Combining different tools and technologies, Golden, a volunteer management software empowers nonprofit organizations to manage volunteer activities from the creation of the event to the execution, and finally to reporting statistics and analyzing data through various automation capabilities and integrations.

In Use:

Steve Sherrill, COO of Golden emphasized the importance of integration. Sherrill who has been with Golden for the past five years stated - “We believe very strongly in interoperability of technology platforms. All technologies that a nonprofit use should talk to each other to have a coherent and cohesive view of their constituents across all different activities…” It’s important to Sherrill and Golden that charities view their fundraising goals and volunteer retention rates in one place.  

A main focus of Golden is automation. Golden is equipped with push notifications to remind volunteers that they signed up for an event, QR codes for easy check-in or digital waivers for volunteers who sign up on site saving nonprofits time – as these would otherwise be manual tasks. To put this in perspective - Golden was able to save the Midwest Food Bank over 400 hours per chapter per year due to automation and volunteer engagement.

In addition to the dashboard that nonprofits can login to, charities can also utilize a mobile app to feature volunteer opportunities. Prospective volunteers in the area can sign up using the app. 

Golden varies in pricing. According to Sherrill- “Smaller organizations can access advanced features for as little as $25/month, whereas CRM integrations start at $75/month.” He also noted that additional branding and customizable packages are available upon request. Advanced features include email automation, statistics, digital waivers, and access to their mobile responsive app.

Ease of Use:

– Golden’s primary clientele are nonprofits so they understand the need for easy-to-use solutions. Often a nonprofit only has a few volunteers to manage fundraising, donor retention, and volunteer recruitment. Having a tool like Golden makes it easier to for small to medium nonprofits to see their data in one place. As the nonprofit organization gets larger and integrates with CRMs, it does get a bit more complicated – but users will have access to resource centers, a customer support team, and real time chat during business hours.

Furthermore, the dashboard that charities use to track their progress and events is easy to use. The mobile app allows volunteers use to sign up for volunteer opportunities and push notifications to remind them of an event.

Technology Used:

While on its own, Golden – is a great volunteer management software, they really shine in their ability to integrate with popular CRMs. In this way, charities can see their data all in one place. Among the CRMs that Golden integrates with are Kindful, Salesforce, and Blackbaud.

The mobile responsive app is also available on both Apple and Android devices.

Recap:

A volunteer management software, Golden allows nonprofit organizations to save time and money by automating processes and procedures associated with volunteering. Golden users have access to a mobile app where volunteers can sign up for an event; send push notifications to remind volunteers about the event and digital waivers that volunteers can sign at the time of arrival.

Their backend dashboard also has the ability to integrate with a charity’s CRM to analyze fundraising goals, view donor retention rates and manage volunteers all in one place.

Advantages:

• Free 30-Day trial for Community and Professional plans
• Push notifications, digital waivers, and other tools and features to save charities time and money
• Integrations with the top CRMs like Blackbaud and Kindful
• Customizable and branding opportunities available

Disadvantages:

• Customer service isn’t available 24/7 for events after working hours
• Mobile app could be more intuitive for both charities and nonprofits

My Opinion:

There are many features that nonprofits can benefit from by signing up for Golden. They can automate emails and reach their constituents for fundraising and volunteer opportunities. With the ability to try out the software with a 30-day free trial – you can’t lose.

As the software matures, I would like to see more access to customer service. If I was organizing an event on the weekend and something went wrong with digital waivers or checking in volunteers there wouldn’t be any way for me to contact Golden because their customer service representatives only work during business hours.  

I’d also like to see the mobile app improved. It’s a great idea to feature volunteer opportunities in the area but I’d like to see the app be a bit more intuitive. I don’t live close to Florida but yet I was getting in-person volunteer events in Florida. It’s also discouraging when you sign up for the app wanting to help your community and you don’t see any events in your area. 

Otherwise, Golden is a great opportunity for a nonprofit to fundraise and connect with their volunteers and donors. It’s easy to see that Golden put a lot of thought into creating their software. It shows with the added tools and features that their customers can utilize.

