: Set Up a Donation Page That Converts

Your donation page is the face of your organization and has the final say before a completed donation. So, set up a strong donation portal. As you begin to lay out your giving page, consider the following advice: 

1. Tell a compelling story
2. Keep the page clean and simple
3. Use imagery that makes the viewer “feel”
4. Donation form is prominent
5. Offer multiple gift amounts 
6. Offer a recurring donation option

As you go down this list of advice, remember always to keep your donors’ interests and needs in mind. For example, if your donors have an average giving capacity of $300, you should not suggest $10, $15, and $20 as your gift options. That would be selling yourself short and limiting the support you will ultimately receive. But on the opposite end of the spectrum,  offering $500, $750, and $1,000 would turn them away from giving completely.

Always remember that your donors need to be able to quickly and easily donate with as little friction as possible. Grab their attention and hold on! Deliver a compelling story that makes people feel a need and desire to support your cause. Once you have their attention, ensure their eyes are where you want them to act – your donation form.

One way to increase your average online donation amount is to make a “middle of the road” ask amount stand out. This will encourage people to give just a little more before donating. I.e., They planned on giving $20 to your cause, but you had the next highest option of $40 highlighted as “most frequently given.” This would aid in persuading them to give just a little more. Therefore, you may double their intended initial gift. Before they leave your donation page, you should always ask if they would like to make their gift a recurring one. This will help increase the overall lifetime value of your donors by helping your organization retain them from the first donation. It will save you the time and effort of asking for another donation in the future. 

Now, The Real Fun Begins

Once you have all these steps in place, you are ready to launch your campaign and reap the rewards of your labor. Watch those donations come rolling in! But remember, don’t get sidetracked by the shiny penny. Begin tracking your outcomes as your campaign runs. By the end of the campaign, you will have the data you need to refine your messaging, engage your new donors, and deliver an even better experience with each campaign going forward. 

As you begin these steps, there are people who can help you increase your online donations with great ease. boodleAI’s giving pages put all of the above steps into one easy-to-use platform. It helps you set up the donation page you need to get the donors you want. It delivers the insights, prospects, and reporting you can use to create digital ads that will ramp up your online giving for good. So check it out by scheduling a demo to explore your organization’s needs and start on the right path to amplified online giving. 

Is anything scarier than a new nonprofit CRM?

Nonprofits have plenty on their plates. You might be doing everything from planning fundraising events and managing supporters to launching campaigns. Sound familiar? And as if that isn’t enough, the burden of the pandemic has been forcing mission-driven organizations to think creatively of new ways to engage and serve their constituents.

It is a huge understatement to say it can be time-consuming, inefficient, and downright messy without the right tools.

What is a nonprofit CRM?

Nonprofit CRM is software that stores and manages everything you know and cherish about your organization’s members, donors, and beneficiaries in a central location.

It can do a dizzying number of things, too. They can integrate with your website, automate emails, and connect with your accounting software. CRMs also can add a new type of supporter to your system, issue tax-compliant donation receipts, and increase charitable giving through personalized messages.

A CRM is also an orderly way to segment and slice the data to make informed decisions that convert to fundraising success.

How a CRM can benefit your nonprofit

A CRM can undoubtedly strengthen and expand opportunities that support your core mission.

From segmenting supporters by areas of interest to maintaining strong constituent relationships, tracking membership activities, and simplifying the donation process, a CRM can empower your nonprofit to manage your data effectively and confidently.

It will allow your entire team to feel the purpose in their work by having a system that takes care of the significant (not to mention menial) day-to-day administrative tasks like:

• tracking donations while campaigns are in progress
• automating acknowledgments and receipting
• recording every interaction with a constituent
• managing your finances and accounting
• assigning volunteers to activities
• pulling analytic reports

Sounds good, doesn’t it? There’s more. You can seamlessly integrate and sync your CRM with other third-party applications to manage your specific fundraising needs. You can sync up with platforms like QuickBooks, Gmail, Mailchimp, and DocuSign, among many more.

Why you need a nonprofit CRM

During the pandemic fallout, many nonprofits used technology that didn’t hold up well. To communicate effectively with donors and constituents, they had to evolve and adapt their data management systems to the new reality. 

