marketing – Page 26 – GReat Kreations

Let us know if this scenario sounds familiar: You and your team have decided to invest in a donor management and fundraising software solution. You’re ready to buy, but you’re not sure where to start when it comes to choosing the right software for your nonprofit.

Like most of us, you probably turn to Google to learn more. But instead of feeling empowered to make an informed choice, you feel overwhelmed by all of the options out there.

We’ve been in your chair before, and we know exactly how you feel.

If you’re ready to talk to someone right away, you can go to the provider’s website and request a Demo or demonstration of the product. We recommend this option for nonprofits that already know exactly what they want out of a software solution.

If you’re not there yet, don’t worry! We put together a helpful playbook that you can use to help make an easy donor management software purchase. Keep reading to learn more.

Why a playbook?

Having a document detailing the must-have tools and features that your organization needs provides you not only a good visual and reference point, but also allows you to collaborate internally with your organization to make sure you are all aligned on what you’re hoping to get out of your software.

In this playbook, you’ll detail what you need from the providers. Then you can base what you have covered in your playbook against the information you learn both in the demo and on their website and come to a conclusion on whether or not you want to move forward with their software.

What information should you include in your playbook?

This will vary from nonprofit to nonprofit because it depends on your unique needs. Before you compose your playbook, sit down with your team and see which features or functionalities matter most to them.

As you’ll see below, you can compile those into a comprehensive list that will make it easier to compare different products and their offerings which you can then rank. We’ve included some examples but remember: You should focus on what your nonprofit needs.

You should also come up with a list of questions to ask the providers. For example, you could ask about their customer support options, the processing fees, or the cost of add-on services. Don’t be afraid to include a lot of questions. The more information you have, the better.

download the template cta

Sample Playbook

You can find a guided playbook template below or you can download a free blank version of the template here.

Keep in mind that your playbook should be tailored to address the needs of your organization. You don’t have to use any of the examples below.

SELECTION TEAM:

Add the individuals in your organization who are responsible for the selection and approval of your new donor management software.

Project Lead Table

TIMELINE:

Detail the timeline in which you will expect final feedback from project leaders and the expected date that the software selection will be made.

timeline table

CHALLENGES:

Talk to your team to determine what pain points they have with your current fundraising software or, if you’re not currently using any software, what your team needs to fundraise more effectively.

Examples:

We can’t customize our donation forms.
Our team doesn’t know how to use the software and would benefit from training.
We’re using [insert other providers like Mailchimp, QuickBooks, etc.], and we’d like those platforms to integrate with our fundraising software.
We can’t easily segment our contacts.
We can’t track volunteering or program participation.
We aren’t notified when a donor’s credit card is about to expire.

KEY REQUIREMENTS:

When thinking about the features a software provider offers, which ones will address your pain points? Which features do you absolutely have to have? Those are your key requirements.

Examples:

The solution must track and display a constituent’s giving and engagement history.
We want donors to be able to log in, see their giving history, and easily update their contact or credit card information.
We must be able to segment our subscribers based on custom tags and/or engagement history.
We want to receive notifications and/or have the ability to set up triggered email series for monthly donors whose credit cards are about to expire or have already expired.
We want to be able to customize our donation forms.

FEATURE & FUNCTIONALITY PLAYBOOK:

After you’ve documented your paint points and key requirements, it’s time to lay this all out in a playbook. This will help you put together a visual comparison of the providers you’re considering.

Below you’ll find several examples of categories. Once you’ve created your own categories, mark how important each is to have:

Must have
Nice to have
Optional

Use this table to track the key functionality of each of the software solutions. Rank the functionality on a scale:

0 – Does Not Offer this functionality
1 – Offers part of this functionality
2 – Fully offers this functionality

Example:

playbook table

PRICING

The pricing structure for donor management software varies based on the solution. Typically when purchasing donor management software you should expect to budget for a monthly recurring fee as well as a one time onboarding or implementation fee. Let’s break down how this investment is typically calculated.