In person events have slowly made a comeback as organizations opt for in-person events versus the virtual events we’ve seen for the past few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the number of events increase – nonprofit organizations need a way to sell, keep track-of and report on ticket sales. Ticket Tailor, an event ticketing platform enables businesses and charities to sell tickets to events, galas, auctions, and webinars through their website.

In Use:

Ticket Tailor works by giving organizations a space to sell tickets online to upcoming events both in-person or virtual. With Ticket Tailor – a nonprofit can build a landing page where attendees can register, create re-occurring events (such as workshops or webinars), and accepts major credit card payments as well as direct payment such as PayPal or Stripe.

Many features in the solution are customizable such as the URL, order confirmation page and the checkout form – allowing charities to brand their assets and promote their organization.

On the day of the event – tickets are easy to use on mobile devices and charities get access to a scanning app making check-in seamless. Using an app called Tazotix – a charity can review statistics of those who have checked in while filtering by ticket type.

Pricing won’t break the bank either. Ticket Tailor is committed to nonprofits and charities offering them a 20% discount.  There is also an option to pre-pay credits in advance for $0.26 per ticket. Forgot to purchase pre-paid credits? In that case – users pay just about $0.65 per ticket sold. Funds are deposited into a charity’s account through Stripe or PayPal and registrants have the option to pay by major credit card. Ticket Tailor does not charge a fee if the event itself is free.

Technology Used:

Ticket Tailor integrates with many different technologies that enables it to run smoothly. Attendees can pay online with Apple or Google Pay while charities can take payment using Stripe, PayPal or credit cards.

A feature that the platform offers users is the ability to create a registration page for the event where attendees can purchase tickets. The URL is customizable and integrates with WordPress. There are options to embed the event registration page into the charity’s website and share on social media directly from the platform’s dashboard. Charities can also create customizable links so they know how the attendees heard about the event whether it’s from the charity’s newsletter, an email campaign, or advertising.

After the event – it’s important to collect, digest, and report on the data that the event generated. With Ticket Tailor – users have access to an analytics dashboard that shows how many tickets were sold, how many tickets were redeemed, and total revenue. They also have an integration with MailChimp so they can transfer attendee data into their CRM instance for later use.

Ease of Use:

Ticket Tailor has numerous videos that walks a user step-by-step through the creation of an event.  A user can select the date of the event, input the venue, upload graphics while also setting parameters around the number of tickets sold. There is an option to have types of tickets such as general admission and VIP tickets that differ in prices. Users can also set a ticket limit while having the ability to activate a waitlist or set transaction fees. Charities and nonprofits have the option to allow their attendees to make a donation and/or pay the booking fee. So instead of the charity paying the $.65 platform fee per ticket – donors can incur the cost.

Besides how-to videos, Ticket Tailor offers a free trial, chat features, and email. What they don’t seem to have is a call center.

Recap:

Ticket Tailor is an event ticketing platform that gives charities and nonprofit organizations a 20% discount. The platform is more than just a place to sell tickets and offers users various tools and integrations.

A nonprofit can benefit from the platform from the time the registration page goes live –  all the way to post-event data collection.

Advantages:

• There is no fee for free events
• Charities and nonprofit organizations receive a 20% discount
• Numerous features help keep nonprofits on track throughout the lifecycle of the event
• Easy to use platform with helpful videos and chat features
• Option for donors to give an additional donation or incur the booking costs of each ticket

Disadvantages:

• There doesn’t seem to be an emergency number to call in case there are problems during the event
• Downloading post-event data can be a challenge for some users
• Ticket sales can only be transferred using Stripe or PayPal – and not directly to a bank account

My Opinion:

I would look into Ticket Tailor if I was hosting an event. It seems like many of these features have nonprofits in mind like the ability to have donors donate an additional amount to the charity and/or incur the booking costs for the nonprofits. 

Post-event I like that there is a specific analytical dashboard. While it may not be as robust as its competitors – I think it includes the “must-have” data points.

