The key to nptech and developing software for nonprofits is understanding the problems and needs they have and building solutions. These needs keep evolving with time and to keep up with them, there needs to be constant connection and conversation with those who use your software i.e. your customers. For us, that comes through our customer support channels as well as well as our social media conversations through comments on our blog, Twitter and discussions on our Facebook page. A lot of the conversations we have had with them and the ideas they have shared with us have gone into making the DonorTools software even better.  The feedback we’ve received has helped us constantly innovate and build on the technology. In short:

Our customers help us as we help them.

We recently spread the word on the pledges and recurring donations capabilities we were working on and got some useful feedback from different customers on how it could be handled. Similarly, these ongoing conversations have helped provide us with some great ideas around other areas such as mobile donations and more. Keeping these open channels  of communication and using the ideas you get from customers can apply across all areas of NPTECH and the symbiotic relationship between customer service and customers is a path to better software. So a big “thank you” to all our customers and everyone who have helped us make DonorTools even better!

Mashables recent post on the surge in the mobile applications market puts into perspective just how quickly the mobile applications market is exploding:

According to the study, created by Chetan Sharma Consulting, mobile app downloads should jump from 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012. By this time, the market will be worth 17.5 billion dollars, the study predicts, despite the expected lower price of mobile apps, which should drop from the current average of 2 dollars per app to 1.5 dollars in 2012.

Nonprofit organizations have a lot to gain from being able to operate better in a more mobile environment where they have access to their critical information on the move too. Beth’s Blog by Beth Kanter featured a post on the launch Zoetica’s iPhone application. Understanding the need for those in the nonprofit space to have access to their favorite nonprofit and social change blogs, their iPhone app compiles feeds from these publications which can be read on the move from your iPhone.   On the subject of how nonprofits are quickly tapping into the potential iPhone user base and embracing the iPhone trend Beth says:

I’m seeing more and more nonprofits add iPhone apps (or other mobile apps) to their marketing mix.  For example, just take a look at the explosion of mobile apps for museums.  and especially since the dramatic success of the Red Cross Haiti text fundraising.   But text fundraising is a whole different type of project than delivering content which might make a good “toe in the water with mobile” low-cost experiment.

Software and technology are enabling nonprofits to use mobile technology in important areas such as donor management and fundraising like never before and the iPhone seems to be the mobile channel of choice.  The iPhone interface in the DonorTools software is that enabler when it comes to being able to manage donors, donation or fundraising operations on the move. Off too a meeting with an important donor and don’t know much about them? Need to share reports on the fundraising progress with someone? It’s all good as long as the iPhone is within reach. …and that’s the wonder of this device and how versatile it can be! If the marketing and sales guys of the enterprise world are married to their iPhones and their Blackberry’s looking so inseparable… ..is it so hard to believe we fundraisers and nonprofit guys can find a best friend in an iPhone?

Truth: Most nonprofits don’t have large CRM-like teams to run several queries and use an extensive data analytics engine on the fundraising data. They look for a simple and quick way to get clear reports on their donations, targets, progress and information on donors in an easy-to-understand reporting format and make smart decisions. They need quick, no-nonsense reports that give them clear insights and help make quicker decisions.

Simplicity is good. At least that’s what we believe from experience in fundraising and “keeping it simple yet powerful” was the note written on a post-it and stuck on the PC while DonorTools and it’s reporting capabilities were being developed. While occasionally, few nonprofits may need to really break down their donor management and fundraising  databases to create deeper analytics most users need crisp insights into the important areas such as:

-    Tracking online and offline donations -    Analyzing donations by source -    Tracking funds -    Tracking donations by payment methods -    Setting and measuring progress against a fundraising target -    Comparing donor information

And similar key metrics that help improve the fundraising efforts. By keeping your analytics metrics simple reports and creating them become more accessible across all authorized users of the donor management software. You don’t need to be a professional CRM analyst to generate quick reports when needed. More often than not, the last thing you need for your fundraising intelligence reports is pages of data analytics options, graph generation engines, report creation modules and all that jazz. All the same, on the chance that you do want to create more detailed reporting forms, data can easily be exported into Excel or QuickBooks and extend the reporting capabilities when required.

