A donor management software (DMS) could be the best thing for your nonprofit organization. A donor management software is akin to a huge filing cabinet that uploads all your data into its cloud servers and heldonor management softwares to keep track of all the data stored in the database.
It can perform tasks as diverse as keeping track of prospective donors, sending automated emails to people in the database informing them of upcoming fundraisers, etc.
To effectively leverage the potential of centralized data, our fundraising/nonprofit organization must be able to collect and store all of its data in one location, regardless of its intended use. This includes data from church donation software and nonprofit management software. By doing so, we can better harness the power of this data and utilize it to drive our organization’s success.
Managing Potential Donors
It is a relatively common occurrence, at least in the early days of the non-profit, to use spreadsheets for keeping track of volunteer sign-ups event attendance and as well as for storing details of potential donors.
While using basic spreadsheets for database management, it may have happened that a spreadsheet with invaluable data has got misplaced or even lost. At times you would have found it cumbersome as well.
Consider a hypothetical situation where an awe-inspiring event is being hosted, replete with awesome attendees. You have big dreams to take all their contact information to follow up for soliciting donations for your cause. Everything is on track until you realize that you can’t find the list of attendees’. Now that would be an absolute disaster and an avoidable one at that.
Now – let’s reimagine the same situation when you have a capable DMS. The same event, with the same set of attendees, the only difference is a cloud-based DMS available for your use. Entire data is uploaded on-site via a smart device such as a tablet, thereby rendering the data collected for analysis and leveraging to solicit donations for your non-profit organization. At the same time, data is even safe.
A well-made DMS allows you to seamlessly upload contact information, thus ensuring you never miss out on any potential donor. And in the unlikely event that your computer crashes, the data is automatically backed up to the cloud. This feature functions as a built-in security blanket in case something goes wrong. You can even retrieve your data in various forms and analytical reports.
Managing Current Donors
Now we should talk about managing your nonprofit’s existing pool of donors. You should not assume that your work ends once a donor contributes to your organization. Instead, now, you have got to work on retaining those donors and keep them engaged so that they will continue making donations to your cause.
For example, suppose a donor makes a significant contribution at a fundraiser; you can keep track of that fact and invite him to the next fundraiser or any other fundraising activity that you may hold. Without the benefit of a reliable DMS tool to highlight this fact, there is a possibility that you may have lost out on the opportunity to keep that donor as a potential source of future donations.
Monitor Interaction With Prospective And Current Donors
Now that you have had a glimpse into the managing capabilities of a DMS let’s delve into their ability to monitor and store donor interactions for future reference. This includes analyzing emails, reading notes about clients, setting up alerts for any variation in the contributing potential, and keeping records of previous donations. In simple words, it’s the ability to gain an insight into every interaction the donors have with your organization.
A bird’s eye view of incoming funds will immensely benefit nonprofits by enabling them to forecast incoming funds with a certain degree of accuracy. This helps ascertain which pockets of donors contribute the most money and identify untapped or under-utilized donors.
The Custom Fields Advantage
Innovatively designed DMS software will allow you to customize the information you collect from supporters by storing them in custom fields, which can adapt according to the event’s requirements by the team.
After storing the donor profiles in our system, we can categorize them based on various criteria such as the amount donated, communication preference, previous engagement history, and other relevant factors.
Centralizing all of our data in one location allows us to gain a better understanding of our donor base, analyze their behavior and preferences, and create targeted communication strategies and engagement initiatives tailored to their specific needs. This approach empowers us to maximize the impact of our fundraising efforts and better serve our community.
Pledge Tracking: Easing Out The most Difficult Task
Fundraising pledges can have a significant impact on the financial health of nonprofit organizations. That said, these pledges can be challenging to track and manage over a period of time. Fortunately, the pledge tracking functionality within the DMS tool will assist you in keeping track of future donations and more accurately estimating incoming donations.
Conclusion
Whether the organization used church donation software or non profit donor software, it will be essential to ascertain which software features are a priority and choose a DMS tool accordingly.
The importance of paying attention to the tool’s features and ascertaining its expectations is based on what the non-profit needs at the juncture of purchasing it to maximize the benefits. We see donor management software as a simple, easy-to-use tool, and it solves most of your big-time donation concerns and helps you grow further to the next level.
