How Nonprofits Can Benefit From Cloud Technology

This week we have a guest from Charlotte Ritter is a technology analyst for TechnologyAdvice. She’s a pro at business intelligence, gamification, project management, and other emerging technology. Let’s see what she has to say about cloud technology for nonprofits.

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Is your nonprofit addicted to spreadsheets?

If you use them for everything from accounting, to contact management, project tracking, budgeting, donor tracking, and more—then you’re not alone. Nonprofits commonly rely on spreadsheets to organize any and all information.

Spreadsheets, email, and internet connection is the extent of many organizations’ business technology.

But spreadsheets aren’t the right tool for every job.

Spreadsheets don’t automatically notify you to follow up with constituents, for instance, or submit a grant application. They don’t track relationships between donors, such as spouses with separate donation records or coworkers. And they don’t provide the proper security, reporting, and ad hoc queries you get from nonprofit software.

Your nonprofit needs dedicated resources to support and grow your efforts.

But mention software or technology inside a nonprofit and “ka-ching” is all the board members hear. In reality, the software allows nonprofits to allocate staff resources away from administrative tasks and to more strategic efforts, like direct services provided by the organization.

There are many tools that enable nonprofits to increase their social impact and forward the organization’s mission. And right now, they’re more affordable than ever.

The Charitable Cloud

The biggest trend in nonprofit technology is the movement to cloud-based software. Donor expectations often cause organizations to manage short and long term goals simultaneously, all on a shoestring budget. Cloud services can help minimize costs and are a great way for nonprofits to increase their ratio of spending on core missions versus their overhead costs.

Nonprofits can experience the benefits of technology that, historically, have only been reaped by businesses or well-known nonprofits. Adopting business technology for use within nonprofits is becoming more popular, as vendors now offer nonprofit versions of their cloud software, often at discounted prices.

Web-based solutions for donor management, accounting, marketing, and more enable nonprofits to improve workforce and operational efficiencies in business-like ways.

Let’s take a look at what some of those ways are.

Stay Top of Mind for Donors with Email Marketing and Relationship Management

The accessibility provided by cloud-based services not only cuts costs, it enables nonprofits to be more interactive. Instead of just focusing on attracting new donors, you can concentrate on engaging and retaining current donors as well. While websites remain a top priority for most nonprofits, modern marketing tactics such as email marketing, landing pages, and drip campaigns are increasingly part of a successful toolkit.

Until recently, Development Directors, who consistently report being strapped for time, was spending extended intervals creating individual Facebook updates and writing new email newsletters each day. Marketing automation software can help you take a multi-channel approach to your email communication efforts without the time commitment. This means you’re able to send frequent, targeted appeals that can significantly increase response and click-through rates— which means more donations for your cause.

• For starters, Mailchimp’s beginner account lets you send 12,000 monthly emails to 2,000 subscribers for free. They also recently released marketing automation features, so you can have enterprise-level behavioral targeting at an affordable price.

• For more features like landing pages and embeddable forms, Boingnet is an affordable, lightweight marketing automation platform.

• For growing nonprofits with more powerful needs, ActiveCampaign is an end-to-end marketing automation solution that also offers constituent relationship management. This means you’ll have an actual database to house your donor information and track interactions as they happen, rather than an out of date spreadsheet.

Reduce Data Entry with System Integration

To keep up with growing needs for data and efficiency, nonprofit systems often need to be linked. Accounting and fundraising systems, for example, are often at the top of the list when it comes to nonprofit integration requests. Increased integration between payroll and HR systems is now a necessity for many organizations. Vendors like Zoho offer free and affordable modules for human resources, accounting, and more, so you have all the apps you need to manage day-to-day activities — tightly integrated.

Communicate and Manage Projects Efficiently

Project Management tools are a great way to collaborate effectively. Asana and Basecamp offer project planning software that can help get your nonprofit out of the email inbox and back to work. Task management, commenting and conversations, status updates, and document management are just a few of the features this type of web-based software has to offer. All of which are available to team members via web access no matter where or when they need it.

By leveraging the latest technology, you can set your nonprofits apart, save resources, and better focus on your core mission. As large software vendors continue to expand into the nonprofit space, organizations like yours will have an increasing amount of tailored options to choose from. Cloud-based programs, marketing automation, and project management can all have an immediate impact, and nonprofits looking to modernize their workflows and further their mission need to incorporate them.

Author Bio:

Charlotte Ritter is a technology analyst for TechnologyAdvice. She covers business intelligence, gamification, project management, and other emerging technology. She has also written about startups, company growth, and talent management. Connect with her on LinkedIn.