What’s keeping your organization from achieving its fundraising goals? Even though inflation is high, people still give generously to good causes. If your organization isn’t achieving its fundraising goals, here are three possible roadblocks along with ways to overcome them.
Donor Expectations Are Changing
Donor expectations have changed with the times. Some call this the “Amazon effect.” We are all so used to the great customer experience created on Amazon, with spot-on product suggestions, easily accessible wish lists, fast shipping for Prime members, and a seemingly endless array of products that it is hard to remember that a smaller business may not be able to offer similar service. But people interacting with your organization also interact with Amazon, and like it or not, the Amazons (and other big companies) of this world have taught customers to expect extremely high levels of personalization and detail in their communications.
Additionally, donors have varying communication preferences. One donor may be addicted to her phone and never misses a text while someone else eschews cellphones and prefers email or snail mail. Still others may simply drop your organization a note through their favorite social media platform, expecting an immediate response. Organizations that can adjust their approach to donor preferences and provide an omnichannel experience are more likely to maintain good relationships with donors and achieve their fundraising goals.
Roadblock One: Impersonal Donor Outreach or Marketing
If your donation correspondence begins with dear sir or madame, we need to talk. This kind of impersonal marketing is outdated. Worse, it’s ineffective. Correspondence gets sent immediately to the virtual or actual trash bin, and you’ve wasted precious opportunities to make a connection with potential donors.
Gone are the days when nonprofits segregated their communications into personal outreach and mass outreach. In ye olden days, nonprofits often saved personal outreach efforts for large donors while smaller donations received mass, generalized emails
New software and technology make it easy to personalize everything from emails to postcards. We’re not just talking about personalizing the salutation, either. Even messages can be personalized to help you reach out to donors in just the way that they prefer.
Roadblock Two: Manual Processes
Manual processes, however, often make it impossible to achieve this level of personalization. Capturing details on spreadsheets and trying to do mass mail merges into documents can be a nightmare if you have even a single field incorrect in your documents. Tracking donation responses, updating each letter personally, and sending personal notes may be fine when you’re a startup, but if you’re growing, the need for improved and personalized communication far outstrips your ability to produce it manually.
Roadblock Three: Siloed Data
Both lack of personalization and manual processes interact with this roadblock to create a situation in which organizations often fail to achieve fundraising goals. Siloed data means that data exists in separate places. It does not communicate or synchronize with other data sources, so no one data source has the big picture. One program may maintain a spreadsheet of donors while down the hall, a second group has yet another spreadsheet with donor names on it. The spreadsheets are little data siloes. It is next to impossible to use such data because often other departments don’t know it exists. And, if they do know, it’s cumbersome to use.
The Solution: Software Solutions for Nonprofits
Grant and fundraising software offer a great solution that overcomes all three roadblocks in one. Welter Consulting can help you choose the right software as well as “clean” your siloed data to ensure it is accurate and ready to import into your new software. You can move away from manual to automated processes, ensure personalization, and share data with one system. We can show you how.
Donors expect more from us today. Communications and data management have changed. But the reason your nonprofit exists—its mission—and the generosity of your donors and benefactors hasn’t changed. By using the latest technology, and embracing personalization, automation, and centralization, you can move away from processes holding you back from achieving your fundraising goals.
Welter Consulting
Welter Consulting bridges people and technology together for effective solutions for nonprofit organizations. We offer software and services that can help you with your accounting needs. Please contact us for more information.
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