A latest survey by Gartner found that advertising and marketing groups are utilizing 33% of their advertising and marketing tech stack’s full capabilities. This has a direct affect on the success of your charity’s mission.
Past simply advertising and marketing, know-how has turn out to be a cornerstone of organizational success. It empowers your charity to function successfully, interact stakeholders, volunteers, and fundraisers effectively, and in the end maximizes the affect of your trigger.
The variety of know-how options obtainable for charitable organizations has grown exponentially lately. Navigating the more and more advanced technological panorama is proving to be a major problem.
From advertising and marketing automation and fundraising platforms to CRMs and reporting instruments, you’ve all the things you want for achievement, however provided that you utilize it effectively. Sprawling, disconnected stacks have gotten the norm as groups proliferate know-how options to fulfill their wants. A very profitable charity must create a streamlined and interconnected know-how stack to cut back waste and enhance affect.
Why is a streamlined charity tech stack necessary?
Earlier than we start, let’s have a look at what a tech stack is.
A know-how stack (tech stack) is a set of software program options, programming languages, frameworks, and instruments that work collectively to construct digital purposes (like apps or web sites) and providers.
To your charity, constructing a robust and environment friendly tech stack is important for attaining your mission. A streamlined tech stack permits you to optimize your operations, enhance inter-departmental productiveness, and attain your mission-driven targets.
By fastidiously constructing your good charity tech stack, you’ll instantly take pleasure in a variety of advantages, together with:
- Improved effectivity: A well-designed tech stack empowers groups to automate or streamline repetitive duties, permitting them to focus their assets on delivering mission-impacting providers.
- Enhanced communication and collaboration: Facilitate efficient communication amongst workers, volunteers, donors, and stakeholders utilizing streamlined tech for a stronger neighborhood of staff and supporters.
- Expanded attain and affect: Unified tech stacks will let you leverage digital advertising and marketing, social media, and fundraising platforms, ensuing within the amplification of your message and mission.
Understanding your tech stack wants
Regardless of the quite a few advantages of streamlining and modernizing tech stacks, charities face vital challenges in attaining this purpose. Monetary hurdles particularly disrupt your group’s skill to put money into the proper tech.
With that in thoughts, it is advisable to have a transparent understanding of your charity’s distinctive wants when buying new tech. Contemplate components together with:
- Your mission and providers: What causes do you assist? What providers do it is advisable to present? What know-how goes that will help you obtain this?
- Donor and volunteer base: Who’re your present and potential donors? Are they completely different out of your volunteers? How do all these supporters want to interact?
- Group dimension and skillset: What number of completely different groups make up your group? What tech do they should obtain their targets? What are their technical capabilities?
- Price range: How a lot are you able to realistically put money into all know-how?
Important parts of a charity tech stack
Having a robust understanding of your wants will assist you determine the proper instruments. Let’s check out the important parts it is advisable to construct the proper tech stack.
Fundraising and donor administration (CRM)
A strong CRM like Salesforce, Donorfy, StratusLIVE, and Raiser’s Edge is essential. It centralizes donor info, tracks interactions, and facilitates focused communication for sturdy relationships.
Key options to search for embody:
- Segmentation and donor profiling to allow goal fundraising campaigns
- Integration with e mail advertising and marketing and fundraising platforms
- Recurring donation administration
- Main donor administration
- Occasion administration capabilities
- Grant administration
Web site and content material administration system (CMS)
A user-friendly CMS like WordPress or Drupal permits you to make simple web site updates and content material creation, showcasing your mission and affect tales. Your CMS ought to assist you create a transparent and accessible on-line presence to your charity.
Key options of a robust CMS embody:
- Person-friendly interface for fast and simple updates
- Cell web site optimization
- Integration with donation platforms
- search engine optimization capabilities
- Kind integration
- Accessibility options
- Ecommerce performance (for merchandise gross sales)
Advertising automation
Charity advertising and marketing groups typically must run with restricted assets. That’s what makes advertising and marketing automation instruments an important and central a part of your tech stack. Automation instruments like Dotdigital assist your advertising and marketing groups construct e mail campaigns, ship customized messages to donors, and nurture leads. These platforms additionally present helpful analytics to optimize campaigns.