Over the past few years businesses have begun to consolidate the number of software platforms they use in their security portfolio – conserving time trying to learn the nuances of multiple platforms; saving; money, and alleviating security risk from cyber threats. Nonprofits are no different – searching for a product that meets all of their needs. Combining member management, event organization and engagement all-in-one platform – MemberLeap hopes to be one of the only platforms that their clients need.

In Use:

MemberLeap was established by Vieth Consulting in 2000 and bills themselves as an association management system. They target both large and small not-for-profit organizations such as societies, associations, civic-organizations, charities, and nonprofits. A cloud-based software – MemberLeap has three distinct tools that their users can take advantage of.

MemberLeap is more well known for their member management services competing against other CRMs and association management solutions. Through the platform - users can track their donors through MemberLeap’s CRM, create invoices and automate payments; while also tracking and managing member data.

Users can also take advantage of their event management software capitalizing on their event registration tool, zoom interface, mobile app, and manage event volunteers. They similarly have tools to engage members with web design, newsletters, message boards and a text tool.

Regarding price – MemberLeap has various packages starting at $50 a month depending on a nonprofit’s needs – but considering that clients pay per feature – it could potentially add up. If you’re unsure if you can afford an association software like MemberLeap -try-before-you-buy with a free trial.

Technology Used:

Based in the cloud, the software is perfect for nonprofit organizations who want everything at their fingertips wherever they are. They also have a mobile app for both androids and apple devices that can be used on the go.

Ease of Use:

Association management softwares and CRMs in general aren’t known for being intuitive. Data migration can be a hassle no matter which CRM a nonprofit organization chooses. MemberLeap has email support, phone support and chat features to help their clients better navigate the tool.

To learn more about how to use the software – users can watch videos, download assets and attend webinars.

Recap:

MemberLeap, an association management software helps nonprofit organizations manage, engage and market to their donor base. With various packages this software is great for small to large nonprofit organizations and can work with MemberLeap to pick a package that’s right for them.

Known for their CRM feature, MemberLeap allows users to create invoices, collect payment, send newsletter and even host websites. Other features of MemberLeap include event registration, volunteer management, data tracking, and space to collaborate with other volunteers.

Advantages:

• While CRMs can be hard to navigate – MemberLeap has various ways to ask for help – whether that’s phone support, chat features, trainings, and assets to learn about the program.
• All-in-one software allows nonprofits to save time by automating processes like emails, billing, and calendars.

Disadvantage:

• Like many CRMs there is a learning curve associated with MemberLeap
• Make sure that you look into all of the different add-ons that MemberLeap has – and budget that into the overall cost when making your decision

My Opinion”

Deciding on a CRM shouldn’t be taken lightly. Make sure that before you decide on MemberLeap that they have the ability to migrate your data, and can show you how to navigate their platform. What I do like about the platform is that small to large nonprofits can customize their package to fit their needs so they’re not paying for services they don’t want and are only paying for those that they do.

Before deciding on whether or not to purchase MemberLeap – don’t forget that they offer a free trial.

Large nonprofits should have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to help them keep track of relationships with donors, volunteers and people who are vital to their organization. While medium and small nonprofits could benefit from a CRM - larger nonprofits such as American Red Cross, Amnesty International, and United Way cannot thrive without one.

While popular nonprofit CRMs like Blackbaud, Kindful, and DonorPerfect are well known within the nonprofit community – Salesforce is gaining momentum within the industry offering their answer to a robust nonprofit CRM – Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud – an integrated CRM for nonprofits to expand their impact, from anywhere.

In Use:

Salesforce’s answer to a nonprofit CRM – Nonprofit Cloud gives charities access to products geared towards fundraising, marketing, engagement and grants that scales alongside the nonprofit.

In an interview with Idealist Consulting, Kate Mirkin who at the time was the Director of Product Marketing at Salesforce.org explained Nonprofit Cloud is the complete set of Salesforce technologies that address the technology challenges that nonprofits face.” Mirkin who is now the Director of Strategic Marketing Programs at Salesforce.org goes on to say – “It includes Salesforce products like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Communities - as well as products built specifically by Salesforce.org for nonprofits.”

