6 Ways Technology Can Boost Your Fundraising Strategy

Whether you’re a non-profit organization or a business looking to give back to the community, hosting a fundraising campaign can be complicated and challenging. If you want to improve your current fundraising tactics or reach a new goal, you need a tool to help achieve a solid ROI and engage more donors.

The best way to do both is to leverage technology. In this modern world, technology has been a critical element for any campaign to be successful. Numerous non-profit success stories share how innovative technology and structures helped businesses pursue effective engagement of donors and a successful mission of social good.

This article talks more about how technology can boost your fundraising events and how to maximize its benefits.

⁌ Retain Donors ⁍

Before focusing on attracting more donors, non-profit organizations will need to keep their existing benefactors. Donor retention is a process that you need to nail down properly since it is more cost-effective to retain a donor than focus on acquiring new ones. Plus, your long-term supporters are much more likely to provide larger amounts in your future fundraising plans.

One way to retain donors is to stay in touch with them frequently. You need to keep your supporters involved throughout your fundraising process and give them updates on your successes and milestone.

Aside from social media, podcasting and live streaming can make your donors feel like an integral part of the organization beyond the moment when they actually donate. You can use platforms specifically designed for non-profit organizations to give your supporters real-time updates about your organization.

For instance, if you want to reach and connect with other people within your religious community, you can use live streaming technology like the Melon App. With the pandemic restricting mass gatherings, your religious members may not be able to pass the plate as they used to be. This can limit the primary ways of funding your church’s activities. However, with the right living streaming app, you can hold a mid-service offering as you live stream your church services. This way, more members can also participate even with physical distancing limitations. Learn more about this app at https://melonapp.com/solutions/church-live-streaming/.

⁌ Accept Donation Anytime, Anywhere ⁍

In the past, donations were delivered by mailing a check, contributing to collection bins, or giving at events. Today, with the help of technology, you can now accept donations from almost anywhere in the world, 24/7, through modern payment methods like ACH direct payments and credit or debit cards.

Remember that convenience is paramount to bringing donors across the finish line. During fundraising events, it is a must that you can offer many donation channels for all types of supporters. Doing so can also improve your credibility and reputation as an organization,

⁌ Target The Right Donors ⁍

In developing an effective fundraising plan, determining the suitable donors to target can make or break your campaign.

Technology like constituent relationship management (CRM) solutions can be your biggest allies here. This software solution is used to store valuable data about your donors, which can help create a solicitation strategy fit for your target audience.

With your CRM, you can properly segment your donors and create supporter profiles that contain the following data:

• Donation records
• Contact information
• Communication preferences
• Relationship and family data (for instance, other supporters they may be connected to)
• Hobbies and interests
• History of programs and events attended
• Notes on past interactions with your organization

From here, you can use this data to develop segments of your donor database corresponding with different preferences, traits, interests, and motivations. This allows you to properly outline and tailor-fit the fundraising and engagement strategy for each segment instead of a generalized approach. As a result, it increases the effectiveness and success rate of reaching out to your intended audience.

⁌ Reach More Donors Easily ⁍

Technology made it easier to communicate and connect with others. And non-profit organizations are using it to reach more target donors with a multi-channel marketing strategy.

A multi-channel marketing strategy means using a variety of mediums to spread the word about your fundraising event in advance. And in terms of reaching a wider audience, diversifying your communication tools and channels is the best way to do so. You can use tested platforms like social media, email, and via your organization’s website. Remember, the more people you reach, the more opportunities you get to solicit support.

⁌ Boost Donor Engagement ⁍

Events are a great way to connect with your donors. And technology helps in simplifying processes and providing convenience to your members.

For one, event management software can help facilitate event registration, thus, increasing ticket sales and event attendance. Also, features like quick check-ins can allow for a fast and seamless check-in flow at events, eliminating long lines and donor frustration.

Another technology that’s currently revolutionizing the world of live events is mobile apps. A well-designed mobile event app can take all event-related information directly to the attendee’s handheld device like a smartphone or tablet. Utilizing an event app can also give them the option to join in at their most convenient time, keeping them in the loop.

With a mobile event app, you can also better engage your supporters by outlining the day’s activities right at their fingertips, as well as adding gamification elements and live polls.

Mobile technology also made it more convenient to access donation forms and streamline the donation process.

⁌ Support Transparency ⁍

Ensuring transparency is invaluable for any organization, especially for non-profits and businesses doing fundraising. Transparency should be a part of your internal culture, ensuring your organization’s ethical operations and improving branding.

One of the most important tools for transparency is your CRM system, which allows you to effectively use and manage data and provide progress support to your donors.

In addition, fundraising platforms combined with machine learning technology can help automate financial reporting, which helps increase transparency on where organizations spend their money and make it readily available to donors.

Take Away

As you can see, non-profits and other businesses can rely on various technological solutions to boost the efficiency and productivity of their operations and guarantee the success of their fundraising strategies.

With the right technology by your side, you can effectively engage more donors, raise more money and get maximum ROI out of your fundraising event.