We’re in a time when supporters expect highly personalized, customer-centric experiences. Technology that’s dated or hasn’t kept up with your organization can prevent you from delivering a great donor experience. It stops you from working efficiently and ultimately raising more funds.

That’s why a CRM is a necessity.

You can weed out which parts of your operational process are time-wasters, giving you more time to focus on the important stuff.

Here are four reasons why a nonprofit CRM is an excellent investment.

1. Strengthen donor loyalty. Without donors, nonprofits can’t stay afloat. So, treat them like the valuable assets that they are.

According to a 2021 study from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Americans opened their wallets in 2020, increasing donations by 10.6% during the pandemic. The most significant boost was from new donors who gave more small-dollar gifts (at the same time, donor retention dropped by 4.1%).

According to the report, people gave to organizations they hadn’t given to before. This means that there’s ample opportunity for nonprofits to engage and nurture these new supporters for the long term. They can talk about the good work they’ve accomplished because of the support.

Handling and nurturing donor relationships with an outdated, manual system is a colossal task that involves many steps, people, and responsibilities. Imagine how awful it would be to forget to thank donors for their gifts.

A reliable CRM has features that make relationship management more manageable, so nobody gets missed. For instance, you can record every donor interaction you’ve ever had and what their giving habits are. You can set up reminders to send phone calls or thank you letters to major donors that they won’t forget.

2. Let your data do the heavy lifting.

Analytical CRM tools make your piles of data available, clear, and relevant to your nonprofit’s needs. It can even serve up those “a-ha” moments to be better every year.

To make critical, real-time decisions, you must trust that the information you aggregate is current and accurate. That’s a challenge if you’re pulling data from numerous platforms (email, social media, payment processor, online fundraising data), where it’s vulnerable to errors and missed fundraising opportunities.

To get stakeholders onboard with a CRM investment, you want to show that it will do more than just consolidate your data into the new software. It’ll impact everything from donor loyalty to data management and engagement to staff retention. Once equipped with these visible metrics, your supporters and backers will likely get excited about you investing in this tool.

3. Higher productivity and efficiency.

Having all your major everyday activities in one place makes for easier workflow, better collaboration between team members, better project management, and a simpler way to track resources and costs.

With a CRM, task automation removes tedious tasks so your team can focus on more challenging work. As mentioned earlier, dashboards and metrics can help you see the bigger picture of your mission and optimize several business processes.

4. Access your info from just about anywhere.

Supporting your staff, whether they’re fully remote, in the office, or a mix of both will be critical to the success of your nonprofit in a post-pandemic world. CRM products and features will allow your team to connect, share ideas, and get more done together, regardless of where they are.

Questions for your nonprofit team to ask when choosing a CRM

Your nonprofit is unique. So, the best CRM should include the features, support, and integrations that meet your specific needs. After all, the last thing you want to do is get stuck with software that doesn’t make sense for you.

1. What do we want to get out of a CRM implementation? If you want to reach your maximum CRM potential, it’s best to have a CRM strategy. It should include setting challenging objectives that can have a lasting impact on your organization. For example, do you want to increase donor retention by 40% over the next two years? Surpass your 2021 fundraising goals by $100,000. Or configure reports so that you can build a case to apply for a large grant?
2. How much data do we have? The number of constituent profiles a nonprofit can collect varies. Be sure to analyze how much donor data you have before buying.
3. What do we need to track? The data you collect should be used to make your nonprofit more successful. To do that, think about the major information you need to capture to get a holistic view of your organization’s performance to boost your revenue.
4. Is our entire team on board? A CRM will likely affect most of your employee’s jobs in some way. Talk to your team to get them on board and see what they hope to achieve from the new software. When you’re all on the same page, implementing the CRM and team training will run more smoothly.
5. Can our CRM “talk” to other systems? It’s wise to integrate your CRM tools with any existing applications that you’re using. You can improve your productivity and workflow by removing the back and forth between apps. Though many organizations find it beneficial to use third-party applications, many CRMs offer native automation tools that will centralize your data and save you money in the long run.
6. How fast can we get a CRM up and running? If you are already using a CRM, it depends on how much data you need to transfer to a new system, who needs access to your CRM, how big your team is, and how sophisticated your CRM automation is. If you’re starting from scratch, setup can happen quickly. If you find it daunting or don’t have the time, consider the services of a CRM software partner like cloudStack Services.
7. Can we afford this? This is the first question or roadblock nonprofits face, as budget is almost always a driving factor in any decision. Consider immediate and ongoing costs, like integrations, licensing and system maintenance, and training when reviewing costs. Then there’s the most significant cost benefit: reducing manual tasks so your highly-skilled team can focus on more complex, productive work.