While one could argue while selecting a donor management software system the more extensive and the more bells and whistles the analytics component has the better it may be, at the end of the day having the right insights is more important having just many insights. Complicating an important area like reporting and analytics is just going to make things more difficult to use and manage instead of simplifying it and making it easier. After all, good decisions are a result of having access to information that brings more clarity to your nonprofit, not complications. Keep it simple…you’ll love the results!

‘Transparency in working’ is a cornerstone of social web and whether it’s companies using social networks, collaboration tools, online communities and more, all these technologies are a step forward in creating an open work environment where customers and others can freely engage with the business  and everyone can observe interactions, communications and processes. Businesses have taken a more social, more accessible, more human persona and as a result , created accountability and trust among those who seek it. Luckily, with the right technologies the same can be applied to Church administration when it comes to extending it’s financials to those who insist on accountability.

Here is an extract of an article by the Crown Financial Ministries that highlights financial accountability in church administration:

The American public generally has high expectations of religious organizations and churches. For the most part, donors and attendees recognize that enormous needs exist that the church is called upon to meet, and they usually want to respond adequately to help the church meet those needs. However, they also want to be assured that the funds they give, many times sacrificially, are being used effectively and that the church is actively involved in ministering in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. So, there can be no acceptable alternative to financial accountability.

The donor management process is precisely one of the areas into which the public seeks some level of transparency and with a web based donor management software like DonorTools restoring faith in those who doubt (pun intended) can be done with a few clicks of the mouse. Our “Audit History” creates a feed of every action within the account. When someone signs in, when changes are made to the data, when donations are made, towards what funds donations are made, when account changes are made and more. This helps develop a constant trail of all the activity of every user and admin within the donor management system which builds transparency and accountability with no extra effort.

The “Funds And Sources” feature is a great way to link donations received to the funds to which they have been allocated to making it simpler to track down a donation or display the progress on certain funds when people need to know what’s happening with them.  The next time someone in the Church asks “what’s going on with the building renovation work we donated towards which was supposed to start last week???” With a few clicks on DonorTools one can share how they’ve only reached 50% of the “building renovation fund” goal that was set and clarify why the work has been delayed. In the era of the social web where lack of accountability and transparency is a thing of the past, Churches and charitable organizations can leverage great web applications where it matters the most and (for lack of a better way to say this) renew people’s faith in more ways than one.

Youtube recently crossed the 1 billion videos watched per day mark according to a Mashable post. Now that alone is one very good reason to consider using video to connect with donors. But it’s not the only reason why video can help push the performance of a fundraising page on a nonprofits website. Video can offer the kind of personal connection to web visitors that words and text simply can’t convey. The good news is creating and distributing a donation video with a message isn’t exclusively a fundraising tool for the wealthy nonprofits any more. There are tones of excellent videos that convey a strong and crisp message which can be done on a shoestring budget with nothing more than someone who is passionate about the cause and a web cam.

If you’re looking to connect with those who land on your donation or fundraising page there are virtually no limitations to how creative you can be with making that final connection through an online video and that can make a world of a difference. Here are some ideas we liked amongst simple videos that could do the job and not cost a fortune to produce:

•    Make a personal appeal: A simple video with a straightforward personal appeal for a donation where donors can see the passion and connect with the cause can be all you need to strike that chord. This appeal for donations to the Haiti earthquake victims is a great example.

•    Use images and video clips to create a vision of awareness towards what the donors contribution would help bring relief to or contribute towards. This video that pieces together images provides a picture of the plight of those devastated by the war in Bosnia and makes an appeal for contributions that could help bring them relief and rebuild their lives.

•    Get a perspective from those who can benefit from a donation whether in cash or kind. There is nothing quite like being able to get firsthand feedback from those in need of the help. This clip with an appeal for organ donation does just that and helps donors get an insight into the life of an average person who is in need of an organ which in this case is a kidney.

