Generally, organisations with out dated or inadequate technology will not perform well from a fundraising or revenue generating perspective, in the current digital age. There’s no better way to maximize return in fundraising than investing in technology.
Resistance to investing in technology may be due to budget constraints in the immediate term but can be short-sighted in the long term. For example, the decision to invest in once off campaigns or focus investment in service delivery only rather than technology solutions, can cost organisations more in the long run. Organisations that lack a robust digital fundraising strategy in fundraising are invariably missing out on significant revenue source. Charities and not-for-profits can only grow their fundraising dramatically when technology is coupled with sound strategy and execution.
Having a good CRM in place is central to fundraising in many ways. It helps organisations to maintain good relationships with supporters, with regular communications and updates. It allows them to segment and target specific groups based on issues and interest areas. It streamlines membership activities and the overall donation process. Most significantly, it gives them the power to mange their data confidently and effectively.
What are the benefits of a CRM in Fundraising?
Having a CRM in place offers the following advantages to organisations in fundraising:
1. Centralisation of Data: CRM technology makes it possible for charities and not-for-profits to store their data in a central repository in an organized way. Team members can seamlessly manage and update this information. Organisations that just rely on Excel/spreadsheets to manage their contact data face the challenges of storing data in different spreadsheets managed by different people, resulting in incomplete or outdated data or duplicated lists. Using spreadsheets or Excel is labour intensive, requires a great deal of time and resources, and in most cases, tracking historical data is nearly impossible.
2. Segmentation of contacts: Having a CRM makes the task of segmentation so much easier. Having an accurate and up to date data source means organisations can easily segment their lists by interest levels, historic donation amounts and average donation values. Having integrated communications tools allows campaigns to be managed directly from the CRM, where communications history is tracked and communications preferences are updated automatically by the donors. . This technology ensures efficiency in creating automated processes in directing donors or contacts to appropriate content.
3. Integration with third party systems: Capturing data from online sources can drive real efficiency for organisations, reducing time spent
4. Understanding your supporter base: For charities and not-for-profits, keeping track and records of your audience is vital in fundraising. With CRM, you can analyze your contacts’ actions, such as the most recent volunteering campaign they signed up for or the current event they have attended. CRM technology is very efficient in giving you an overall view of your target audience’s behaviors.
