Why Technology is a Must Have for Non-profits

Most nonprofits are driven by their mission and focus on objectives such as fundraising, staff and volunteers, and other initiatives while technology takes a backseat. Technological innovations are updated on shoestring budgets in many nonprofits. Although 94% of donors are looking to donate using smartphones or tablets to support their favorite charity, the reality is that 84% of nonprofits do not have a page optimized for it!

• Online giving has been growing over the years. Stats indicate 60% growth in online giving since 2012. (Non-profit Source)
• In the US itself, online donations were 8.5% of the total fundraising in 2018! (Source: Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic Impact’s Charitable Giving Report)
• As per 2018 giving report, 29% of donors are motivated by social media to donate.
• 24% of online giving in the US for the year 2018 was made through mobile devices. (Source: Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic Impact’s Charitable Giving Report)

These statistics indicate that digital transformation is no more a choice but a necessity for nonprofits. Investing time, efforts, and funds towards technology are the need of the hour for nonprofits!

Online Charity Auctions:

Online auctions have become popular among donors who are unable to attend live or offline charity auctions. Sophisticated software is available that helps in tracking complex data such as items for sale, their market value, selling price, etc. It also enables producing bills and receipts in no time! In addition, online bidding offers the benefit of bidding from any part of the globe at any time.

There are numerous online auction websites where you can bid. However, it is important to choose an authentic site for bidding. "Bidding for Good" is a trusted name for online bidding that enables fundraising for schools or non-profits. They offer an All-in-one solution for managing your fundraising event.

iConnectX is another online platform that not only provides nonprofit tools for managing auctions, but also leverages their online professional network to provide more participation.

Bidding apps are another technological revolution that is absolutely essential for nonprofits. Bidding apps have become popular because they offer the bidders a better bidding experience and offers an opportunity to those who cannot attend the event to participate. This helps the nonprofits enhance their revenue, accurate data management while saving time!

Technology can also play a role in better management of a nonprofit event

• First of all, ticket selling, and registration become streamlined if they are managed on an online platform.
• Software tools are available to simulate the venue layout. This enables planning of table seating, VIP guest seating, etc.
• Data tracking becomes simple with the help of software tools.
• Using a technology platform that contains event ticket selling, auction management and data tracking helps to minimize the time required to manage your event needs.

Promotion of a fundraising event

Organizing an event is only a part of the story for a nonprofit. Promotion of the event is as important as the event itself. Technology has an important part to play in promoting a fundraising event.

You can promote your sponsors extensively using social media channels.

You can create a buzz about your event by building up a story about the event using online channels! You can publish relevant content about the event on various sites generating interest in the event. Stats indicate that 500 billion Facebook users watch video content. Therefore, the best way to leverage Facebook for nonprofits is by posting relevant videos. In fact, video watching is a popular trend across different social media channels. It has witnessed a jump of 150% over last year!

Instagram can be used for telling a story about your event.

LinkedIn has been found to connect with groups.

iConnectX uses their professional network to gain participation across the industry.

Trends in social media marketing indicate the rising popularity of interactive platforms. Chatbots are the thing that will empower engagement in the near future. The reason for this can be attributed to the fact that the potential GenY and GenZ donors prefer communicating through chats rather than emails, etc.

Advertising on social media can help in catching the interest of donors, volunteers, and sponsors.

Online methods simplify the process of sharing directions to the venue. You can provide maps, etc. by apps.

Data Security

Just like any other organization, security of data is critical for nonprofits as well. Unfortunately, most non-profits use obsolete technologies which make them vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

Mobility

Mobility has become a “must have” for nonprofits because there is a clear shift of donors from desktop to mobile for donating. This is apparent from the fact that online donation pages had a conversion rate of 8% on mobile devices in 2018 which was up by 50% over last year. On the contrary, donations by desktop browsers decreased by 10%. (Source: Nonprofit Fundraising Statistics)

How mobility helps a nonprofit?

Mobile devices and applications help in collaboration between the staff and volunteers of the nonprofit.

Data indicates that mobile users spend approximately 3 hours of their time on their mobile device. Besides, it is estimated that more than half of the web traffic is generated through mobile devices. This confirms that nonprofits who do not adopt mobility will be left behind!

Nonprofits need to optimize the ability to give through mobile as donations through mobile are only going to rise with time.

mPOS(Mobile Point of Sales) has opened new doors for nonprofits. In an event with a large gathering, the donors can be asked to swipe their credit card on an mPOS enabled device.

Cloud

Nonprofits manage extensive financial data. Besides they require a collaboration of data across various entities such as sponsors, volunteers, staff, etc. The data could be in the range of terabytes making its management a tough ask. Storing data on Cloud not only enables tracking it but also offers protection even in case of a hard drive crash.

Analytics

In a competitive marketplace, it is necessary for every business to analyze its performance in order to improve it. The insight into a business is offered by Google Analytics.

Although most nonprofits have not realized the importance of data analytics, it is a key factor in enabling any organization to enhance its ROI.

An overview of the various metrics helps you analyze how where your efforts are lacking and how to improve them.

Nonprofits surely have their hands full! While they are often involved in working for a specific cause, they need to collaborate between the board members, staff, volunteers! Investing in technology can come as a relief by ensuring data security and streamlining processes. Technology helps minimize time and efforts advocated for managing the nonprofit organization so that they can focus on achieving their mission. Adapting to technological innovation is the way ahead for nonprofits!

If you are looking to update the technology for your nonprofit, iConnectX is for you. The platform provides advocacy and promotion for your cause, programs, volunteer opportunities and stories. It also includes tech tools for event ticket selling, auction management, and other solutions to gain donations (iBridge). Best of all, you can leverage the professional and nonprofit network/community that is iConnectX. Unlike most other software that leaves you relying on you to spread the message!