Key CRM features to look for

The best CRM will have loads of features, but a few are essential for you to consider. Here are four features that after often found to be the most useful.  

1. Data Reporting- Your nonprofit CRM should be able to generate all types of valuable reports—from financial transactions to campaign performances to donor behavior. A good CRM can even let you configure custom reports to give you a snapshot of which parts of your operations are working and which aren’t. With those insights, you can develop more targeted and appealing outreach strategies. 
2. Donor Management- Imagine having a complete view of your interactions with donors and the channels that spur them to take action. Or the ability to create donor personas, segments, and tags. A CRM will allow you to log emails, calls, social media engagements, and any other custom info that may help you nurture your donor relationships. Remember, the better your donor data, the higher your donor retention.
3. List Segmentation Segmentation- allows you to subdivide your contact list into any number of customized, smaller lists using tags and filters. You can segment by geographical location, demographics, donation amounts, interactions with your organization, and more. By breaking down your lists, you can target and, more importantly, personalize messages to your leads and supporters to remind them that their gift matters. Take the Giving Tuesday campaign, for example. On this global giving day, you wouldn’t send your first-time donors and volunteers the same email. That’s because they’re at a different point on their journey with your nonprofit. The message they receive should echo that. List segmentation lets you write specific messages to each group and portray your ask in a way that inspires.
4. Omni-channel integrations- A CRM has built-in features, whereas integrations bring in an outside tool. You’ll either want a CRM with all basic built-ins or one that supports integrations with the platforms you need like QuickBooks, Mailchimp, Eventbrite, and Shopify.

This spotlight blog is written by Paula Kehoe of Red Rock Communications.

Paula Kehoe is a freelance content writer specializing in B2B, SaaS, business, marketing, and lifestyle topics. She is a regular contributor to cloudStack Services, a Salesforce implementation partner for nonprofits.”

How Nonprofits Can Get the Most Out of Contactless Fundraising Technology

Technology is undoubtedly one of the most exciting areas of growth for nonprofits and charities. Rather than simply shaking a plastic bucket, fundraisers have the tools at their disposal to engage donors and ensure the most returns on their initial investment. A fantastic example of these kinds of tools is contactless payment technology. While it’s taken a little while for the sector as a whole to catch up, more charities and nonprofits are realizing the potential of contactless technology. Here’s a practical guide on how to build a business case for contactless fundraising technology, and how to overcome challenges to make fundraising more engaging, effortless, and rewarding.

Beef up your case for contactless fundraising technology

Making big changes – especially tech-driven ones – is an exciting way to keep your charity’s operations moving and shaking. But it’s important to invest in the right tech at the right time. And, if you are interested in adding this new digital donation channel to your fundraising model, you need to make sure your organization’s decision-makers are as motivated and enthusiastic as you are. That means being able to solidly demonstrate how contactless payment technology will benefit your NPO. By understanding these benefits, you can build your case, engage your trustees, and future-proof your fundraising!

What makes contactless fundraising technology a no-brainer for NPOs?

Charities, like all organizations, are on a going on journey. However, there still may be some old-school stakeholders who are dragging their heels on organizational change. Since there often isn’t a lot of money to throw around, there can be an attitude of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” That’s why it’s so important to make a compelling business case for investing in new technology. So, if you feel your non-profit is ready to embrace contactless fundraising technology, here are some points on how it can give you an edge.

Consumers love it!

Since contactless payments were introduced in 2007, more and more consumers have been getting on board with this incredibly convenient technology. In 2020, it was estimated that 51% of Americans are now using some form of contactless payment. More often than not people want to donate, but they simply don’t have the spare change. Now they can with just a tap of their card.

Cashless is king

Charities and NPOs traditionally rely on a flow of small cash donations, but cash usage has been plummeting worldwide. We seen this more often, especially in the wake of COVID-19. In the UK, for example, cash accounted for just 17% of all payments in 2020. With less cash in our pockets and purses, 70% of charities are reporting a drop in cash donations. Contactless payment technology is a natural way forward, replacing the need for pocket change.