A CRM is supposed to be an “all-in-one” platform for a nonprofit organization. Nonprofit Cloud does a pretty good job of being a “one-stop-shop” for users. Within the platform a charity can utilize an activity dashboard, manage campaigns, communicate to donors and track contributions. But it does come at a cost. One of the most common feedback associated with Salesforce.org’s Nonprofit Cloud is the steep price. With expensive set up costs, and monthly fees – it’s almost impossible for a smaller nonprofit to be able to afford it – and with no free trial or free version a nonprofit can’t try it before they buy in. While the Nonprofit Cloud starts at $60 per month/per user this doesn’t take into account set-up fees and necessary trainings.  

Technology Needed:

As the name suggest, Nonprofit Cloud sits on the cloud so a nonprofit can access their data from anywhere. With mobile apps available – a stakeholder can quickly check metric, send out communication or track their grants from anywhere.

Like with Salesforce – Nonprofit Cloud integrates with Tableau so a charity can have an easier time visualizing their data. The dashboards within Nonprofit Cloud are clean with a wide selection of graphs and charts that makes a nonprofit’s data easy to digest. There are over 70 reports that a nonprofit can use and is fully customizable.

Tableau is not the only integration within Nonprofit Cloud. There are over 3,000 integrations and apps that charities can utilize through Salesforce’s Marketplace. The extensive list includes QuickBooks, Docusign, and DonorSearch.  Please note that some of these apps and integrations do come with a monthly subscription fee while others are free.

Ease of Use:

Because of the sheer size of Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud– it can be hard for nonprofits to wrap their heads around how to use it and what’s available to them. While Nonprofit Cloud does offer training assets, phone support and chat – many nonprofits have found it difficult to navigate the platform. On Capterra, a comprehensive software directory website - Brad K., a co-director at a nonprofit organization wrote – “Intuitive is not a word I would use for Salesforce.”

Recap:

Salesforce.org’s Nonprofit Cloud is Salesforce answer to a robust CRM aimed at nonprofits. The CRM allows a charity to do everything they could possibly need to within the confines of the platform. From communication, data analysis, and engagement – Nonprofit Cloud boasts an impressive offering. And what they don’t have – one of their 3,000 apps do have to make a nonprofit’s life easier.

Advantages:

• Tailor the platform to your needs. Software is customizable to fit a nonprofit’s needs
• Robust CRM that embraces the phrase “One-Stop-Shop.”
• Over 3,000 integrations and apps that nonprofits can utilize

Disadvantages:

• The platform is expensive after you add up set up costs, app prices, and monthly subscription fees
• The learning curve for Nonprofit Cloud is vast – taking many hours to set up, train, and navigate through the system

My Opinion:

Nonprofit Cloud is aimed at large nonprofit organizations that run similar to a business i.e United Way, Red Cross, and Amnesty International. Because these nonprofits are huge – they have the capabilities to train employees and possibly hire a Salesforce administrator who specializes in set up, integrations, and navigating through the CRM. In these cases - I do see the benefit of Nonprofit Cloud and the over 3,000 apps that nonprofits can utilize.

I don’t see a case for small-medium nonprofits. It would essentially just cause them a headache and drain them of what little money they do have – once subscription fees and set up fees are factored in. There are cheaper CRMs available that these charities could utilize that don’t break the bank – but still have a decent selection of offerings.

When starting and operating a nonprofit, a lot is at stake. As a leader of a nonprofit, the activities involve trying to raise awareness for issues that do not get the proper attention. Furthermore, any nonprofit leader has an intention to make the world better through the provision of services to people in need. An individual cannot achieve this. Rather, it requires collaboration with employees, communities and other parties whose work is to organize nonprofits and ensure they are well run.

This is where a nonprofit board becomes necessary. A nonprofit board is responsible for critical decisions that can build or damage a charity. In addition to guiding decisions being made, board members are also responsible for ensuring your nonprofits adhere to internal guidelines, laws and mission statements. Here are some big ideas for your nonprofit board as you seek to ensure you attain all your objectives.

