If you're a nonprofit organization, then you know that technology is a huge part of your day-to-day operations. From communicating with donors to managing your finances, technology is essential in helping your nonprofit grow. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the best ways to use technology to grow your nonprofit. We will cover everything from using social media to fundraising campaigns. Keep reading to learn more!

Making Use of Social Media

One of the best ways to use technology to grow your nonprofit is by using social media. Many of us make use of social media for our communication and as a regular source of information. Social media is a great way to connect with potential donors, promote your campaigns, and raise awareness for your cause. Make sure you are active on all of the major platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Don't forget to also post regular updates and engaging content.

Another great way to use social media is to run social media ads. These ads can be targeted to specific demographics and interests, which will help you reach your ideal donor. You can also use social media ads to promote your fundraising campaigns and events. Just make sure you track your results so you can see what's working and what's not.

When thinking about social media, most people tend to immediately think about Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, YouTube is also a social media platform. It is the second most popular social media platform to date. With YouTube, you can reach a target audience that prefers visual stimulation instead of textual. Uploading videos of your past events onto YouTube allows people to see the impact that your nonprofit has had and the progress that you have made. After all, seeing is believing. Not only can you upload videos of your past events, but you can also post ads that’ll provide your nonprofit with more exposure and spread the word to the world.

Try Email Marketing

Another great way to use technology to grow your nonprofit is by using email marketing. Email marketing allows you to reach a large audience with your message and connect with potential donors. You can use email marketing to promote your fundraising campaigns, share updates about your organization, and much more. Just make sure you have a good email list and that you're sending quality content. Adding personalized messages to your emails provides them with a more human touch that’ll help you connect to your audience. Some people have inboxes that are filled to the brim and don’t bother reading through any new emails or don’t have the time to. You want to ensure that your audience reads the emails that you send them, and that it doesn’t go straight to the trash bin.

Creating a Website

Your nonprofit's website is another great tool that you can use to grow your organization. Make sure your website is easy to navigate and that it contains all of the necessary information about your nonprofit. You should also include a donate button on your website so potential donors can easily donate to your cause.

Don't forget to also use your website to promote your fundraising campaigns and events. You can include a donate button on your campaign pages, as well as information about how donors can get involved.

Here are some of the benefits of having a website for your nonprofit:

Standard benefits:

• Keep your donors informed about what you're doing.
• Share updates about your nonprofit's activities.
• Reach a wider audience with your message.
• Increase donations by making it easy for donors to donate online.

Special benefits for nonprofits:

• Showcase your nonprofit's impact.
• Share stories about the people your nonprofit has helped.
• Highlight the difference you're making in the world.
• Encourage people to get involved with your cause.

Emotional benefits:

• Connect with potential donors on a personal level.
• Share your nonprofit's story and mission.
• Raise awareness for your cause.
• Inspire people to take action.

Elements to include on your nonprofit website

They say “go big or go home” but, often simplicity is key. You don't want your website to assault your potential donor’s eyes or overload them with too much information in an attempt to grab their attention. A simple yet pleasing design will not only attract your reader, but it will allow them to be absorbed by the content of your site. You want them to stay, read about your nonprofit and potentially become a donor.

Some of your site visitors might visit your site in search of specific information however, they do not want to have to scour through your entire website for that bit of information. Having a search box that is easy to locate solves this. It helps to include it in your menu navigation, or at the top left/right corner of your website. It does not have to be extravagant, it just needs to fulfill its role.

Your site visitors should know who you are, what your mission is, and any other information that applies to your cause. This allows you to show why your nonprofit is unique, what sets you apart and why they should donate to your cause.

Everyone knows that the golden arches are the logo for McDonald's. It’s a very simple yet easily recognizable logo. Having a great logo for your nonprofit helps to improve your recognition and build a brand.

This feature is not necessary, but it is very useful. There may be some information that you’d only want your members or donors to have access to for security or privacy reasons. Apart from this, non-members seeing a “Members Only” section could become intrigued by this feature that they do not have access to, which could lead them to become members/donors.

This will allow your site visitors to see your work and get a better understanding of your nonprofit. However, it is important to make use of high-quality pictures that will draw their attention, as compared to low-quality Pixelated pictures that could drive them away.

