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Fundraising Tuesday: Nonprofit Database Management–5 Tips to Improve Donor Data

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A guest post by Gabrielle Perham at AccuData

Most nonprofit professionals understand how important donor data can be. After all, these metrics are your roadmap to improving donor communications, fundraising strategies, and dozens of other important functions.

But just because you understand the importance of data doesn’t mean that you’re storing or using it effectively. In fact, over 76% of nonprofit organizations have yet to develop a dedicated data strategy, and many struggle to effectively manage their donor databases. To help you cut through the clutter and make the most of your data, consider these top nonprofit database management tips:

  • Perform data audits
  • Standardize data entry and management
  • Implement cybersecurity measures
  • Invest in data enhancement
  • Optimize marketing and outreach

Even if your database is well-maintained, these nonprofit data hygiene and management strategies can help you boost functionality and leverage your data to its fullest potential!

Perform data audits

How are you supposed to begin addressing problems in your nonprofit database if you don’t know what they are?

According to Re:Charity’s data hygiene best practices, data audits are one of the first and most important steps of conducting a cleanse of your data records, giving you a high-level overview of specific issues, systemic weaknesses, and the overall health of your database.

Data audits are good at exposing inaccurate and outdated information. Plus, this diagnostic check-up should also expose areas of your database where your current data management practices are the most ineffective.

Standardize data entry and management

Effective nonprofit data management is about far more than just conducting mass database cleanses every so often. Instead, create a standardized process for recording and managing data. This can go a long way to make information quicker to find, locate errors more easily, and prevent mistakes before they happen.

For example, you might:

  • Standardize entry for mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.
  • Standardize abbreviations for common titles, numbers, and phrases.
  • Standardize and record protocols for verifying information, removing incorrect or redundant information, and reporting system issues.

These measures should cut down on time spent during your data audits, prevent a build-up of widespread system errors, and ensure that your data is clean, secure, and accurate.

Implement cybersecurity measures

As mission-based organizations funded by public goodwill, nonprofits are especially vulnerable to the negative press brought on by fraud and hacking scandals. To protect your donors and your nonprofit database from these online scams, implement nonprofit cybersecurity measures, like:

  • Get an SSL certificate for your nonprofit website, which should repel data fraud, boost public confidence, and increase website traffic
  • Leverage PCI-compliant payment tools, which abide by official credit card security standards to offer the highest levels of payment data protection
  • Educate staff on how to identify and address fraud, such as dealing with phishing scams and suspicious emails

For specialized tips and guidance, you may even invest in a professional nonprofit data service, which can carefully review and provide expert strategies to protect and manage your nonprofit database.

Invest in data enhancement

Beyond dealing with “bad” or “dirty” data, another important aspect of database management is strengthening your data. This is where data enhancement, or data append, can provide a powerful boost to your data strategies.

Data enhancement is the process of pulling data, such as donor demographics or geolocation, from external resources to enrich your outreach and marketing techniques. To conduct a data append, take a look at these critical steps from AccuData’s guide to data enhancement:

  1. Outline your organization’s marketing goals, noting what data is most important to achieve them.
  2. Partner with a professional data provider to enrich your data.
  3. Compare your internal with external datasets to align these records.
  4. Pull external data to integrate with your internal records, creating a richer outlook of your donors.

Once you’ve dealt with important issues in your nonprofit database, an effective data append can help to take your data strategies to the next level. In particular, it can strengthen donor outreach, improve your nonprofit SEO practices, and refine your nonprofit marketing strategies.

Optimize marketing and outreach

Once you’ve properly cleaned, refined, and enhanced the information in your nonprofit database, it’s finally time to launch data-driven strategies for the benefit of your nonprofit. For example, consider these fundamental techniques to improve your nonprofit data marketing:

  • Use predictive modeling to anticipate future donor behavior and build more effective outreach.
  • Segment donor data, grouping donors by characteristics that would best inform your marketing strategy.
  • Set key performance indicators to measure the success of your campaigns.

 

Nonprofit database management is about more than just tidying up your records—it includes the collection, upkeep, and use of your data to more effectively market your brand and appeal to donors. With these data-driven insights, you should be able to confidently tackle the challenges in your nonprofit database, acquire new donors, and inspire greater donations than ever before.