Contactless is safe, convenient, and easy for collectors

Using a contactless payments system makes door-to-door and community fundraising simpler and safer. This is because there’s no need to carry or sort change, and no need to physically take large amounts of cash to the bank. All a person needs to do is tell you how much they want to donate and then tap their card or smartphone. It can take just 15 seconds or less to complete the entire transaction! Let’s face it, it’s nicer to tap a quick donation than sifting through the usual detritus the average person collects in their pockets!

Contactless is clean

These days, we’re all washing our hands and sanitizing like it’s no one’s business. And, if you haven’t realized it yet, cash is about as gross as your toilet bowl. Contactless payment systems are an easy way to keep bacteria and viruses at bay because the user doesn’t have any physical contact with the device and no one other than the user needs to handle the card. 85% of consumers feel that this is much healthier and more sanitary than handling cash and using other payment techniques. In addition, the World Health Organization also promoted it as a way to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Secure, admin-free transactions

Contactless technology is very fast and secure – more so than traditional card payment methods. This is because there is a strong physical limitation on the machines that ensures they can only detect cards or virtual cards that are held close to the sensor. These terminals also use cutting-edge encryption to perform the transaction between the device and the bank. What this comes down to is that donations are processed quickly and safely while reflecting much faster on your records. This makes recording and tracking transactions much easier too. That way, you can keep abreast of donation trends and patterns without the excessive admin.

Pump up donation and subscription revenue

Charitable giving has taken a hard knock in recent years. A survey by CAF America found that nearly 68% of charitable organizations saw a decrease in funding. Bringing in secure, consumer-friendly channels for fundraising is a great way to offset this. You can even significantly increase revenue. Campaigns such as VISA’s ‘Tap to Give’ are trying to emanate the success of efforts in the UK, where contactless payments have long been the norm. For example, The Natural History Museum in London has raised over £1 million through the installation of contactless donation terminals.

Tackling the challenges of contactless fundraising

Although the benefits of this technology are impressive, digital transformation isn’t always easy. At the same time, making this investment is not as simple for NPOs as it is for businesses and corporations. Here are some of the challenges you may face and how to solve them.

Buying devices

While these fundraising devices are becoming more affordable, purchasing them outright can be out of reach for many NPOs, especially if you want enough to cater for events. To solve this, consider working with an organization that lets you affordably rent contactless fundraising devices. This is much more cost-effective and gives you the ability to easily scale up or down the number of devices as needed.

Donation transaction limits

The limits on contactless payments are entirely at the discretion of each bank. For instance, American Express sets a limit of $200 but this goes down to $100 for Visa, Mastercard and Discover. While this easily accommodates the average donation amount, donors will need alternative channels if they want to give larger amounts. When you are doing a big-ticket fundraising event like a silent auction or charity dinner, it’s better to have cheque or EFT facilities rather than contactless payment devices. We also recommend programming your devices with standard donation options. Using smaller options like $1, $5, and $10 can encourage people to donate more while staying within the limitation.

Capturing donor information

Contactless payments usually don’t involve the transmission of personal information. This is somewhat of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it could encourage donations from people who are tentative to have their data in the hands of an organization (even a charitable one). On the other hand, most charities thrive on repeated engagement and donations. Therefore, one of the risks of relying fully on contactless technology is that you may see an initial uplift that then peters out over time. For this reason, try to be discerning about when and where you use contactless technology. This means segmenting your approach to donor engagement. For some events, you can focus on raising money whereas for others you’re looking to expand your network of committed patrons.

Training staff and volunteers

A lot of people have a good idea of how these devices work. But that’s as a consumer – not as someone gathering donations. A staff training program is important because these terminals work a little different to regular card terminals. Staff need to know where to place the card. They also need to know how to identify when the transaction has been successful. And lastly, they should understand how to deal with basic error messages. Fortunately, they are simple to master, and your provider should be able to supply training information for you to upskill your team. This will minimize errors and ensure the safest, quickest service for donors, and a stress-free time for staff and volunteers.

