5:26 PM
Kinsz
There are two ways to choose nonprofit donor management software. One is to pay for a customized solution matching the organization's current method of fund raising, donation processing, communication, gift and pledge tracking, memberships, record creation and data entry, reporting systems and so on. The other way is to buy one of the popular software systems readily available and modify the organization's processes to match the solution.
Needless to say, this latter option may require an adjustment period for employees and volunteers who need to adapt to new procedures once the software is implemented. But then, customized solutions tend to be more expensive, so while an out-of-the-box solution may have a bigger learning curve, it will cost less to implement. And most non profit agencies are very focused on the bottom line.
So the tendency usually leans toward finding an affordable solution. It means that employees may have to change how they manage fund raising, process donations and keep in touch with donors. Whether custom or not, at least make sure that the new solution has these essential features listed below.
The module that deals with fundraising needs to be able to automate marketing campaigns with email and targeted mailings. One module should be tracking grants and managing the proposals. Outlook integration and donor profiles are required under contact management. A tickler file should be able to automate pending due date notifications via email and provide a dashboard to highlight pending work.
Whether the organization is able to meet its fund-raising targets will depend largely on the effectiveness of its donor management system. This is the core function, so it has to be able to store unlimited names and addresses. The database tables have to provide cross-referencing and user-defined fields to create relational records.
The address database should be updated automatically by integrating this module with mailing services. Each entry needs to have primary and alternate addresses stored in the database. Automated acknowledgement letters have to be generated by the system, and it needs to have the ability to add a title or prefix (Mr., Dr., Ms., Mrs., etc.) based on the first name, occupation and marital status.
Donation and gift tracking in nonprofit donor management software has to be just as powerful, with fields indicating the source and campaign that generated it. Gift tracking needs features like soft crediting, matching gifts, anonymous giving, splitting a gift between different funds or causes, etc. Pledge tracking, scheduling and automated reminders for the same are required. There should also be a built-in report generator that accepts custom queries from users.
Needless to say, this latter option may require an adjustment period for employees and volunteers who need to adapt to new procedures once the software is implemented. But then, customized solutions tend to be more expensive, so while an out-of-the-box solution may have a bigger learning curve, it will cost less to implement. And most non profit agencies are very focused on the bottom line.
So the tendency usually leans toward finding an affordable solution. It means that employees may have to change how they manage fund raising, process donations and keep in touch with donors. Whether custom or not, at least make sure that the new solution has these essential features listed below.
The module that deals with fundraising needs to be able to automate marketing campaigns with email and targeted mailings. One module should be tracking grants and managing the proposals. Outlook integration and donor profiles are required under contact management. A tickler file should be able to automate pending due date notifications via email and provide a dashboard to highlight pending work.
Whether the organization is able to meet its fund-raising targets will depend largely on the effectiveness of its donor management system. This is the core function, so it has to be able to store unlimited names and addresses. The database tables have to provide cross-referencing and user-defined fields to create relational records.
The address database should be updated automatically by integrating this module with mailing services. Each entry needs to have primary and alternate addresses stored in the database. Automated acknowledgement letters have to be generated by the system, and it needs to have the ability to add a title or prefix (Mr., Dr., Ms., Mrs., etc.) based on the first name, occupation and marital status.
Donation and gift tracking in nonprofit donor management software has to be just as powerful, with fields indicating the source and campaign that generated it. Gift tracking needs features like soft crediting, matching gifts, anonymous giving, splitting a gift between different funds or causes, etc. Pledge tracking, scheduling and automated reminders for the same are required. There should also be a built-in report generator that accepts custom queries from users.
About the Author:
The utilization of fundraising software will help non-profit enterprises to enhance income flow. It will allow the administrative staff to take advantage of managed services for convenience and simplicity.
0 comments:
Post a Comment