A newsletter about fundraising effectively in today's world
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 Editor's Note

While technology solutions available today have drastically improved the way nonprofits solicit and engage donors, it has also heightened donors' expectations of the nonprofits they support. Donors expect timely communications, appropriate "ask" amounts, and convenient ways to stay connected with your organization. Increasingly, technology is providing the tools to do all of these — and more. But in order to achieve the highest return on your technology investment, you need to carefully decide which elements of your fundraising strategy technology can most improve. In this issue, we'll discuss the top ten ways technology can help your organization, including a detailed look at the first five. Be sure to stay tuned for next month, where we'll discuss the next five.

How are you using technology in your fundraising efforts? Email us your story at fundraisingwell@blackbaud.com.

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 Technology in Fundraising Part 1: The Top Ten Ways Technology Can Help Your Organization

As a nonprofit in today’s world, you face a complex and evolving environment. New organizations added each day make competition fiercer than ever. Your donors are different, too. Today’s donor wants more than just a thank-you. He wants to better understand and engage in your mission. And because of this increased interest and involvement, there is an increased focus on accountability as well. To keep your organization alive and in the forefront of your donors’ minds despite these challenges, you may find yourself needing to reinvent your approach to fundraising. That’s where technology comes in to play.

Technology has the potential to improve every aspect of your operations. But where do you start? What is most important? As a development professional, time is precious to you. How do you know where should you invest the majority of your resources — time and money alike? Where should you rely on technology the most?

Although your challenges may be numerous, there are a few key areas in which technology can really make a difference:

Fundraising
Technology can help you increase your donations, communicate better with your supporters, and strengthen your relationships with your high-value donors.

Making better decisions
Planning will keep you far ahead of the competition. Technology supports planning by allowing you to maintain a single, up-to-date view of your constituents, identify high value prospects, and strategically plan for your organization’s growth.

Managing your finances
Without technology, reducing the cost of fundraising, tracking, and reporting on the “health” of your organization, as well as complying with nonprofit-specific accounting requirements, would be almost impossible. These days, donors are more demanding than ever when it comes to accountability.

Managing your operations
Increasing the efficiency of service delivery, optimizing your volunteers, memberships and sponsorships, and improving your internal processes are all areas in which technology can and will make a huge difference in the way your organization accomplishes its mission.

Seem Important? It is! But if your technology doesn’t allow you to grow and explore new methods of fundraising, it’s not worth the investment. At a minimum, your technology solution should help you in these ten areas:

1. Single, holistic view of supporters
2. Relationship management
3. Analysis reporting
4. Accountability and stewardship
5. Online donor service
6. Direct mail
7. Pledge management
8. Recurring giving
9. Matching gifts
10. Saving time

 A Closer Look: The First Five Ways Technology Can Help Your Organization

Let’s take a more detailed look at the impact the first five areas can have on the health and future prosperity of your organization.

1. Single, holistic view of supporters
How many different ways can a constituent interact with your organization? Immediately donating funds comes to mind, but there are other ways constituents support our organizations. Within your database, you are likely to find board members, volunteers, and employees. Then there are prospects, patrons, members, advocates, alumni, attendees, and vendors. And it’s pretty likely that many of your constituents fall into more than one category. The ability to see a holistic view of all the ways an individual interacts with your organization is vitally important. Data silos can damage relationships. Is each office within your organization using a different system for managing these categories? If your systems don’t integrate, you could be treating the same person as if they were two separate people! The proper technology will allow you to carefully manage all the day-to-day details and interactions with your supporters and help you build and maintain institutional knowledge within your organization — something that’s pretty important in an industry known for high turnover among development staff!

2. Relationship management
Successful fundraising is centered on the ability to cultivate and manage relationships with your donors. Good communication is important both when you are initiating contact and when you are building the case for a donor’s long-term support. Technology can help you with everything from tracking valuable biographical information to ensuring each touch you have with your donors is helping the cultivation process by monitoring staff and donor interaction.

Each person from your organization who comes in contact with the outside world — solicitors, employees, volunteers, etc. — is working to brand your organization. Sharing professional best practices among the group, such as successful email or letter templates, will help ensure they are working together. More importantly, you’ll know that your constituents are being treated in a way that reflects positively on your organization.

3. Analysis reporting
What makes your organization successful? Which areas can be improved? Capturing and accessing the information you need to demonstrate the effectiveness of your organization is critical. You will enter a lot of important information into your database, and getting it back out should be a breeze. Once you have the information, you want to be able to share it with board members, donors, and the community at large. The right reports can help you take a flood of data and turn it into insight and action.

