Fundraising Tools: How to Use Technology in Your Campaign

In today’s modern world, technology is constantly shifting and evolving, which is why it’s imperative that non-profits can keep up. Fundraising started out as donation jars and handwritten letters before morphing into online campaigns using specially designed software.

As a result of extensive digital transformation, it’s crucial that you stay updated with current trends in the tech market in order to maximize fundraising revenue. When you implement the right tech tools, you’ll have everything you need in order to develop a successful fundraising strategy. When you improve the funds you receive, your organization will have a more significant impact on local communities. In this article, we’ll cover the fundraising tools you can use in your campaigns to improve your organization’s fundraising strategy.

Online Fundraising Platform

An online fundraising platform is one of the most important tools for fundraising in today’s digital world; it will provide you with a way to accept donations, get the word out about your organization, and connect with supporters all in one place. Online fundraising platforms provide you with easy access to donation forms that allow you to accept contributions from all over the world and expand your payment options to include bank transfers, mobile payments, debit cards, and credit cards. Furthermore, you can automatically encourage recurring donations as most platforms typically have the option during the initial contribution so that donors can schedule when they would like to give. These regular donations also improve the stability of the funds coming into the organization.

Social media is an increasing medium for sharing news about fundraisers, and online platforms can include a share now button for your donors to encourage their network to donate to your organization. With your donors sharing your fundraiser online with their friends and family, you’ll significantly expand the reach of your campaign for a more successful implementation. Online funding platforms are essential in order to streamline the donation process by ensuring convenience for donors and your organization which will result in a boost in revenue.

CRM System

Another tool that is crucial to your fundraising capabilities is a CRM that allows you to manage and organize the information you have collected from your supporters and previous campaigns. A CRM will provide you with more insight into those giving to your organization and how you can target other similar individuals to solicit donations efficiently.

Every time a donor gives to your non-profit, your CRM will create a donor profile containing valuable information such as contact information, name, prior engagements, and the date and amount of donations. Once you have this information to hand, you can develop segmented target audiences based on their shared characteristics; for example, you can send out newsletters to first-time donors explaining more about your organization, or you can prompt donors who regularly gifted but have lapsed recently in order to generate more donations.

Additionally, a CRM will allow you to improve donor communications which is one of the most vital aspects of a fundraiser. Utilizing the advanced integrated systems, you can create automated and personalized texts, emails, or other communications to thank donors, keep them updated, and request support. For more information on how a CRM can save you time and money that can be applied elsewhere within your organization, head over to Givebutter for their expert advice on how to choose the best fundraising CRM.

Matching Gifts Database

Matching gifts are used by participating companies who offer to financially match all employee donations to non-profits. Typically, many existing donors are already eligible for this scheme but are unaware that their employers offer it. By implementing a matching gift strategy, you’ll be able to provide donors with the information they need while guiding them through the process and encouraging employer requests. Embedding a matching gift database into your website, email communications, or donation forms, your donors will be able to see if they are eligible for matching gifts quickly. Ensuring the information explaining what these programs are while directing supporters to your matching gifts database search tool will help encourage them to check their eligibility and request matching gifts from their employers.

Volunteer Grants Database

As well as matching gifts, thousands of companies also offer volunteer grants which is a source of free money available from employers that offer charitable gifts to the organizations their staff care about and volunteer with. In the same way as matching gifts, many employees are unaware that their employers offer this scheme, which is where the volunteer grants database comes in. By incorporating this into the same strategy for matching gifts, you can provide your donors and staff with a single database that will provide them with the information they need on both schemes.

Advocacy software

Advocacy campaigns are a unique type of non-profit campaign that differs from traditional fundraisers due to the fact that the main goal is not typically a financial one.

When an organization implements an advocacy campaign, they generally take part in actions where the goal is to create a positive impact on the world and usually involves an activity or event related to the mission of the organization. Advocacy campaigns require the public’s support of a policy or cause within the community, and advocacy software will assist you in reaching your target market, which will, in turn, enable them to take action following the prompts of the campaign.

As a vital piece of your fundraising technology, advocacy software can help you with many aspects of a campaign, such as building strong relationships, increasing awareness, boosting opportunities for supporter involvement, changing policies via the lobbying of public officials, and raising funds.

Text-To-Give Tools

Over the last decade, text-to-give campaigns have significantly increased in popularity and are responsible for raising millions worldwide for non-profit organizations. These campaigns work in a simple way where the donor texts a keyword such as ‘GIVE’ and the amount they would like to donate, such as $10, to a phone number associated with your fundraising campaign. For example, a donor could text ‘GIVE $10’ to your campaign’s number; they will then receive a response directing them to a form to fill in contact and financial information. Repeat donors can save their information for later use in order to make the process faster.

These campaigns are successful due to the tools used behind the scenes that ensure everything runs smoothly, such as software solutions that process and transfer funds to your organization.