An implementation fee is used to cover the costs associated in moving your data from your current system or spreadsheet into your new software. The fee can very based on:

The structure and size of your data
The current software you’re using
The cleanliness of your data
The level of customization you’d like to see in your new donor management software

As your talking with potential software providers be prepared to discuss the state of your donor data. Being able to provide a clear picture of the data will allow your new provider to offer a clear cost estimate associated with migrating your data into your new donor database. In some cases if you’re a brand new nonprofit you may be able to simply start without an implementation fee, but this will vary based on the software you’ve selected.

Monthly maintenance fees for donor management software allows your new software provider the abiility to ensure everything continues to run smoothly. Additionally, this fees is often used to continue to build out the software providing your organization with new features and functionality. The monthly maintenance fee is usually based on a number of key factors which can include:

Number of contacts stored in the database
Number of users accessing the software
Number of emails you send
Size of file attachments
Overall size of your organization
Specific features and functionality
Levels of support your organization needs

Having this information when you’re talking with potential donor management software providers will make the pricing conversations easier. Because each software provider may price slightly differently this can make it challenging to compare each provider. However, having this larger context on how pricing works can help you maximize the value each provider offers your organization.

NEXT STEPS

Whether you’re a team of one or many an investment in donor management software is one that will ensure the sustainability of your nonrpofit organization’s mission. By using the playbook laid out above to you’re already headed in the right direction. You’ve got this!

download the blank playbook template cta

The post The Buyer’s Playbook to Donor Management Software appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

New Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report Shows An Increase In Dollars Raised Despite A Decrease In Donors

Posted on 29 November 2022 by Guest Author

Posted in Fund Development

Disclosure: Bloomerang is one of several software providers that helped the Fundraising Effectiveness Project collect the data analyzed in the report we discuss in this post.

The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) recently released its Second Quarter Fundraising Report, which is full of insights and giving trends that can help you and your team with your donor acquisition and retention efforts. You can download the report by visiting FEP’s website.

In this post, you’ll learn more about two key insights from the report. You’ll also find our recommendations for how you can use your nonprofit organization’s data to fundraise more effectively.

Key insight #1: There was an increase in the number of dollars raised.

Insight

Let’s start with the good news: The number of dollars raised increased by 6.2%!

Here’s an interesting look at which donors contributed to that increase and which showed the smallest decline in donations:

This increase was largely due to major donors. There was a much larger decline comparatively when looking at donors who gave less than $500.
Midsize donors showed the smallest decline in donations.

Recommendations

Given this information, we recommend taking these steps:

1. Define: Sit down with your team and define your criteria for small, midsize, and major donors. These segments will be unique to your organization as they will be based off of your yearly fundraising revenue and your organization’s average donation size.

2. Report: With those numbers in mind, use your donor database to pull reports that segment those groups of donors. You may also want to run reports based on the average donation size for each group.

3. Analyze: For each segment, find the number of donations they made, dollars raised, and other factors you deem relevant. Then look at the data you’ve collected to answer questions for each segment like:

Which donor segment raised the most funds?
Is this a change compared to the previous year?
Did the donation size increase or decrease compared to the previous year? By how much?
Did the number of donors increase or decrease compared to the previous year? By how much?
Were these increases or decreases tied to a certain fundraising activity or a change in programming or messaging?
How many of the donors who gave this year were repeat donors?
Were their donations smaller, larger, or the same as last year?
How many donors lapsed year over year?

4. Adjust: Now that you know where your fundraising efforts are succeeding and where your opportunities for improvement are, adjust your fundraising plans accordingly.

For example, say that last year you sent donors an email wishing them a happy birthday. If the data shows that they increased their donation amount after receiving the email, you should do that again and also try new tactics that show you care about your donors beyond what they contribute to your organization.