4. Accountability and stewardship
There’s no hotter topic in the nonprofit world than accountability. As nonprofits are increasingly scrutinized and regulated, your ability to ensure that designated funds are managed correctly is critically important. Being able to easily share information between your financial and fundraising systems, and then present it to donors and stakeholders, will help you demonstrate the impact of every gift you receive. Your technology solution should allow you to share timely, accurate information with key stakeholders, ensure that donated funds are accounted for, verify to your donors that the gifts were used for their intended purposes, and satisfy both internal and external reporting requirements.

5. Online donor service
In 2003, online donors contributed $2 billion, and recent studies have shown that online gifts average two to three times the amount of those from alternate fundraising methods! With the average American spending 11 hours each week of personal time on the Web, your nonprofit cannot afford to function with out an online giving program.

Your Web site is often the first impression your organization will make on a constituent. It’s a great tool for catching the attention of new potential donors and providing them the opportunity to give online. Is your site compelling and up to date? Can you personalize your messaging and coordinate your online and offline marketing? Can you recognize and treat visitors as individuals? Actively using your Web site as a tool to learn about your supporters will result in an expanded loyal network of supporters with a lifelong connectivity with your organization. Your technology should support all of these, as well as efforts such as integrated advocacy and “team fundraising” fundraising.

Join us next month when as we continue this discussion and delve deeper into the topics of Team Fundraising, recurring giving and more.

Interested in learning more about using technology as a fundraising tool? Don’t miss Planning for the Next Generation of Nonprofit Technology, just one of the 110 sessions offered at Destination:Success — Blackbaud’s 2005 Conference on Philanthropy, October 23-26 in Charleston, SC. Space is limited — register now!

 Latest and Greatest

Latest Nonprofit Resources

White Paper: Budgeting for Technology
You've identified the areas of your fundraising strategy that need improvement, identified the technology you need to help, but now you need a budget. This white paper describes the seven key components of a successful technology plan. Download the white paper here.

Upcoming Web Seminars and Training

Communicating With Donors Class Now Available
Would you like to make your communications with donors more effective? Join us in Charleston for an exciting new class focused on using The Raiser’s Edge 7® to communicate with your donors.
In this 2-day class you will:

• Discover the key reasons for communicating with your donor base.
• Pinpoint the most effective times to send communications.
• Choose the right method of communication for your target audience.
• Learn how to effectively use time and money-saving features in The Raiser’s Edge 7 to communicate via direct mail, email, telephone, and the Internet.
• And more!

This class is designed for those who want to take their Raiser’s Edge skills a step further and unlock the potential of these features. Don’t miss this opportunity for a communication makeover at your organization! Classes are available on the following dates:

• Thursday, September 22
• Thursday, October 13
• Thursday, October 27
• Thursday, November 10
• Thursday, December 8

Email solutions@blackbaud.com for more information.

Featured Blackbaud Solutions

Hosting Calling Campaigns for Fundraising? Call Center for The Raiser's Edge can help!
Calls have been shown to speed up response times and can generate up to eight times more response than traditional direct mail. If your organization conducts phone-based campaigns or would like to in the future, Call Center for The Raiser’s Edge can help! This powerful tool will enable you to:

• Increase your call center productivity
• Speed up your response time and simplify data entry
• Evaluate each caller’s productivity by reviewing calls made and pledges created
• Evaluate your center’s productivity with easy reporting
• Maintain accurate constituent contact information
• And a whole lot more!

Email solutions@blackbaud.com for more information.

Upcoming Events

Destination: Success — Blackbaud's 2005 Conference on Philanthropy
The 2005 Conference on Philanthropy takes place October 23-26 in Charleston, South Carolina. It will bring together industry professionals to help you solve daily challenges and get the most out of your technology. Fewer than 100 reservations remain! Don't wait — register now to reserve your space.

2005 National Conference on Planned Giving, September 28 - 30, Kissimmee, FL

2005 Catholic Charities Annual Gathering, September 15 - 18, Phoenix, AZ

Reflections on Fundraising

"I wondered why someone didn't do something. Then I realized I am somebody."
Anonymous

Want to strengthen your relationship with donors and volunteers? Give them "Living a Life of Significance," 101 inspirational quotations celebrating life, philanthropy, and volunteerism. Great for the holidays! Visit http://www.designsforgiving.com.

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The information contained herein should not be construed as legal or professional advice. If you have questions about how this newsletter's content applies to your organization, you should seek advice from appropriate professional counsel.

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