4 Signs You Should Update Your Fundraising Technology

Technology can significantly enhance your nonprofit’s efficiency and effectiveness, allowing you to extend your reach in the community and make the most of your resources. From crafting donation appeals to planning engaging events, there’s a lot that goes into reaching your nonprofit’s fundraising goals. 

While fundraising technology can facilitate many of these tasks for your staff and volunteers, not all tools are built the same. Because of this, you need to regularly evaluate whether your fundraising tools are fulfilling your needs. In this guide, we’ll walk through four signs that your nonprofit should update its fundraising technology.

1. You don’t have the features you need to meet your goals.

Your nonprofit needs to keep donors invested by using different ways to engage them and raise money. Just like you might use different apps for messaging, music, and games, your nonprofit should employ various tools for different fundraising activities. It's important that these tools can handle everything you want to do, whether you’re planning a donation drive or a gala. This way, you can reach more people, keep your supporters excited, and achieve your goals. 

Let’s dive into the key areas your fundraising tools should cover:

• Event management. You should have all the features you need to plan, manage, and report on whatever fundraising events your nonprofit plans. For instance, if you’re hosting an auction, SchoolAuction.net recommends leveraging comprehensive auction software with a user-friendly interface, flexible bidding capabilities, knowledgeable support, sponsorship packages, and more.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising. A peer-to-peer fundraising campaign allows your supporters to fundraise on your behalf, turning them into active participants in your cause. Ensure your tools make it easy for them to set up their own fundraising pages, share their efforts on social media, and track their progress.
• Payment processing. It's important that your nonprofit can securely handle donations from various sources without any hitches. Look for features that ensure quick processing, provide robust security to protect donor information, and support recurring donations for ongoing support.
• Marketing. Effective marketing tools are crucial for spreading the word about your nonprofit's missions and fundraising events. Your toolkit should include email marketing, social media management, and targeted advertising to reach a wider audience.
• Matching gifts. By spreading awareness of matching gifts, your nonprofit can make your donors' gifts go twice as far. Embedding an employer search tool to your donation or confirmation page can make it easy for donors to check their eligibility and submit a matching gift request on your organization’s behalf.

Even if your fundraising software doesn’t come with some of these specific features, keep an eye out for add-ons or integrations with third-party tools to expand your technological capabilities.

2. Your team isn’t happy with the user experience.

Your fundraising technology should simplify tasks and lighten the workload for staff and volunteers, not create more stress and frustration. Ideally, these tools will automate repetitive tasks, like sending out donation receipts, which frees up time for more impactful work like planning events or engaging with your community. 

Let’s look at some core elements that user-friendly fundraising software should have:

• Intuitive navigation. Your fundraising software should feature a clear and straightforward user interface that allows staff and volunteers to easily find the information and tools they need without extensive training. 
• Mobile-friendly design. It's essential that your software works well on all devices. This ensures that staff and volunteers can access and manage tasks on the go, which is especially useful during events or when away from the office.  
• Responsiveness and quick load times. Your fundraising software should be fast and responsive, minimizing wait times for pages and features to load. This is crucial for maintaining efficiency during busy fundraising campaigns and when handling large volumes of information.
• Clear error messages. Good fundraising software should provide simple and helpful error messages when something goes wrong. This helps with troubleshooting and ensures that staff and volunteers can quickly understand and resolve issues without unnecessary delays.

Your fundraising software should include useful documentation and an FAQ section that’s easy to access and reference when diagnosing issues or errors. A quality vendor should provide step-by-step instructions with images or videos, along with access to a support team for assistance.

3. It’s difficult to access and report on data.

Your nonprofit needs to continually adapt your fundraising strategies to reach more donors and secure more support for your mission. Taking a data-driven approach allows you to track what’s working and pinpoint areas for improvement. By collecting and reviewing data, you can improve your donor engagement tactics, plan more effective fundraising events, and set more strategic goals over time.

That’s why it’s essential to have software that provides a comprehensive view of your donors and fundraising performance. For example, if your elementary school has just wrapped up a successful fundraising event, you should be able to use your tools to unlock insights such as your:

• Average gift size. This metric is the average donation amount you received during the event. Understanding this can help you gauge the generosity of your donors and tailor your future requests to better match their giving capacities.
• Attendance rate. This indicates the percentage of invited guests who actually attended your fundraiser, which is crucial for understanding the overall engagement and interest in your event.
• Fundraising return on investment (ROI). This measures the success of your efforts by comparing the total funds raised to the total costs incurred for the event. Your fundraising ROI provides a clear picture of your event’s financial outcome including how efficiently you used your resources.
• Effectiveness of donation appeals. This indicates how well your donation requests resonate with your audience by analyzing the response rates to different appeals. By learning which messages and communication channels are most effective at motivating donors, you can tailor your future efforts accordingly.

Your staff and volunteers should be able to access all the information they need to inform their fundraising and donor engagement activities through one centralized platform. This information will also be vital to planning donor recognition activities, whether that’s a phone call or a digital donor wall. This streamlines workflows, boosts efficiency, and ensures consistent interactions with donors. 

4. Your nonprofit is preparing for significant growth.

As nonprofits grow, their needs and goals evolve, often requiring them to reassess and upgrade their fundraising software. The tools that once served a smaller organization might not scale effectively to handle more complex campaigns and broader fundraising activities.

Let’s look at some common factors that might lead you to consider upgrading your fundraising technology:

• An expanded donor base. As your nonprofit reaches more people, the complexity and volume of donor data you manage increases. This can demand more sophisticated features from your fundraising software, such as enhanced donor segmentation, advanced analytics, and more robust communication tools to support personalized interactions with a larger audience.
• More diverse revenue streams. If your nonprofit decides to start pursuing grants, corporate sponsorships, or membership program revenue, you’ll need fundraising tools that are equipped to manage these revenue sources.
• Increased fundraising activities. If your organization is planning larger or more frequent fundraising campaigns, you need a solution that can efficiently manage, track, and report on your expanded goals.

Seek out fundraising software that can scale with your growth and adapt to changing needs. It's important to choose a platform that not only meets current demands but can also accommodate future expansions.

Bonus: How to Choose New Fundraising Technology

Whether you’ve determined that you need to invest in new silent auction software or improve your reporting capabilities, how do you go about finding the right solution for your nonprofit?

Simply follow these steps:

• Outline your specific needs and objectives. Start by identifying the specific features your nonprofit requires from its fundraising software. Consider factors such as the size of your donor base, the types of fundraising activities you engage in, and the level of data analysis you need.
• Research software online and read reviews. Dive into online resources to gather information about different software options. Look for reviews from other nonprofits that have used the software to understand their experiences and how well it met their needs. Pay attention to comments about usability and customer support.
• Request demos to narrow down your list. Once you've shortlisted a few promising software options, reach out to the vendors to request demos. Demos allow you to see the software in action, giving you a better understanding of how its features and interface align with your nonprofit's requirements. 

Once you’ve implemented the new software, ensure a smooth transition for everyone by providing comprehensive training. According to Double the Donation’s employee engagement strategies, providing your staff with the skills training they need to improve in their roles will keep them invested in their responsibilities and productive in their work. Not only that, but your nonprofit can also maximize the software's benefits, enhancing overall efficiency and impact.

Be sure to collect regular feedback from staff and volunteers to learn about their experiences with your fundraising technology. This allows you to make improvements and provide more training and resources as necessary to improve overall results.