•   Create a demonstrative or educational piece which illustrates the difference a donation can make. This one which is perhaps more professionally produced is great inspiration for how much can be packed into a single minute of video which need not take up much of a donors’ time. At the same time it not only conveys a clear message but also demonstrates how easy it is to contribute through the website which is a great idea.

The bottom line is you need not have a large budget and a film crew to create a compelling video which will help your fundraising efforts. You just need to have a video which can help you connect with donors in a straightforward honest way and make an appeal. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words….then how much is a video worth for your fundraising?

Historically donor management software has told you about things about your donors that have already happened. While your donors’ history is important, it’s also important to know what’s going on in your donors’ lives right now. Social media can help you learn this and many other pieces of information. Social media is here to stay and there are many experts in the field that can help you learn how to best use tools to connect and have meaningful connections to your donors. Some of the highlights of what you can accomplish are:

Be a psychic – know what’s happening now

Ever want to know if your prospect is in a good mood before you call? Maybe they are in a bad mood? With a little bit of knowledge and insight (and a few keystrokes) you can be better prepared when you do communicate with them.

Images and Videos

Want to put a face to the name? Doing some research on the web lets you do this in minutes. Photos from profiles on these social media sites, using image search are paired well with youtube videos to help you get the look and feel of your donors.

Listen

Lots of social media gurus say the first step in doing anything with social media is to listen. There is a ton of content and information available on the web. It takes some time to go through the process of finding these people and seeing what they are saying and what they are doing.

Relationships Matter

Understanding motivations and connecting with people on a personal level can help create stronger relationships with your contacts.

How do you do this?

We recently launched our first step into integrating your donor database with social media with our nonprofit fundraising software. It can help you incorporate all of these fundraising and social media best practices with less work. Here is how we help solve the problem with our first step into social media integration:

• Import Twitter streams for donors
• Search and connect with contacts on the social web
• Import Twitter photos for contacts

We want to know what you think

If you have some ideas about how social media should be used with you donor database let us know in the comments or if you want to suggest a feature we should include in the next version let us know.

Awareness leads to building communities around your organization. Building communities can translate to building support. Building support translates to more donors. Twitter among other social networks and social media sites will be a key destination for fundraising. The site which hosts thousands of nonprofits among other organizations and people has been instrumental in collecting aid for Haiti and other relief for other global disasters. It’s been central to spreading awareness on so many causes and been a platform for so much work to happen that it’s a channel that can’t be left out. We’ve been busy here at Donor Tools working towards Twitter integration which will be core to the donor management process as we see it. With all the buzz and activity from nonprofits on Twitter in the last year or so it just goes to show less can be more and few words can make massive difference.

Analyze This

Analytics capabilities of CRMs are designed around information required by marketing and sales teams. They are designed to analyze sales targets, lead conversion, revenue pipelines and project profit margins. Now how useful is that to the average nonprofit? Analyzing donations, funds and donors is a world apart from analyzing marketing and sales figures to project future business and profitability. If CRMs are designed to track and analyze customers through the business process, donor management software tools are designed to track and analyze donors contributing to a nonprofit.

Pricing Factors

Most CRMs whether stand alone or Saas (software as a service) are built keeping in mind they will be used by the sales and marketing organization within a business. The users will be sales, marketing or customer service reps and they are priced on the premise that these tools are to help increase profit margins and sales so it’s justified to charge a premium for the usage of these tools. CRM are priced keeping in mind businesses and their budgets. Nonprofits have different needs and budgets when it comes down to this. Buying a 500 user license of a particular CRM may not make financial sense to most.

Complications

CRMs are often more complex and require a learning curve. They are implemented within businesses assuming there will be a CRM Manager of some sort to manage the system and there are technical training staff which can help get all the employees up to speed with it’s working. Donation management is comparatively a more straightforward process and keeping the confusion to a minimum makes sense.