Having a custom-built app for your nonprofit

Mobile technology is a great way to connect with potential donors and promote your nonprofit. With so many people using smartphones and tablets, it's important to have a mobile-friendly website and donation process. You can also use apps to promote your nonprofit and connect with potential donors. There are a number of great apps out there that can help you promote your nonprofit and connect with potential donors.

This might seem a bit unnecessary, but having a custom-built app does come with its advantages. It can be a great way for you to connect with your donors, and make donating much simpler and easier. You could add a feature that allows them to track how much they’ve donated, keep them up to date with the progress of your nonprofit's initiative and provide an overall personalized experience for your donors. Unlike websites that make use of servers for storing their information, app information is stored locally on mobile devices, making data retrieval quick and easy.

Non-profit issues that may be addressed using technology

Now, let's take a look at how technology may help non-profits overcome common problems:

Donor management

A quality donor management solution may assist you in creating comprehensive donor profiles. You may also add custom fields to better understand your contributors and build a unique connection with them. This will allow you to send tailored messages to each contributor and pique their interest in your cause.

Donation processing

A payment processor is included with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems for your team to collect donations and raise funds. This tool may help contributors give in a variety of ways, including online donation forms on your organization's website, virtual events and auctions, and peer-to-peer fundraising pages. Advanced solutions also provide a mobile app that allows you to collect donations in person.

Event management

When you're using technology to manage your nonprofit, events are a great way to engage with your community and raise awareness for your cause. Event management tools can help you plan and promote your events, as well as track RSVPs and collect payments. You can also use these tools to send reminders and post-event surveys.

A platform like this can provide a slew of useful features:

• Organizing and tracking volunteers
• Tracking and budgeting
• Volunteer registration and assignment processing
• Signup pages and payment processors for web registrations
• Guest preferences such as accessibility needs, food restrictions, etc. are managed by the system

Collaborative work

No man is an island and this proves true with nonprofits. Your nonprofit consists of many people such as donors, organizers, volunteers and employees etc. Not only does your nonprofit consist of a wide variety of members, but this extends to their locations as well. The organization can be spread out locally, or even internationally, which can be quite the challenge when it comes to collaborative work. A solution for this issue would be cloud-based systems. Whether that extends to event management tools, CRM systems or websites and apps, having the ability to access the same data no matter the location makes collaborative work easier and can even increase productivity and teamwork.

Time management and automation

Time is something that we all need but never seem to have enough of, and with all of the tasks needed to make a success of your nonprofit, it might seem like all the time in the world would not be nearly enough. Effective time management is key to efficiency.

There’s a lot of repetitive work that goes into nonprofit work, such as data entry and reporting. Thankfully, any good CRM software comes equipped with automation capabilities. Instead of spending countless hours manually entering data, updating contact information or sending out emails, you can use CRM automation to do all of this. This not only saves you time but eliminates the risk of human error. CRM automation also allows you to easily create reports and analyze data, which helps with data-driven decisions. Integration is also another benefit of CRM, which means you’re able to use all of your different tools in one place. You can integrate software such as Gmail, Dropbox, Excel and Outlook, which increases efficiency and effective time management.

Donor outreach

A decent non-profit CRM solution may help you boost your donor outreach efforts by allowing you to learn more about your contributors' interests and motives. Each contributor has their own goals and abilities to give donations. The program can provide personal gift data so that you may customize your appeal strategies based on the tastes of each donor. It can also provide analytic data to show how much each donor has given in the past and how often they've given. You can also use your CRM to analyze your donors' past donation habits and patterns. With added reporting, you can find donors that might be interested in your future nonprofits, even if they’re completely different to your current one.

Conclusion

Technology has the ability to revolutionize the non-profit sector. By automating processes and ensuring data accuracy, you can use your time more efficiently to grow your nonprofit. In addition, technology can help you connect with potential donors and engage with your community.

If you want your nonprofit to grow and thrive, then it's essential that you use technology in the right way. In this blog post, we've covered a few ways that technology can be used to help make your organization more successful. For example, social media is an excellent platform for connecting with potential donors and promoting campaigns or events. You'll also want to make sure your website is up-to-date and includes a donate button. By perfectly using technology, you'll be able to reach more donors and grow your nonprofit.