Why does your nonprofit need a donor management software?

A Donation management software has important functions within a nonprofit that work towards facilitating management of information not only for business managers but also for donors, members, volunteers, funders, and finally, all other contacts. Each contact category requires administrative work and different follow-up. The information collected is different and the “purpose” of the relationship is different (generating more donations, more volunteer time or more funding).

If your website, your donations, your newsletter, your emails and your events are not all connected to a common base, you certainly need a tool that can consolidate all information in relevant, easy to access report- that is what a donor management software does for your nonprofits. This sort of CRM (customer relationship software in for-profit firms) adapted to the needs of nonprofits can thus enable you to increase the donations collected, to effectively engage your partners, to limit administrative tasks by centralizing data collection and automating certain processes.

How to choose a good donation tracker for my nonprofit?

Nonprofits usually spend from $2,000 to $100K for a donor management software. So how to choose the right one and make the most of what is offered? The most suitable system for a nonprofit will depend on its size, needs and above all, its means. Keep in mind that in general the most popular donor trackers are expensive, must be configured (the integration costs can rise very quickly to tens of thousands of dollars) and are sometimes complex. Free solutions usually offer limited functionality that will not allow a nonprofit to “grow” with the system. Knowing that transferring data from one system to another can be very expensive and difficult, it is important to choose well.

The first step is to define your needs in order to avoid unnecessary costs. Do not make the mistake of taking the same system as another neighboring nonprofit, it may have totally different needs. Then set your budget.

What are the essential functions of a donation management software for a nonprofit?

At a minimum, your donation management software should allow you to:

• Manage your contacts.
• Manage your events.
• Manage your donations online.
• Manage your memberships and contributions online (with synchronization in your donor management software and your accounting)
• Organize and personalize communication for each contact category through a segmentation feature
• Managing call for donations campaigns.
• Automate certain administrative tasks (tax receipt after donation, confirmation of contribution, etc …).
• Be secure.

So which system to choose? We have been working for over 7 years with a software that seems best suited to nonprofit and foundations because of its versatility, security and ability to manage any size organization. GiveCentral’s donation tracker centralizes in one interface your CRM, your emailing platform, your fundraising platform, your event management platform, your membership and subscription management platform, your fundraising platform, your payment platform, your accounting software and your spreadsheet. To learn more you could email us at social@givecentral.org or fill our contact form.