4 reasons why a nonprofit CRM is a great investment.
During the pandemic fallout, many nonprofits were using technology that didn’t hold up well. In order to communicate effectively with donors and constituents, they had to evolve and adapt their data management systems to the new reality.
We’re in a time where supporters have come to expect highly personalized, customer-centric experiences. Technology that’s dated or hasn’t kept up with your organization can prevent you from delivering a great donor experience, working more efficiently, and ultimately raising more funds.
That’s why a CRM is a necessity.
You can weed out which parts of your operational process are time-wasters, giving you more time to focus on the important stuff.
Here are four reasons why a nonprofit CRM is a great investment.
1. Strengthen donor loyalty
Without donors, nonprofits can’t stay afloat. So, treat them like the valuable assets that they are.
According a 2021 study from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Americans opened their wallets in 2020 increasing donations by 10.6% during the pandemic. The biggest boost was from new donors who gave more small-dollar gifts (even though at the same time, donor retention dropped by 4.1%)
People gave to organizations they hadn’t given to before, says the report. What this means is, there’s large opportunity for nonprofits to engage and nurture these new supporters for the long term, and talk about the good work they’re accomplished because of the support.
Handling and nurturing donor relationships with an outdated, manual system is a colossal task that involves many steps, people and responsibilities. Imagine how awful it would be to forget thanking donors for their gifts.
A reliable CRM has features that make relationship management easier, so nobody gets missed. For instance, you can record every donor interaction you’ve ever had and what their giving habits are. You can set up reminders to send phone calls or thank you letters to major donors that they won’t forget.
2. Let your data do the heavy lifting
Analytical CRM tools make your piles of data available, clear, and relevant to your nonprofit’s needs. It can even serve up those “a-ha” moments to be better every year.
To make critical, real-time decisions, you have to trust that the information you aggregate is current and accurate. That’s a challenge if you’re pulling data from numerous platforms (email data, social media data, payment processor data, online fundraising data), where it’s vulnerable to errors and missed fundraising opportunities.
To get stakeholders onboard with a CRM investment, you want to show that it’s going to do more than just consolidate your data in a new software. It’ll impact everything from donor loyalty to data management, engagement to staff retention.
Equipped with those kind of visible metrics, your supporters and backers are much more likely to get excited about you investing in this tool.
3. Higher productivity and efficiency
Having all your major everyday activities in one place makes for easier workflow, better collaboration between team members, better project management, and a simpler way to track resources and costs.
With a CRM, task automation removes tedious tasks so your team can focus on more challenging work.
As mentioned earlier, dashboards and metrics can help you see the bigger picture of your mission and optimize several business processes.
4. Access your info from just about anywhere
Supporting your staff, regardless if they’re fully remote, in the office or a mix of both, will be critical to the success of your nonprofit in a post-pandemic world. CRM products and features will give your team the ability to connect, share ideas and get more done together, regardless of where they are.
Looking for CRM support in 2022? Get in touch with our team to learn more about cloudStack’s services and our trio of products: fundraisingManager, receiptManager and financeManager.
All built on the Salesforce platform.