1. Build an investment of board members in your charity from the start

Leaders within an organization must do two critical things during the orientation of the new members of the board. The first is to briefly remind them about the inspiring work the nonprofit is doing. The second thing is to get their input on the work that the nonprofit is doing. For instance, you need to share the organization’s strategic priorities with the new members of the board to allow them to brainstorm in small groups. This will allow them to contribute to the strategic priorities accordingly. Remind the new members about your mission, vision and what drives your desire to serve. Doing this will keep you and the new board members on one page while also ensuring you achieve what you want.

2. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the new board members

Everybody has weaknesses and strengths as well as interests and different perspectives. This is the same case with new board members. As a leader of a nonprofit, it is good when you understand each new board member and what they bring to the table. The more you know about them, the better you will understand the roles they can play in your organization and the departments that they suit.

To achieve this, begin by assessing each board member regarding how they work and their preferred style of work. You can, for example, do a quiz to help you determine the participation style of the new members. The quiz will help the new board members understand how each one works and take advantage of the diverse gifts that each member brings. Take time to review the participation styles of each board member and consider how they will work together moving forward. This is the right opportunity to model the commitment to diversity and inclusion by acknowledging the ways.

3. Understand the diverse styles of processing information

There are various styles of processing information. With this diversity, some of the new board members may want to understand every detail of their work. Some prefer to learn through a review of materials. On the other hand, other employees like sharing information with others while some prefer written reports. While others may prefer focusing on financials first, others like it when financials come last.

As you design your strategy, begin by trying to strike a balance. Provide all the necessary materials in advance. The materials can be referenced during the orientation of the new members and for review. While financial information and financial learning crucial are critical because they ease serving on board. As a way of improving learning among all members of a nonprofit, share budgets and encourage those with financial orientation to teaching others how documents can be interpreted.

Volunteering is not just a term or a resume item that one can put on a CV- rather, it is an essential part of any functional society. While some may take nonprofits lightly, their benefits to society reach far and wide and have ripple effects that start at an individual level to the larger communities. They benefit everyone on their way and make a lasting impact, not only on an individual but on society as well.

Here are things that will work to enable a nonprofit to make a difference.

Organizational structure and leadership

If the organization’s social change is reflected in the real world that everyone would want to see, relationships within the organization will resemble those in the communities. This will be reflected by mutual support committed to a shared vision and values. All social movements depend on organizational structure for their success. With the right organizational structure and leadership, people in the affected community will be leaders of their change. Nonprofits can center the decision-making abilities in the community allowing staff to participate in supporting different causes. 

Planning and program design

For a humane and equitable future to be created, community members need to determine their plans and goals for themselves. Nonprofits ensure that the planning process is devoid of patriarchy, racism and privilege. Planning allows decisions to be made in the community regarding who is invited to the table and who will facilitate the conversation. Planning would be aimed at dramatic, visionary and achievable goals. Proper planning allows the society to build on the existing strengths assisted by the staff.  

Evaluation and learning

If evaluation were aligned with the work that any of us would want to see, the reflections would be felt and shared across the community and different fields of work. Learning and evaluation would be critical in the stories of relationships that created change since humans often learn better through stories. Quantitative data is just one of the ways of illustrating stories. With this, learning would be engaging and powerful.  

Communication

Communication is a critical component when it comes to supporting the community members in their initiatives regarding change efforts. Communication allows the building of strength towards accomplishing the community’s goals. The activities will emphasize all that can be accomplished independently instead of giving a mandate to a few.

Accountability

Accountability is a critical component for any organization, regardless of the industry. For a nonprofit, co-creating change is the key component that enables accountability and stewardship. The aspects that are critical for the community, such as loyalty and care, are only possible when there is accountability. A nonprofit organization can only make a meaningful change in the community when all members are accountable and when there is accounting.

Human resources and compensation

The work of human resources in an organization is to provide resources that humans need to perform at their best. As such, creating conditions for employees in nonprofits will include developing compensation strategies commensurate to their work. These compensation strategies will be adequate for staff to worry about their finances. Thus, they will be free to work best at work and at home.