Author: Gabrielle Perham, MBA, Director of Marketing

Gabrielle is the Director of Marketing for AccuData Integrated Marketing. She joined the organization in 2017 and possesses more than 15 years of experience in strategic marketing, branding, communications, and digital marketing. She earned a B.S. in Marketing and an M.B.A in Marketing Management from the University of Tampa.

Fundraising Tuesday: Is Your Nonprofit Tech Savvy? 5 Types of Software You Need

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A guest post by John Killoran of Clover Leaf Solutions

Nowadays, there’s software for everything — including for the work that you do as a nonprofit professional. Whether you want to more easily connect with donors, grow your revenue, or just have a home base for all of your information, there’s software that can help.

However, because there are so many software options available, you might be wondering which platforms are worth the investment. The latest nonprofit trends show that technology is essential for organizations like yours, but where should you even begin?

We’re going to review 5 of the major types of nonprofit software so you can get a sense of the variety of offerings out there. Our top 5 picks are:

  • Donor Databases
  • Online Fundraising Tools
  • Matching Gifts
  • Marketing Software
  • Volunteer Management

Ultimately, these tools allow you to spend less time on paperwork and task management and more time on doing what you love.

1. Donor Databases

Let’s face it — keeping track of all of your donors and transactions is difficult. You want to show each supporter how much you value their contributions, but attempting to personalize every thank-you note or donation request would be incredibly time-consuming.

That’s where donor databases come in. Also known as constituent relationship management (CRM) software, donor databases can help you keep track of your supporters’ donations and involvement with your organization. Using a donor database allows you to:

  • Easily personalize your communications: With a donor database, you’ll have a record of every donor’s name, contribution amount, and any other information you request during the donation process. With everything organized in one place, it’s much easier for you to automate personalizing direct mail, email, or text-to-give campaigns.
  • Build better relationships: Now that you can keep track of each donor’s information in a readily accessible database, you can focus on getting to know your donors. Using your database’s personalization and communication tools, you can build better relationships with your donors.
  • Re-engage disconnected donors: A database can help you find patterns among your donor base. You’ll be able to see who is engaged and who isn’t so you can strategize on how to rebuild relationships.

2. Online Fundraising Tools

Practically every nonprofit is using the internet to connect with donors, accept donations, and grow their audience these days. Raising money online is essential, especially if you want to expand your nonprofit beyond your local community.

Online fundraising tools can make it easy for donors to engage with your organization and for you to manage your different fundraising campaigns.

With a wide variety of tools — including peer-to-peer campaigns, text-to-give, crowdfunding, and more — this type of software can help you diversify how you fundraise. You can also:

  • Stay organized: If you’re launching a major digital campaign, online fundraising software can help you keep track of the influx of donations, monitor new donors, and consolidate your marketing materials in one place.
  • Develop an online presence: This software can also help you grow your online presence. By directing donors to your online platforms through your text-to-give campaign, for example, you can increase the traffic on your website.
  • Easily engage donors: Online fundraising software makes it easy to send personalized thank-you notes or updates about your campaign to donors.

3. Matching Gifts

Matching gift programs and other forms of corporate giving are extremely underutilized by nonprofits despite being an easy source of revenue. In fact, according to 360MatchPro, over 18 million people work for companies with matching gift programs!

Not only do matching gift programs boost your bottom line, but they also help donors grow their impact, which then deepens their attachment to your organization. With the help of matching gift software, you can make it easier for donors to determine their eligibility to get their contributions matched.

Other benefits of a matching gift software include:

  • Increasing revenue: Matching gifts are a great way to increase your revenue. Not only are your supporters’ gifts essentially doubled, but donors are also more likely to contribute higher amounts if they know their gifts are being matched.
  • Connecting with more people: With a matching gift program, your supporters can serve as advocates for your cause in their workplace, which might encourage more people to donate.
  • Strengthening relationship in the community: Involving the business world in your nonprofit’s work can help you better situate your nonprofit within your community. Doing so will help you grow your network, which could create additional event opportunities or partnerships.