Tech support

As with all tech, it’s only as good as the support the vendor offers. If you don’t want to spend hours listening to “your call is important to us” and canned music, you need a partner that has cutting-edge tech, not to mention great service. A solid provider will make sure you get tech support and training, supply you with high quality and user-friendly devices and keep your software updated. They should have a proven track record and specialize in working with NPOs, recognizing that your values, practices, and requirements are very different to a business, and providing customized service as a result.

Final thoughts on going contactless for fundraising

Ultimately, we’re living in a world that is becoming more and more digitized every day. For NPOs and charities, digital transformation gives you that all-important connection with donors, making them feel comfortable and secure. Contactless payments are surging worldwide because they are fast, convenient, and safe – and your organization can reap these rewards and increase revenue through this investment.

How to Receive Nonprofit Donations Using QR Codes

Donations are central to your success as a nonprofit, so why wouldn’t you want to get as many of them as possible? Most nonprofits turn their attention to innovative events and marketing methods when trying to maximize donations. However, the difference in generosity comes down to something simple: convenience. The easier it is to donate, the more likely people are to do it. Knowing how to receive donations using QR codes is one of the best ways to ensure that.

The best part is that you don’t have to figure out how to integrate QR codes yourself. You can outsource that task to specialist software. One platform called Paybee made a dedicated fundraising platform for nonprofits. They integrated various ways to use QR codes in your events, whether virtual, in-person, or hybrid.

QR codes: A brief primer

Before we go any further, let’s clarify what QR codes actually are and how they work. You’ve probably seen plenty of them in your life. The codes feature a selection of black and white squares randomly scattered about, all within another square. QR codes are a type of barcode. Unlike the standard barcodes that cashiers scan when you buy something, anyone can scan a QR code with their phone camera and access information related to them.

Gradually, QR codes have started to infiltrate our lives. We see codes in museums. For example, visitors can access extra information on an exhibit. Or, you may see them in PowerPoint presentations. Audience members can scan them to receive online resources. QR codes refer you to a website without typing in a complicated web address. However, their adaptation has been relatively slow. Unfortunately, many people do not see the point in using codes or not bothering to learn how to use them.

All that changed when the pandemic hit. Suddenly, everything became contactless to comply with health and safety guidelines. QR codes started to replace more and more things, from menus to tickets. Why run the risk of touching a physical item when you could scan a code and get everything on your device instead?

The role of QR codes in the nonprofit world

Hopefully, you’re already thinking of how QR codes relate to the nonprofit world, even after the pandemic. In-person fundraising events tend to involve physical items, like flyers and posters. Placing QR codes on these is an easy way to give guests access to everything they need to know about the event and how to make donations. You can use the small square without worrying about cluttering up promotional materials or ruining your graphic design.

Because donors will be scanning the codes straight from their phones, they can quickly pay using that same design. Many people feel uncomfortable giving over their physical card or simply find it inconvenient. This approach has more advantages than one.

You can also use QR codes at virtual events so they can pay or access certain pages from their phones.

Where to use QR codes for Events

Now, it’s time to get specific. Here are some of the most valuable places to use QR codes at your fundraising events to boost donations.

Silent auction bid sheets

The silent auction is a staple of many fundraising events. It will help raise money in advance. It’s also a great way of generating interest beforehand and increasing the number of people that turn up. You can start the fun of silent auctions weeks before the day, giving you a huge window of opportunity.

Why not create bid sheets with QR codes for your silent auctions to make the most of these auctions? Participants can easily scan the QR codes to make bids online, a preferable alternative for many. It means they can bid from anywhere instead of remaining in sight of the auctioneer.

PayBee automatically generates these sheets so the process couldn’t be simpler. We also offer a feature that sends live text updates to guests, which keeps them engaged in the auction and makes them more invested in your nonprofit’s upcoming event.

Printed materials

If flyers and other physical marketing materials are part of the promotional strategy for your event, don’t miss out on the opportunity to include QR codes. When guests are wandering around an event and looking at the posters on display, they’re in a prime position to scan a code out of curiosity or make a donation. 

Try to be strategic about it by making your materials as attractive as possible and placing them in places people are most likely to notice. Why not try putting flyers on table settings or similar?

Even if you’re holding an online-only event, you can achieve something similar by placing QR codes to donate on your website or digital adverts.

Bid paddles

Bid sheets aren’t the only place you can put QR codes if you’re holding auctions. Paddles for bidding can be more than just a piece of paper with a number. PayBee designed bid paddles that contain a unique QR code for each guest. The code allows them to make donations or purchase items. They can also “check out” straight from their phone, which minimizes the chance of someone winning an auction but never making the payment. 

