Why We Need Donation Software for Nonprofits

Gone are the days of phone banks, spreadsheets, and telethons. Nonprofit fundraising is all about networking, communication, and working relationships while building new ones. Donor management software can help. 

Donor management software is all about keeping information in a central, easily accessible place and being able to act from that same platform. Ideally, your donor management software is your nonprofit’s best friend. 

Your nonprofit is the real asset in any given fundraising situation, but you need to get the word out to donors new and old. The right software will maximize your fundraising efforts, utilize pre existing donor relationships, and help facilitate online donations. 

Reading this, you’ll understand why that is. We’re here to tell you what donor management software is, what you should be looking for depending on your needs, and how best to make it work for you. 

You’ll see how the right donor management software can be a tool in your efforts to get your fundraising thermometers off the charts.

Nonprofits Function Through Donations and Donor Engagement

Whether you’re getting your nonprofit off the ground (good for you!) or trying to get past a plateau and reach a new level of funding (amazing for you!), you know that nonprofits rely on donations from individuals and corporations to function. 

The crucial difference between nonprofit organizations and their for-profit counterparts is the way they earn funds and how they go about using them. 

Whereas for-profit organizations earn money from selling goods and services for their own profit and proliferation, nonprofits earn money solely for the purpose of spending the money on something other than itself. Primarily, its mission. 

In pursuit of this noble mission you’ve chosen, your nonprofit has most likely found like-minded volunteers, advocates, sympathizers, and donors. 

A nonprofit is able to continue solely through the time, energy, and money of those people and corporate entities. A nonprofit asks for funds and participation with the hope and conviction that there are those out there who believe enough in a common goal to part with their time and money to work towards it. 

A key part of this is dissemination. A nonprofit relies on engagement and communication to spread the word about said common goal. Importantly, this comes down to donor relationships - maintaining already-established ones and branching out to tend new ones. 

Donation Management Systems Alleviate Stress and Provide Unique Solutions

As your nonprofit expands, whether gaining more traction or simply having more hands on deck, spreadsheets can cause more harm than good. 

Donation management systems and software act as a boon to those confounded by the spread of a spreadsheet. Providing a central portal for information about donors and their history, everyone can access the same intel. 

Donor management software offers a wide range of perks to keep track of this intel and use it in beneficial ways. You can sort your donors by frequency of giving and identify which fundraising tools you’ve used to reach them in the past. 

There are a plethora of software options that offer different benefits. Some act as an advanced catalog, some offer analytics-based services, and some are geared towards maintaining donor communications. 

For instance, you can see which donors have responded to emails campaigns, social media outreach, or mailing initiatives based on information in the donor database. 

With a donation management system, you can advance your relationships with donor communication designed to maintain donor engagement.

Your Nonprofit Needs More Than A Contact List and a Calculator

We know what you’re thinking - we have all this. We’ve got our handy dandy rolodex and our accounting software that lets us know when we’re in the black and when we’re in the red. 

With a nonprofit, these two entities are not separate! Your donors are directly linked to your accounting, and the success of that relationship can be managed and increased through donation software. 

An analytics-based software can determine causal relationships between communications and donation history. Donor sorting and profiling can reveal fundraising trends you hadn’t even noticed.

Knowing what’s working within your fundraising strategy and what isn’t can make all the difference. It can transform a minor donor into a major donor, increase attendance at fundraising events, and make a huge dent in your fundraising goals. 

Whether your nonprofit utilizes online fundraising or fundraising events, you have or will have a rich history with donors that needs to be recorded and used. 

A nonprofit’s relationships with people and businesses are its lifeblood. Through donation tracking, accurate donor histories, and efficient communications systems, donation software will further your nonprofit’s goals.

The Right Donation Management Solution for Your Nonprofit

Your nonprofit’s needs will not be the same as another’s. Budget, scale, features, and goals all factor into what donation management software you choose. 

If you reach donors primarily through social media platforms, social media integration will be a significant feature. If your nonprofit mostly facilitates donations, you need software that’s familiar with giving a donations receipt and handling your online donation form. 

If you want to use gamification tools to fuel competition between donors or grassroots efforts, simple donor communications tools can reach past and future donors. 

When you’ve had a variety of donors, segmentation can help keep your communications targeted and efficient. Segmentation allows you to sort through donor data based on tiers, profiles, and inputted data. 

This will maximize the effectiveness of your communications between donors. You can determine how donors like to be contacted, what methods of fundraising platforms they respond to, and how they react to gift requests to modify your donor program accordingly.  

Most important is to find what fits your nonprofit best. There’s lots of pricing flexibility; many offer trials or tier-based systems, allowing for even the smallest of nonprofits to utilize this software. With it, you can save yourself lots of effort in the long run. 

As your nonprofit expands, donors will come and go. A vital part of that scalability is to keep that information in a clear and accessible place. That way, volunteers and employees can access donor data as you grow your fundraising solutions. 

No matter what you choose, the ideal donor management software will be easy to learn and use, scalable, and accessible. Take advantage of free trials, onboarding assistance, and different tiered options to find the right fit for your nonprofit.

Learn More, Do More

Bottom line is that your nonprofit can only benefit by using donation software. With it, you can reach donors more effectively, which allows for more gift opportunities. 

Download this free Playbook for Advocacy Associations to discover more tools designed to help your nonprofit reach its goals.