4. Marketing Software

It’s great to have a donor database, online fundraising tools, and software for tracking matching gifts, but these platforms won’t be very helpful if you can’t actually reach your supporters.

Marketing software makes it much easier for you to reach your donors in a timely, engaging, and consistent manner. Your supporters have already shown interest in your nonprofit, so they want to hear from you! Here are some key benefits of using dedicated marketing software:

  • Easily reach your supporters: Marketing software allows you to easily contact your donors. You can send updates, thank-you notes, and donation requests with the click of a button. Plus, with marketing software, you can be sure to personalize your messages by using your donor’s name or specifying their donation amount.
  • Determine effective strategies: Using the metrics from your marketing software, you can also see which types of campaigns are the most successful among your donors.
  • Stick to consistent branding: With all of your marketing materials in one place, you can also ensure that your branding remains consistent. A memorable brand reassures donors that they’re in the right place and can increase your visibility in your community.

Marketing for your nonprofit is not just important for donor acquisition, it’s also crucial for donor retention. Marketing software can help you to keep your donors engaged so that they continue to support your cause.

5. Volunteer Management

Volunteers are the backbone of your organization. They’re passionate individuals who generously donate their time and energy so that your nonprofit can continue to forward the social good.

Incorporating a volunteer management system into your organization can give you the tools you need to oversee your volunteers and to show them that you value their hard work. For example, this type of software allows you to:

  • Keep track of volunteers and their hours: Handwritten hour logs are a thing of the past. With volunteer management software, you can keep a detailed record of how many hours each volunteer has contributed for the month.
  • Easily contact your volunteers: Your volunteers are among the most engaged of your supporters, so you want to be in close contact. This software can allow you to send quick updates or thank-you messages to your volunteers, which can add a personal touch to your volunteer program.

Keeping your volunteer program organized is also a great way to demonstrate your professionalism and how much you value your volunteers’ time. No one wants to waste time checking in or trying to figure out which days of the week they should come in. With this software, your volunteers won’t have to worry about that.

If you want to learn more, this Galaxy Digital guide outlines the tools you should look for when selecting your volunteer management software.

 

Takeaway: Investing in nonprofit software can save you time, earn you more revenue, and enhance your connections with donors. Share on X

John Killoran Snowball softwareJohn Killoran is an inventor, entrepreneur, and the Chairman of Clover Leaf Solutions, a national lab services company. He currently leads Clover Leaf’s investment in Snowball Fundraising, an online fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations.

Snowball was one of John’s first public innovations; it’s a fundraising platform that offers text-to-give, online giving, events, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools for nonprofits. By making giving simple, Snowball increases the donations that these organizations can raise online. The Snowball effect is real! John founded Snowball in 2011. Now, it serves over 7,000 nonprofits and is the #1 nonprofit fundraising platform.

Fundraising Tuesday: 3 Steps to Set Up Donation Payment Processing

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A guest post by Peggah Azarvash of iATS Payments

You’ve made an excellent fundraising appeal to your target group of potential donors. They’re heading to the link on your marketing content to get to your donation page. You’ve done everything right up to this point. The only thing left is for your team to process the payment and accept their donation. But that’s crucial–both for your nonprofit and for the satisfaction of the donor.

According to Double the Donation’s giving statistics, online giving grew by 12.1% over 2020. As more supporters give online, depending on a donation payment processor has become more popular and integral. The processor you choose manages your online transactions, and every nonprofit professional should understand how their payment software affects your fundraising goals.

There is no time like the present to upgrade your own online payment process and increase donation completion! Here are the steps you can take to get the most out of your payment processing system:

  1. Explore how your payment processing platform works for you
  2. Understand how your payment processor fits into the donation journey
  3. Integrate your existing data with your new payment processing system

1. Explore how your payment processing platform works for you

First, let’s review some vocabulary. A payment provider manages your organization’s payment processor software. The provider oversees transactions between your organization and its supporters.

But not all processors are made the same. You can choose a more general one like PayPal, but it might not have the specific features that nonprofits depend on.

You’ll want a provider that ensures accurate donor data, manages recurring gifts, and secures data received. Some other considerations you have to remember when it comes to your payment processor include:

  • Dedication to fundraising. Again, payment processing is fundamental to your online fundraising efforts. Without this to facilitate your transactions, you will miss out on donations.