Again, convenience is key.

Our bid paddles come in PDF format and fit a standard sheet of paper (with an 8.5 x 11 aspect ratio), so anyone can print them off at home. After printing, fold the paper down the middle, which will show the number on both sides of the sheet. As for the handle, that’s down to you to get creative — or participants can simply use their hands.

Tickets

Tickets in some form are a necessary evil for any event, but they can cause a lot of inconveniences if there are long queues to carry out the process. If the staff takes a while to check physical tickets, it can get an event off to a bad start. If many people feel crowded in a small place, it can even lead to concerns about health and safety.

QR codes are far quicker and more accessible alternatives. Staff simply have to scan a ticket to check it’s legitimate, and then guests can head straight inside, possibly leaving them in a more generous mood.

Bring your events to the twenty-first century

QR codes might seem like old technology to many, yet most companies and nonprofits fail to use them to their full potential. Placing a few codes on your bidding paddles, promotional materials, and tickets can make an event smoother and more convenient for everyone. It possibly could result in more donations.

If the time and effort involved have been your biggest hurdle in adopting QR codes, using a dedicated fundraising platform like PayBee to automatically generate everything you need could be a game-changer. Could your nonprofit benefit from this platform? Check out the free live demo to find out for yourself before you commit.

This spotlighted blog post is courtesy of Paybee.

Offer various donation options through ecommerce

Collecting donations is one of the main sources of funding for many nonprofit organizations. That’s why, when looking into ecommerce platforms for your website, find one that allows you to collect donations. Make “Donate” buttons bright and easy to find on your website. It doesn’t hurt to add them to every website page. This way, visitors don’t lose sight of it and can donate from any page they’re browsing. Let’s look at some of the different donation types you can use with an ecommerce platform.

Collect one-time donations

One-time donations are great for attracting the attention of first-time website visitors. They also benefit people who aren’t ready to subscribe to regular donations yet. One-time donations can be added as a separate option on your website, or as an add-on to a product or service.  For example, Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum allows customers to donate to different targeted funds when they purchase a membership in their gift shop. When it comes to one-time donations, set up fixed price tiers for donating or let site visitors decide on their own donation amount. 

Collect recurring donations

Recurring revenue is extremely important for nonprofits. It allows you to budget more accurately and make running your nonprofit a more predictable and sustainable venture. Here’s how recurring donations work: a person subscribes to donate a certain amount weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or annually. Then they are automatically charged that amount on a regular basis. Apart from being billed regularly, nonprofit supporters can still choose other ways to donate on an ongoing basis. There are memberships or sponsorships that provide interested donors with bonuses for recurring donations.

Chase Animal Rescue Sanctuary allows website visitors to sponsor an animal, for example. They can choose which animal to support and how much money they want to donate monthly. Sponsors are then automatically charged the same amount each month. As a perk, the sanctuary sponsors get monthly updates on their animals, including pictures. Depending on the sponsorship level, some supporters also get free admission for a tour or sanctuary merchandise. 

When you collect recurring donations, it’s essential to keep your supporters in the loop. Think about sending regular newsletters to people who have subscribed to regular contributions. Thank them and tell them about the amazing things their donations have allowed you to do. In addition, use a newsletter to share your nonprofit’s news and plans, announce events, and outline new ways to support your organization.

Add a donation option at checkout

If you have an online store to sell your nonprofit-related products and services, don’t forget to add a donation option to your checkout. Offer your customers predefined donation amount options in either fixed sum amounts or as a percentage of the order total. You can also pre-select a donation amount for your customers that will be automatically added to orders at checkout. In this case, be sure to enable the “No tip” option to let customers check out with no donation as well.  

Grow your funding with an online ecommerce store

Adding an online store to your nonprofit’s website can drastically grow your funding. Why? Because it encourages interested visitors to take action instead of just browsing your website. Having an online store streamlines the process of donating. Visitors can easily support your nonprofit in a couple of clicks, instead of having to research other ways to support your cause or make a bank transfer. 