Resourcing and investing in systems

One of the places that are critical for reforms is resources. If the values and mission of an organization include people being valued for their abilities instead of money, investing in resources must reflect on values and mission. Investing in resources and volunteers would be in the form of cash or gifts. In-kind donations are more valuable than cash because the in-kind are the actual resources that are necessary to perform certain activities.

Currently, hundreds of global nonprofits are working to raise awareness about their cause and find support to change the world for the better. Even though it is great that so many organizations are trying to make the world a better place, it does not change the fact that it is more difficult than ever to stand out from the crowd.

When marketing your nonprofit, it is essential to make your mark to attract donors. So how can you achieve that?

The answer lies in being innovative instead of following other nonprofits. Not only does it attract donors, but it gives you the opportunity to progress with new technologies or experiment with different marketing channels.

People are always attracted by organizations that keep their content fresh and try innovative marketing strategies to remain relevant. Here are some unique tips to help you in marketing your nonprofit.

1.     Work on Your Storytelling Techniques

Storytelling is one of the best ways to work on creating awareness for your cause, attracting donors, or sharing how you are working for your cause. You can develop different ways to share stories. Nonprofits often have an interesting story about how the founder started working for a particular cause. They also have compelling stories about the difference they are making in the world. Find a way to tell a story that works best for you and incorporates well with your marketing strategy.

2.     Try Different Technology

Do not shy away from trying different tech ideas. There are multiple ways you can try this. In fact, dabbling with tech gives you more room to be innovative and work on your nonprofit marketing with an open mind. It is essential to stay up to date with the current tech trends. You can organize virtual events, use multiple funding sources, have live sessions to cover updates, or show how you put in your efforts for your cause. Tech will open a door that will lead you to your progress and success as a nonprofit leader.

3.     Incorporate Direct Mail

You should not underestimate the power of direct mail as a marketing channel just because there are newer ways in place. Multiple organizations are using direct mail as a marketing strategy to reach out to their donors. Using direct mail along with other marketing channels such as social media, websites and blogs has proven to produce excellent response rates. Furthermore, direct mail lets you get up close and personal with the donor, guaranteeing desirable results.

4.     Build Relationships with Donors

Marketing your nonprofit need not be complicated. It can be as simple as building relationships. You must acknowledge that your nonprofit is highly dependent on your donors, so building a relationship with them is essential. If you use an effective nonprofit marketing strategy, you will even be able to bring back lapsed donors. You must work on maintaining a relationship with the donors to ensure they recognize their value and continue contributing to your cause.

Conclusion

Marketing your nonprofit is one of the most crucial tasks you engage in for the success of your nonprofit. Hence, developing a strong marketing strategy is essential to ensure you are ahead of other nonprofits and making waves in the industry.

Alison Clark is Operations at GivingMail, the #1 platform for direct mail for nonprofits in America 

Solving technology shortcomings is an uphill battle — especially for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). NPOs operate within strict budget parameters. Dollars are often earmarked for specific outcomes, making it challenging to allocate funds for internal tech upgrades. In many cases, it’s also difficult for employees to prioritize technology innovation when it means leaving mission-critical work unattended.

The 10th Annual Nonprofit Technology Staffing and Investments Report found, on average, NPOs spend just 6% of their overall operating budgets on technology needs. As technology evolves in both capacity and capabilities, NPOs must juggle updates, monitoring, backups, security, and more — expensive and time-consuming tasks when organizations lack the right IT team.

Digital transformation unlocks the full potential of IT budgets, and NPO partners hold the keys

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed NPOs to adopt more advanced technology in support of remote employees and services. This trend — coupled with the rise of digitally native NPOs — has only widened technology gaps between NPOs prioritizing digital transformation and those still operating with legacy applications and infrastructures.

Fortunately, a limited IT budget stretches much further than expected with the proper external support. Because this type of partnership can be new for NPOs, here are four questions to consider when searching for a technology partner:

Will this partner support our overall mission?