5. Act: Once you know how you’d like to proceed, it’s time to implement your ideas and see if you can increase the number of dollars raised and number of donors by each segment. Make sure you show the relevant data to your team so they know why you’re implementing these strategies and tactics.

Bonus recommendation: You don’t have to wait an entire year to review your data. We recommend that you collect and analyze this information monthly or quarterly so you can adjust your fundraising efforts as the year goes on.

Key insight #2: There was a decrease in the number of donors who gave.

Insight

Even though the number of dollars raised increased, the number of donors who gave decreased by 7.0%.

Here’s a breakdown of that data:

The decrease in the number of donors came from the sub-$500 segment of donors.
Those donors account for almost 98% of donors.

But wait! There’s good news here too: Once they receive and review the late data, the FEP is anticipating they’ll see an increase in the number of major donors.

Recommendations

Just like above, we recommend taking these steps:

1. Define: Take the segments you created for small, midsize, and major donors. Remember: These groups will be unique to your organization as they will be based off of your yearly fundraising revenue and your organization’s average donation size.

2. Report: With those numbers in mind, run reports in your donor database that segment small, midsize, and major donors based on the factors you find most relevant.

3. Analyze: Look at the data you’ve collected and ask questions like:

Which donor segment has the most donors? The least?
How does this compare to the previous year?
Were these increases or decreases tied to a certain fundraising activity or a change in programming or messaging?
How many of the donors—by segment—gave this year and last year?
How many donors lapsed year over year?

4. Adjust: Look at what acquisition and retention efforts were the most successful last year and put more resources there. As far as the areas you have for improvement, try out new strategies and tactics that you think will increase the number of new donors in each segment and retain more donors this year.

5. Act: Empower your team by sharing the data you’ve collected and start implementing your proposed tactics and strategies.

The same bonus recommendation applies here: Set aside some time to review this data monthly or quarterly and make adjustments to your fundraising plans accordingly.

Key takeaways to keep in mind when fundraising

In addition to the recommendations above, we encourage you to:

Keep asking for donations. We know it can feel like all you do is ask for donations—but that’s what you should be doing. Your donors want to give. Make it easy for them by soliciting donations and directing them to where they can make their donations.
Focus on midsize donors. Take a look at that segment of your midsize donors. Because these donors tend to drop off at a reduced rate compared to the other groups of donors, you should spend time stewarding them and showing them why continuing to invest in your mission is important.
Re-engage recurring and repeat donors. Take a look at your recurring donors (like ones participating in a monthly giving program) and repeat donors (like ones who give once or twice per year). Their continued support shows that they’re invested in your cause so think about how you can get them even more excited about their involvement.
- Tip: When you reach out to solicit a donation, tell a story about how their donation will be used. Then, if appropriate, ask them to increase their donation. For example, if a donor is giving $25 each month, you could ask them to donate $35 each month. Make sure you tell them a story about how you’ll use that extra $10 to help your nonprofit do even more good.

Bonus: How Bloomerang helps you find major donors and retain current donors

Here are a few Bloomerang features that can help you find major donors and retain current donors:

DonorSearch: Thanks to our integration with DonorSearch, you’ll find more donors who have the capacity to give and an affinity for your cause. Put more plainly: You’ll have the information you need to make an informed ask based on factors like a donor’s wealth indicators and past giving history.
First-time donor call reminders: Research shows that calling a first-time donor within 90 days of when they made their donation increases the odds that they’ll make another donation to your organization in the future. Worried about forgetting to do this important task? When you log into Bloomerang, you’ll see reminders to call those donors!
Segmentation options: You know that a tailored message is more effective than a generic one. When you use Bloomerang, you can segment your contacts into groups—like major donors or first-time donors—and tailor your messages to them.

We want to hear from you!

We’d love to hear from you about the giving trends you’re seeing and show you how Bloomerang can help you meet your fundraising goals. Schedule a live Demo now and a member of our team will get in touch with you ASAP.

The post New Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report Shows An Increase In Dollars Raised Despite A Decrease In Donors appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.