For maximum flexibility, you can also enable a “Pay What You Want” price for some products so that customers can choose to round up their payment amount. This way, they can choose to support your nonprofit just by adding on a couple of dollars to their total, instead of having to make a separate donation at checkout. Adding a minimum price to this option helps ensure you won’t get less money for a product than it costs. At the same time, “Pay What You Want” encourages customers to be charitable without going out of their way to do so. 

Here are a few other ways to use your nonprofit’s online store.

Use ecommerce to sell your merchandise

There are various items that nonprofits can sell as branded merchandise. Popular choices include mugs, hats, t-shirts, posters, hoodies, phone cases, tote bags, face masks, key chains, soft toys, and more. To create your branded merchandise, print your nonprofit’s logo, slogan, or custom-designed image on products. For example, LaLaLand, a cafe with the purpose of hiring foster youth, offers a wide variety of branded products in their online store. These include clothes, accessories, mugs, and bottles with their brand logo, slogan, and custom images.

However, creating custom-designed products takes extra time and money—two things nonprofits usually don’t have to spare. In this case, you might want to connect your online store to print-on-demand services. They take care of sourcing inventory, storing it, printing and shipping orders to customers. Here’s how it works: a customer buys a hat with your nonprofit logo in your online store. The order is automatically sent to a print-on-demand service. It prints your logo on a hat and sends the order to the customer. The benefits of using print-on-demand services are obvious: you don’t need to source and store inventory and deal with printing and shipping. And because the products are made on-demand, there’s no risk of dead stock.

Branded merchandise is not always about products with printed logos or images. Some nonprofits get creative with the merchandise they offer to make it truly unique. For example, Helping Rhinos, a rhino charity, sells Rhino Tear jewelry: pendants, cuffs, bangles, and earrings in the form of a tear. All profits from jewelry sales go to anti-poaching projects across Africa. 

Sell event tickets 

If your nonprofit hosts paid events such as workshops, classes, courses, or panel discussions, you can sell tickets to those events in your online store. Save the Snakes, a nonprofit dedicated to snake conservation and human-snake conflict mitigation, sells training courses and workshops on their website. Customers can choose the date of a workshop when placing their online order.

Sell educational resources

Education-based nonprofits and other organizations can benefit from an online store if they produce various resources. This works for both physical and digital resources—books, guides, checklists, or brochures. Online classes and courses are also a common product for nonprofits. For example, iSchool for the Future, an educational nonprofit, sells online classes on their website. The link with instructions and resources is emailed to customers upon purchase. 

Sell gift cards

Apart from selling merchandise, event tickets, or resources, nonprofits can also add gift cards to their online store. This provides another option to support a nonprofit since it encourages customers to draw others’ attention to the cause they care about. A gift card for a program or resource can be purchased as a birthday or holiday gift, for example. Check out how Amigos de Santa Cruz put gift cards front-and-center for their online store. The “Buy Now” button is visible on every page of the store: the storefront, category pages, and even product pages. This nonprofit supports indigenous Mayan women artisans from Santa Cruz.  All proceeds from the store directly benefit artisans and their families.

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Some people prefer donating. Others like wearing merchandise that highlights the cause they support. But no matter what charitable method is more popular for your nonprofit, an ecommerce store is a great way to let people support you in a convenient way. Whether you offer a donation button or a Pay What You Want feature, make sure to also have a “How You Can Help” page or tab on your website. Use it as a space where you can list all the ways people can support your cause: by donating, volunteering, buying merchandise or other products, sharing your nonprofit website on their social media pages, and so on.

If you’d like to test an online store for your nonprofit, there are a number of free ecommerce platform options available. For example, Ecwid has a Forever Free plan that allows you to set up a free one-page ecommerce website, sell up to ten products, and collect one-time donations. Paid plans provide tools for collecting recurring donations as well as easy integration with print-on-demand services. 

*This spotlighted blog post is courtesy of Ecwid

Workflow at a nonprofit looks drastically different today than it did just two years ago. Modern nonprofits need to uphold their core missions, attract donors, and bring in donations, all while keeping in mind the restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more nonprofits are moving around multiple parts of their organization. From foundational programs to events and donations, cause work is happening in the digital space. 

The right tools can make this transition easy and stress-free. For nonprofits that are firmly entrenched in the digital world or those that are still finding their way around, a workflow building platform is key. This can help simplify processes and reduce manual work and operational costs—a huge benefit for nonprofits. Read on to learn three ways nonprofits can use workflow automation software at their organizations. 