The most critical piece when outsourcing IT needs is to identify a partner that supports your NPO’s mission. The good news is information about potential partners’ NPO expertise and experience should be easy to locate on the company’s website, digital newsroom, blog, case studies, and employee pages. Finding a partner aligned with your mission ensures transparency and signals a level of care for your programming. Both of these factors translate to proactive solutions and more embedded, accommodating technology support.

Can this partner communicate the return on investment (ROI) of our technology?

NPOs face approval hurdles when making technology purchases: A company can simply decide to buy a new CRM tool to automate internal processes. NPOs, on the other hand, must go one step further and also prove investing in that CRM will have a positive impact on their broader mission and population.

But it can be tough for Executive Directors and development teams (particularly those who are less tech-savvy) to connect the dots between technology purchases and better program outcomes. A technology partner with a track record of supporting NPOs understands these unique challenges and can help you communicate ROI to key stakeholders — like board members and other funding sources — in terms of your organization's goals and mission statement.

Is this partner flexible?

NPOs are fluid environments — you need a partner that is up to the challenge. When evaluating technology partners, ask how flexible they can be in terms of work scope, staffing, and timelines.  Avoid partners who only offer one-size-fits-all contracts with rigid parameters or risk wasting money when your goals inevitably shift.

For example, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many nonprofits pivoted focus from their long-term goals to address immediate healthcare gaps, food and housing insecurities, and more. Your technology partner should adapt alongside you to help you achieve your mission, not hold you back. As your technology needs evolve, it may prove important to bring in a new technical expert or slow down a timeline as you reassess goals and pivot.

Does this partner offer commercial expertise?

Although you need a technology partner well-versed in NPOs, you also need a partner with commercial expertise.

This means working with a partner that brings additional partnerships with prominent vendors like Microsoft, AWS, and Adobe. Existing relationships with these tech providers ensure your partner stays on the cutting-edge of digital solutions beyond the support and consultancy provided. These relationships can even result in price reductions for core technology investments since many corporations reserve funding for NPOs in their network.

Additionally, commercial expertise helps you prioritize the digital experiences users now expect. This digital expertise benefits your employees and the people you serve by helping you create more seamless and collaborative digital processes (e.g., sharing documents across locations, status updates on work). It can also have a positive impact on volunteers — a group of people with heightened expectations for technology experiences. These days, many volunteers won’t tolerate clunky interfaces (even in service of a mission they support).

Although NPOs have often treated digital transformation as separate from their organizational missions, technology and mission now go hand-in-hand. When one side of the equation is missing, the other suffers — without efficient and easy-to-use technologies, NPO programming becomes less effective, funding is tougher to secure, and employees are forced to compensate for missing technological capabilities. And when teams lack IT expertise or are stretched too thin, it’s nearly impossible to intervene and roll out new digital solutions.

With your mission on the line, now’s the time to ask for help.

Shane Cronin, vice president, SoftwareONE

You can now say “Alexa make a donation to_____” and have Alexa use your Amazon pay account to make a donation up to $5,000.  Currently, this program is only available to select charities that have been invited by Amazon. However, it is likely that this program will be a hit with both donors and nonprofits, so it is something that you should have on your radar for the upcoming year. 

Another high tech trend to watch for 2020 is the rise in giving via a blockchain platform. A blockchain platform is  a public ledger relying on globally distributed historical transactions to prevent tampering and fraud. 

Blockchain was designed to offer a higher level of transparency for transactions. Many donors wish to know that their donations are going directly to the charity that they have selected for the express purpose of funding a certain project. A blockchain giving platform can give them that piece of mind. 

BitGive’s GiveTrack is an example of one such platform. BitGive shares detailed real time information about the financial and project status of the charities that they work with that are accepting donations via GiveTrack.

Global Giving is a crowdfunding platform designed to help small nonprofits raise awareness and money. Global Giving is also a nonprofit, which means it understands what nonprofits need to run a successful fundraising campaign. 