Key options to search for:
- E mail templates and personalization
- SMS template and personalization
- Automation workflows (e.g. welcome collection, donation ‘thanks’ emails, volunteer onboarding)
- Testing
- Integrations, API, and webhooks
Volunteer administration instruments
Maintaining volunteers engaged is significant and volunteer administration instruments can give you new, digital methods to remain linked. From constructing occasion registration kinds to dealing with scheduling, volunteer administration instruments may help you streamline communication to remain linked with and retain your volunteers.
Instruments like VolunteerMatch, SignUpGenius, and VolunteerHub embody options together with:
- Volunteer software and screening
- Shift scheduling and administration
- Time monitoring and reporting
- Volunteer recognition instruments
Undertaking administration and collaboration
Cross-team collaboration empowers your charity to achieve new heights. Utilizing collaboration instruments similar to Asana, Basecamp, or Slack will assist your inside groups, volunteers, and group companions work along with elevated productiveness and streamlined challenge administration.
Key options to contemplate in a challenge administration instrument:
- Job administration and task
- File sharing and doc administration
- Communication instruments (chat, video conferencing)
- Undertaking timelines and milestones
Analytics and reporting
Analytics and reporting instruments give charities the precious skill to investigate knowledge and use it to judge marketing campaign efficiency and inform future selections. Instruments like GA4 or nonprofit-specific platforms like Fathom present knowledge insights on web site site visitors, advertising and marketing marketing campaign efficiency, and donor engagement. This knowledge can inform strategic decision-making.
Key options to search for:
- Web site analytics
- E mail advertising and marketing analytics
- Fundraising efficiency metrics
- Social media analytics
Cost gateway and fundraising software program
Safe and dependable platforms like Paypal or Stripe allow secure on-line donations through your web site or cell app and fundraising software program can enhance fundraising efforts. One of the best fee instruments present donors with a easy and safe donation expertise and provides your charity essential knowledge to serve their fundraising wants.
When choosing fee instruments, think about:
- Integration with web site and CRM
- Recurring fee choices
- Cell fee acceptance
- Fraud prevention
High ideas for constructing your charity tech stack
1. Integration is essential
A disconnected tech stack results in inefficiencies, siloes, and a scarcity of cross-team cohesion. Guarantee your instruments work collectively seamlessly to create a unified system. By breaking down knowledge silos, you’ll achieve a whole image of your donors, volunteers, and operations, resulting in extra environment friendly workflows and knowledgeable decision-making. Moreover, a well-integrated tech stack can improve the donor expertise by offering a constant and customized journey throughout all touchpoints.
2. Open supply vs. paid software program
Weighing the professionals and cons of open-source and paid software program is important. Open-source options (usually free and community-driven software program) may be cost-effective, however they typically require technical experience for implementation and upkeep. Alternatively, paid software program usually presents extra options, assist, and safety, however comes with a price ticket. Contemplate your group’s technical capabilities and funds when making a alternative.
3. Give attention to person expertise
Your good tech stack will empower, not frustrate. Make sure you’re selecting instruments which might be intuitive for each your workers and the individuals you serve. Search for AI options that can assist streamline staff efforts. A constructive person expertise will enhance productiveness, improve donor satisfaction, and strengthen volunteer engagement.
4. Prioritize scalability
Your charity will develop and evolve as you unfold the phrase about your mission. Choose know-how that may develop and adapt to your altering wants. Options like webhooks and well-communicated roadmaps are very important to find when buying new tech. Plus, a scalable tech stack will forestall expensive overhauls and guarantee your instruments proceed to assist your mission as your group expands.
Streamline your charity tech stack with Dotdigital
Within the dynamic world of charity advertising and marketing, a fragmented tech stack can hinder your skill to maximise affect and obtain your mission. To really join with donors, volunteers, and supporters, you want a unified strategy that brings collectively knowledge, automation, and personalization.
Dotdigital presents a strong answer. As a central hub to your advertising and marketing efforts, our platform integrates seamlessly together with your present instruments to create a cohesive ecosystem. By streamlining your workflows, delivering focused campaigns, and gaining deeper insights into donor conduct, you may construct stronger relationships, improve fundraising effectivity, and drive significant change.
Let Dotdigital be your associate in making a extra impactful future to your charity.