1. Online Program Management

With COVID-19 era and its effect on the economy, more individuals are turning to nonprofits for support. Similarly, these nonprofits—unable to fundraise or offer programs in-person—have experienced growing challenges with connecting to donors and constituents. According to an SSRI survey, 82% of nonprofits transitioned to digital programs for at least part of their services. They now need a secure user-friendly platform for collecting and managing data, fundraising, and other outreach efforts.

FormAssembly’s user-friendly data collection platform makes it easy to design secure web forms, build workflows, and manage fundraising campaigns. This enables nonprofit staff to free up time and resources to focus on their mission. By using a workflow platform like FormAssembly, nonprofit organizations can take the stress and inefficiencies out of gathering data for their nonprofit programs. Workflow makes it easy for non-technical users to create intake forms or complex application forms for these programs. The process builder helps plan out when and how data is collected as well as where it goes and who gets notified. 

Example of a scholarship program registration form

A nonprofit can use a workflow platform to build out processes for individuals interested in one of their programs. A respondent could fill out an initial interest form, notifying a nonprofit employee to initiate a phone call. The employee could fill out another form to store information gathered during the interview. In addition, this information could automatically be pushed into Salesforce through a seamless integration.

2. Engaging supporters in the digital space

Last year, the new normal became social distancing and limited indoor capacity. This left nonprofit organizations struggling to effectively engage with volunteers and supporters within their communities. Many nonprofits now rely on virtual events to spread awareness, connect with donors, and continue fundraising. But event or video platforms pose a challenge when it comes to navigating new technology. Plus, organizing an event as a whole (including registration and donations) is difficult without the right software.

Using FormAssembly’s workflow builder and data collection platform simplifies how nonprofit employees engage supporters. This works well for virtual events such as silent auctions or nonprofit conferences. It also streamlines processes for registrations, donations, and more. 

Example of a nonprofit virtual event

Having a better workflow for virtual event planning is key. It can provide a user-friendly and highly customized experience for nonprofit staff members and their supporters. Staff could set up conditional routing to put users on different paths per their selections, like a virtual conference that offers multiple sessions. Each selection could automatically route to a different page or additional form.

Similarly, it works to streamline speaker submissions for a keynote during a virtual event. In this example, a speaker could submit an application, and then this information could be configured to be sent to a specific reviewer based on the topic. If the reviewer approves the submission, a new email could be triggered to the applicant, urging them to visit another form to select a keynote date.

3. Offering flexible, digital donation options 

Nonprofits shifting to the digital space can also benefit from a workflow building platform to provide secure, user-friendly online donation forms. Using a powerful data collection platform with a visual process builder, limited nonprofit staff can quickly build donation forms. This helps map out donor journeys to connected external CRM or payment systems. Keeping these processes within one streamlined platform will condense the amount of work a nonprofit team needs to complete. Plus, it enhances the fundraising experience for donors too.

Example of a nonprofit website donation page

With an intuitive platform, nonprofits can build out streamlined workflows for donation submissions through their payment connector of choice, whether that’s PayPal, Stripe, or Authorize.net. Depending on which payment option a donor chooses, the workflow could be conditionally routed to a second form with the right payment connector automatically integrated. Conditional routing can also send donors to a secondary “thank you” page based on their donation amount. If the donor receives a gift for donation, submitting a specific donation amount could trigger another form to collect shipping information and send an automated message to the nonprofit employee to send the gift.

FormAssembly Workflow for Nonprofits

FormAssembly’s robust data collection and workflow-building platform is ideal for nonprofits looking to eliminate wasted hours, disorganized data, and high costs from inefficient processes. With a visual, no-code Workflow Builder interface, it’s easy to map out data collection processes and track data as it travels from people to forms and integrated CRM and payment systems. This 10,000-foot view of workflows for applications, fundraising, donations, and more enables nonprofit teams to make better and smarter decisions, keep key stakeholders updated, and know exactly where data (such as donor information or payments) is going at all times. With streamlined and automated processes, nonprofit organizations can focus on their cause, all while increasing team productivity, efficiency, and impact on their communities.

Explore FormAssembly Workflow for your nonprofit organization today!

*This spotlighted blog post is courtesy of FormAssembly