 

  • Data security and fraud prevention. The payment processor you choose, its gateway, and its ACH network should all be secure. After all, they handle your donors’ sensitive financial information. If you experience a data breach, it will harm your nonprofit’s reputation. It’s worth it to invest in a processor with high-security options.

 

  • Easy integration with your tech stack. The payment processor you invest in should integrate well with your nonprofit’s tech stack. For example, if you have Salesforce apps like these, you’ll have an accurate transfer of donor data between your payment processor, donation software, and CRM.

 

  • User experience. iATS Payments’ donation page guide reports that design and ease can make or break a donor’s experience with your organization when donating online. You don’t want to send users away from your site or prolong the giving process if it doesn’t have to be!

 

  • Recognizing your options. If you’re a new organization, looking into your options is important. Many platforms have various fees so it’s important to do your research. This Charity Engine software guide recommends a full review of all costs before you buy.

2. Understand how your payment processor fits into your donation journey

To understand how your processor works in your donation process, take some time to map the donation journey. From appeal to landing on your donation page, make sure you use the best practices to make it easy. Here’s how it should go:

  • A supporter makes a donation on your online page. Your appeal worked, and your donor makes a payment through your online donation tool. Your processor will save sensitive personal and financial information to your CRM. It’s important that the data is accurate because it’s used for future outreach. You’ll want to address donors by name and send thank you notes to build your relationship.
  • The gift is transferred through the payment gateway. From here, the payment is sent to a third-party processor or aggregator. Here, the payment is either approved or denied. The payment can be rejected if it appears fraudulent or cannot be completed. In most cases, donations are received by the processor if approved.
  • Your payment processor completes a transfer request through the ACH network. This is how your software charges your donors for their payment. If they’re paying with debit, it goes through as an ACH debit payment from their bank account. If they paid with a credit card, the ACH payment request is transferred to the donor’s card provider.
  • Your organization receives the payment. When this process is complete, the funds land in your merchant account. Your merchant account, provided by the payment provider, is cashed out into your main bank account. This is where the perks of a dedicated payment processor come into play; you’ll receive your funds more quickly when that is the case.

By identifying your donor’s payment journey, you can see how having a dedicated donation payment processor is beneficial. When it’s integrated with your CRM, you can access your information easily, and you’ll receive your payment that much more quickly!

3. Integrate your existing data with your new payment processing system

When you choose your donation payment processor, there are steps your organization should take when setting up. Of course, this process can be different for each, but there are a few items to expect when setting up for the best results.

Understand how to prepare

Before you purchase your new payment processor, do your research on what setup is required from your team before you commit. For example, make sure that your new donation payment software can work well with your website and CRM. Then, check that your new processor can properly import and read existing data. Additionally, recognize your team’s skills and determine if you need help setting up your platform. If done on your own, you may risk serious mistakes that could cost you data.

Export your existing data

Once you’ve got a handle on how your donation processor works, start your data transfer process. You’ll do this by encrypting and exporting your existing transaction data from your old payment processor. If your chosen software has integration capabilities, you’ll get to skip this step, because it’s automated!

Optimize your donor profiles

Once the data is transferred, provide additional information to your new software provider. For example, talk about how recurring donations work for you. They’ll need to know the following:

  • Donors’ names
  • Previous gift amounts
  • Giving frequency
  • ID numbers

If your team practices good data hygiene, it’ll be easy to export this information.

Let your provider complete your data migration process

You will complete the transfer by double-checking the data from your old processor or CRM. They’ll ensure that data regarding recurring donations are synced without error. This way, your donor’s giving preferences and information are not lost in translation when switching.

Work with your processor’s support team

Smaller organizations may struggle with setting up their processor safely on their own. You must leave your lines of communication open to your donation software vendors. They’ll be able to provide one-on-one support throughout the process.

 

When your team takes steps to transfer your data and learn how your product works you’ll be good to go with fundraising online!

Peggah AzarvashPeggah Azarvash is a passionate Sales Executive with 10 years’ experience providing payment solution support and guidance to nonprofits.

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