Speaking a different language

Although most CRM’s are quite customizable, they are geared towards tracking customers through the pre-sales, sales and after sales cycles. Accordingly, they refer to entities such as a prospect, lead, warm lead, cold lead, decision maker, influencer, customer and so on. Funds are measured in terms of potential revenue, sales revenues, discounts, cost of sales, profits, profit ratios and similar terms, In reality, when it comes to non profits the entities are quite different. You have donors. Funds are collected in the form of donations (not against the sale of something) and donations can be in cash or in kind. A parishioner belonging to a church donates 4 pews or benches towards the renovation of the church, it needs to be recorded. In a CRM you are likely to be able to enter the value in a field which accepts only currency values in terms of “$”. Donor management software on the other hand understands that in the nonprofits world, not all donations are made in cash but need to be recorded nonetheless. It speaks the same language as the ones we nonprofits understand. So while CRM software is well suited to customer management the people who are core to nonprofits (donors) are not customers per se. The CRM was a software solution designed around the customer. The donor management software tool was designed around the donor. Why are CRMs not suited to the nonprofits requirements? Quite simply “a square peg where a circle should be”.

•    1st  To Write Love On Her Arms – TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.

•    2nd Frugal Dougal – CDO of #pawpawty events, helping animal charities around the world, check out www.pawpawty.com

•    3rd  Shaun King – 30 Year Old Husband, Father, Grad Student & Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church (www.Courageous.tv) in Downtown Atlanta

•    4th Alex’s Lemonade – Fighting Childhood Cancer, One Cup at a Time.Follow ALSF for news about childhood cancer and some stories about the over 100,000 people helping in the battle.

•    5th The Trevor Project – The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth. The Trevor Helpline: 866.4.U.TREVOR

While these are the ones currently ahead of the pack, there are some great Tweeps to follow among the finalists in this category if you’re on Twitter and it’s just great to see so much good work happening. Regardless of who finally takes the Shorty home, kudos to all the finalists and the difference they make.

Interestingly, the statuses simply read vague colors like ‘pink’, ‘white’, champagne gold’ and when you see everyone doing this and have absolutely no  idea what is going on but everyone seems to be in on it the effect is simple…you think….”I want in on it too!!!” So you turn to Google or Yahoo to see what’s going on and find that it’s linked to breast cancer awareness. While this is the point where unfortunately (or not) guys have to drop out of the game women jump on board with the trend and join the bandwagon by updating their own statuses, The end result may look like millions of people playing a silly game online but the effect was millions of people inadvertently becoming  a little more aware about the seriousness of breast cancer. An article published in Dallas Morning News by Darla Atlas highlighted the effect of the trend for Komen Foundation For The Cure Of Breast Cancer whose Facebook page got 134,000 fans on the first day alone.

While this is not the most recent news, it’s still a a fantastic example of what the combination of social software and the work of non-profits and activities like creating awareness for a cause. The campaign which tapped into our curiosity and created awareness is a stroke of genius to say the least. Strangely it’s still not clear exactly who this genius is and where this all started. If only we did.

When it comes to nonprofit organizations and hosted or web based software the partnership just can’t get better. They are just an ideal match! By moving administrative functions and collaboration activity online, nonprofits can really harness the power of volunteers in a way a centralized office environment can not match. Just about any function that’s critical to the working of a nonprofit can be managed online. With social networking tools like Ning and others volunteers can have discussions, share ideas, plan, communicate, collaborate and more. Online document and file sharing ensures that paperwork and administration can be shared and done by volunteers as long as they have access to the web. Specific functions like accounting and donations management has been made simpler using hosted solutions like Paypal and our very own Donor Tools. The possibilities are endless. Whether working with volunteers or full time employees working remotely, managing different administrative functions and running day to day operations becomes a breeze with the right web software tools.

While there are pro’s and cons to both centralized and distributed workforces based on volunteers and there are good arguments that can be made for both, we’ll save that for another time. For now, for those who choose not to be bound by working with excel sheets on the office computer there some really great alternatives to desktop software. Web based alternatives that can not just match what you can do on a desktop  but do it blindfolded with both hands tied behind it’s back, make it look as easy as pie ….and let’s you work from wherever you choose to. Now how can you beat that?