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

Last month, we discussed the top ten ways technology can help improve your organization, including a detailed look at the first five. In this issue, we conclude our discussion with a closer look at the last five — direct mail, pledge management, recurring giving, matching gifts, and saving time. If you're ready to implement these great ideas but don't know where to start, we've included a helpful article on how to develop a successful technology plan. While you're reading this month's issue, remember that technology is only a tool — the means, not the end — to enable you to spend more time building relationships with the people and organizations that can help advance your mission.

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

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 Technology in Fundraising: The Top Ten Ways Technology Can Help Your Organization (Continued from August 2005)

In the first part of this article, we discussed how technology has the potential to improve nearly every aspect of running your nonprofit. However, you may still wonder how to get started and where technology can help the most. In Part I, we highlighted how technology can make a big difference in ten key areas and discussed the first five areas, including the single view of your supporters, relationship management, analysis reporting, accountability and stewardship, and online donor service. This month, we’d like to complete the list by talking about:

• Direct mail
• Pledge management
• Recurring giving
• Matching gifts
• Saving time

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the impact each of these items can have on the health and future prosperity of your organization.

Direct mail
For many nonprofits, direct mail not only makes up a large portion of the communication they have with their constituents, but it also takes up a large portion of their time and resources. Add up all the appeals, membership renewals, receipts, and thank-you letters that your organization is sending out every year. Chances are, the sum will amount to a whole lot of mail, time, and postage! But what about the mail that doesn’t even make it to the intended party? Imagine having thirty-seven cents for every piece of mail your organization has ever sent that was a duplicate or went to the wrong address.

The good news is that managing your mailings doesn’t have to be as challenging, costly, and time-consuming if your technology solution allows you to automate the process. And with applications such as NCOA updates, CASS certification, and duplicate renewal, you can be quickly on your way to using your time and money in ways that will better benefit your organization.

Pledge management
Being able to offer donors the ability to pledge gifts is a boon to nonprofits. By allowing your donors to pay over time, you are setting yourself up to receive more major gifts. However, with the benefits also come challenges. A good technology solution can help you successfully set up payment schedules, keep track of when payments come in, and report on who has missed a payment.

Recurring giving
Recurring giving provides amazing opportunities to attract and retain a new generation of donors. It is one of the most cost-effective, long-term fundraising methods available, providing you with a predictable revenue stream, with little ongoing staff involvement. Donors commit to a donation to be paid regularly over a period of time with no specified end. Organizations of all sizes across the world have turned to recurring giving programs to combat falling revenue and high donor attrition rates.

How can technology help? A solution that can handle recurring gifts from end-to-end should be able to report missed payments, protect against lapses by reporting soon-to-expire credit cards, reduce donor attrition by tracking tends in donor activity, process multiple gifts quickly, and serve your donors better by providing modern, convenient giving methods.

Matching gifts
The promise of a matching gifts program is that it can greatly increase the contributions your organization receives. The problem is that many of your donors don’t know that their company will match their gifts. That part is up to you. Can you easily identify who, among your donors, works for a matching gifts company?

Technology can help ensure that you get your share of the matching gifts pie. The ability to track where your donors work is pivotal. Once you know who their employers are, getting information about the companies is easy — a variety of matching gifts databases is available. Their technology can help you target your constituents more effectively in order to cultivate larger gifts. Corporate profiles, lists, and directories will help you know which employers will match gifts and how much they contribute, as well as provide educational vehicles, such as a Web page, where your donors can search for their employers. Then it’s back to you to push your donors in the direction of researching their employer’s matching gifts procedures.

To learn more about how to manage a matching gifts program, click here.

Saving time
The previous sections of this article described ways that technology can help your organization raise funds. But none of them really makes a difference if it takes an eternity to make them happen. Technology should improve your daily processes and drive efficiency within your organization. As a nonprofit, your organization must all be committed to working in the most effective manner possible. The efficient use of time, money, and staff allows you to better deliver on your mission.

Take a look at the technology solution you are using. Can you automate repetitive tasks? Can you access frequent operations from one place? Are you able to integrate with other frequently used applications, such as word processing, spreadsheets, email, and calendars? And finally, do you have fast access to the reports and information you need on a daily basis to make strategic decisions?

Technology is an investment that can help ensure your nonprofit is operating efficiently. Clearly, success in fundraising requires more than technology, but if your technology doesn’t allow for process automation and easy management of data, you can expect more work in the long run. In the end, the most important thing technology can do for you is to help your staff, processes, and the people you serve all work together seamlessly, providing the best experience for everyone involved.

 Arriving at a Successful Technology Plan

More than ever before, nonprofits are relying on technology to successfully manage the day-to-day operations of their organizations. One challenge is to develop a plan that will accurately reflect all the related efforts and expenses of new technology. To ensure that your software and systems remain successful, integral parts of your organization, understanding a few economical/technical realities is critical.

Plan for new equipment every year.
Technology advances almost overnight. Therefore, that desktop you purchased last year will need to replaced sooner than you might think. A good rule of thumb is that a computer should be replaced every three years. That’s not to say that you need to replace them all at once — regular maintenance can help ensure that you keep your systems running smoothly. And if you allocate some money every year to computer replacement, it will hurt less when the need comes.

Technology requires regular maintenance.
Remember that chicken roaster that claimed all you had to do was “set it and forget it”? Unfortunately, that model doesn’t apply to technology. We often think about a technology purchase as a one-time expense, but the reality is that technology, like your sedan or minivan, requires regular maintenance and support to keep it running smoothly. If you never got a tune-up, oil change, or even filled your car with gas, you wouldn’t get very far. The trick to making these expenses less painful is to expect them and plan in advance.

Knowledge really is power.
Just like operating a vehicle without knowledge of the rules of the road or how the car works will inevitably prove disastrous, not understanding how to use the technology solutions in your office can prove equally problematic. The way to combat this is to make sure that everyone at your organization is properly trained on your systems. It’s not productive to rely on the knowledge and abilities of a single person in your organization — he or she will simply end up spending too much time answering other’s questions. A well-trained staff is always your best asset, and when everyone understands your technology, you will be better able to harness the power of your system.

Have a plan for disaster.
It’s easy to replace a computer — but it’s not so easy to replace the information stored inside. Back up your most valuable data and keep it apart from the office. You’ll save yourself a huge amount of money and prevent both headache and heartache. Don’t beg for problems — back up that data!

While this isn’t an all-inclusive list of everything you need to think about when building your technology plan, hopefully it will get you thinking about the many other issues to consider as you begin to prepare for 2006.

 Latest and Greatest

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Reflections on Fundraising

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
— Aesop

Don't just thank your donors and volunteers, inspire and challenge them!
Give them 101 great quotations celebrating philanthropy and making a difference with the book "Living a Life of Significance." A new pocket-size volume every year! 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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