December 1, 2020 5 Essential Tools For Non-Profit Fundraising

The best tools for non-profit fundraisers deliver insight into donor trends and behaviors and prospect research capabilities.

Tapping into your network of existing donors and cultivating new donors is a challenge for any non-profit development team. The best tools for non-profit fundraisers deliver insight into donor trends and behaviors, prospect research capabilities and effective fundraising ideas.

Database Management/CRM

Your ability to fundraise begins and ends with your database. Without a clean, accurate and updated database, you will waste time and money pitching to deceased and lapsed donors. You need effective software that will allow you to easily update records, purge old records and capture donor information simply and easily. An effective CRM (customer relationship management) software increased donor retention, leads to more recurring donations and can aid in capturing lapsed donors.

If your company uses Salesforce, the most popular database for fundraisers, using an application like MoveData will streamline your fundraising processes and give better insights into your donors. You can push real-time data into Salesforce, cutting back on the amount of time spent on data entry and enjoying more efficient workflows.

Email Marketing

Getting the word out about your fundraising campaigns is key. An effective email marketing platform allows you to create beautiful emails that you can mass mail to your constituents. These email platforms allow you to segment your lists so that you can send different emails based on your donors’ profiles. Email marketing is key to your fundraising success, so finding the right software is key.

Communication Software

Does your fundraising team communicate well with the marketing team, the finance team and the events team? While email is the most commonly used form of communication, using a platform like Slack can make real-time communication a breeze. Post questions for instant feedback, create projects and share files with ease. You can even integrate this communication platform with Microsoft Outlook, Google Drive and Dropbox for the best project management success.

Social Media Management Software

If you’re not using social media in your fundraising efforts, you’re leaving a lot of potential donors in the dark. Social media management tools like Buffer allow you to create and schedule posts, collaborate with your team and view real-time analytics in order to grow your following. These tools are great for teams that share media across teams—the marketing team can share a photo while the development team provides the real-time data for the content and the events team can provide updates on the event page. Social media management software is vital for saving time and resources while fundraising.

Project Management

Don’t get bogged down in multiple projects that require extensive updates and collaboration. With project management software, you can see who is doing what on the project without having to constantly check in with them for project updates. Did the t-shirts for the 5K finally arrive? Check the project management software to see the event team’s updates. Does the finance team need to know how much money has been raised so far? Simply check the app for more information.

When it comes to effective fundraising, using the right tools helps you to focus less on the administrative tasks and more on getting the money to continue your mission.

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