Global Giving also understands that small nonprofits don’t have a large budget, so there is no application fee to join the  Global Giving platform. There is no monthly subscription fee, however Global Givings has a 3% transaction fee along with a sliding scale support fee of 5-12% of collected donations. 

The site offers a host of training and support options for nonprofits that join the platform. There are webinars, training libraries, workshops, one on one phone consultations or site visits.  The platform has tools like gamification and incentives to increase donations. 

The platform offers all the standard fundraising campaign tools, including metrics, donor engagement, social media integration. What it also offers is opportunities to partner with large companies for matching grants, or specific giving programs with the company.

know your audience in order to determine if live streaming is right for your nonprofit. The people you want to engage through a live stream have to be savvy enough to access your video feed so that they aren’t overwhelmed or frustrated by the experience. Beyond this point, your decision should come down to value—both to the viewer and to your organization.

If your organization is exploring adding a livestream to your next event there are a few things that you should consider. First, is your event the type of event that makes for a good livestream. 

The purpose of the livestream is to generate enthusiasm and excitement from those who are unable to attend in person. The event you are live streaming has to be visually interesting enough to keep your online viewer engaged. The most successful live streams are based on events that have an element of excitement to them. Is your event a fashion show? Will there be cute animals?--you can never go wrong livestreaming cute animals.  Also, if your event includes a celebrity guest that you know people who were unable to attend in person would love to see, 

After determining if your event is right for a livestream, it’s time to consider if your intended audience is right for a livestream. If your audience is comfortable using Twitch, YouTube or social media, if you chose to livestream via Facebook than live streaming is a good idea. If your audience is not comfortable with those platforms it doesn’t mean that you can’t do a livestream it just means that you may not get a huge return from the event. 

Next, it’s time to plan your livestream events content. Think of your live stream as the modern equivalent to a charity telethon-except instead of broadcasting on TV your using the internet. A telethon doesn’t consist of a single still shot of the action and neither should your livestream. 

Create a content script. If your are doing a fashion show consider doing interviews with the models or designers (or stores that donated the fashion). Have a host roving the audience,anything to spice up the broadcast. Remember you want to keep the excitement going. 

Many livestream apps allow your organization to collect donations directly from the livestream platform, so make sure your call to action is clear. 

EveryAction wants to be everything to every nonprofit. This cloud based platform offers fundraising, advocacy, organizing and digital all in one package. 

For fundraising, you can use the platform to create a simple donation page for your website. You can also use the platform to track major gifts, pledges and other donations. And, you can run an online auction with it as well. 

Get all your advocacy done with social matching and listening which lets you monitor and track influential supporters and it has an advocacy module that makes it easy for you to turn your advocates into donors. 

Organize your supporters with the built in tools to manage your volunteers and coordinate your canvassing or phone bank events. 

The digital portion lets you build multi channel ad campaigns. The platform includes data visualization tools so you can make use of all the various data sets that your organization accumulates. 

Nonprofits can make the most out the remaining giving days in the year, reports The Nonprofit Times. 

You’ve survived Giving Tuesday – and hopefully come out of it with a nice boost of donation revenue for your nonprofit.

Read article on The Nonprofit Times

New Story, a nonprofit that focuses on using tech to build affordable housing, plans on having 50 new homes erected a Mexico community by the end of 2020. 

A giant 3D printer built two houses in an impoverished, rural part of Mexico last week, breaking ground on what will be the first 3D-printed neighborhood in the world.

Read article on Fox 2 Now

According to the Biz Tech Magazine, integrated giving is one of several technology trends that will impact nonprofits in 2020. 

Nonprofits have a lot on their plates. Charitable giving took a hit last year, declining for the first time since the Great Recession, forcing organizations to do more with less.

Read article on Biz Tech Magazine

Mobile friendly devices help contribute to the success of #GivingTuesday, reports Biz Tech Magazine.  

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are all behind us, but the long Thanksgiving weekend isn’t over yet. Many will be digging deep into their pockets again today, but not for themselves—this time, it’s for Giving Tuesday. 

Read article on BizTech Magazine