Many nonprofits find themselves bogged down with administrative tasks that you could automate to free up critical staff time. Use the tools below to help you manage your nonprofit better.
What Challenges Do Nonprofits Face?
Nonprofit organizations face a lot of challenges in their work. One of the most critical challenges is financing. For many years, these organizations’ most significant barrier to funding has been the lack of innovation. Nonprofit organizations are struggling to survive due to the current economic climate. The global recession has led to a decline in donations, which has caused these organizations to cut back on their activities and plan for potential future cuts. They often have high overheads because they rely on grants and donations that are often unpredictable or too small to cover their expenses. They have to make sure that they raise enough funds, reach out to their target audience, and attract high-quality talent. Fortunately, some solutions can dramatically cut down on the cost of doing business and act as a human resource amplifier, i.e., allow fewer employees to manage more tasks more efficiently. So what are these tools?
Case Management Solutions
Case management deals with the high-level decision-making process, which often includes gathering information, evaluating options, and making decisions. The best case management solutions help to track cases in an organized manner. They also allow for easy storing of all relevant information for future reference. The most useful case management software for nonprofits will provide a plethora of tools that enable volunteers and staff to access a broad range of information relating to various cases. When choosing a case management solution, you should ensure it provides the following aspects:
- Sound reporting system: Your staff should find it easy to create their reports or access a range of premade templates. It must also pull in relevant information from its database, making the process streamlined and efficient.
- Customizable dashboards: This is where you and your staff will access the system. Therefore you should be able to set it up to display all the information relevant to your specific nonprofit.
- User friendly: You cannot expect all of your volunteers and paid staff to be computer savvy. To that end, any solution you choose must be accessible by those who aren’t au fait with computers.
- It must be secure: Because you will be storing human data, any solution you pick should have robust security systems in place and the ability to compartmentalize different sections.
Content Management Systems
A content management system (CMS) is a software application for publishing, organizing, and maintaining websites. It can also be used internally by businesses to manage their electronic documents. Nonprofit organizations need to be efficient with their resources because they are often limited in funding. This is why they need a CMS that allows them to publish information quickly and easily. Most of the time, nonprofit organizations use their website as an advocacy tool or communicate with donors and volunteers. Therefore, they need to maintain an up-to-date website with accurate information about the organization’s work. The benefit of using a CMS is that the most popular ones are free to set up and use. The most popular is WordPress which is arguably the most straightforward to set up and keep updated. Essentially, a CMS facilitates more efficient content creation, leading to better visibility for the organization.
Online Donation Forms
Donations are a major source of income for nonprofit organizations, so the importance of an online donation form cannot be overstated. It is an essential requirement for any nonprofit organization that wants to receive donations. The problem is that many organizations don’t have one, which prevents them from raising much-needed funds for their cause. So, if you are looking to change things, you need to create an online donation form for your site. By doing so, you will increase the chances of donations coming in and maintain transparency with donors about how their money is being used. If you are using a CMS like WordPress, you can search for a plugin that allows you to collect donations directly from your website. Furthermore, many social media platforms include sections that enable you to manage donations directly via your page.
Project Management Software
Project management software is a tool for project managers to use to make their jobs a lot easier. A project manager needs a way to organize and keep track of all project details, and that way, nothing will be forgotten or misunderstood. Project management software allows you to:
- Plan your workflow
- Store all of your documents and files
- Assign tasks
- Use tools for scheduling and reporting
- Send notifications when deadlines are coming up or have been missed
- Enable support from other managers on your team
- Set reminders for personal things like vacation days or birthdays
Communication Applications
The need for effective communications has never been more critical than it is today. Communication is vital for all organizations, but it is especially important for nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit organizations rely on effective communications to keep their staff members informed about who they are reaching out to, their goals, and how they will achieve them. Relying on apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger is an unreliable and inefficient way of keeping track of communication. Furthermore, you are unable to separate departments in these chat threads. Instead, you should use tools like Slack to set up and message different members of different teams without bothering other employees with messages that are irrelevant to their workflow.
Social Media
This is arguably the most powerful tool in any nonprofit’s arsenal. Social media platforms like Facebook provide tools that you can use to promote the cause by setting up pages dedicated to your organization. Social media is an essential tool for nonprofit organizations because it can create awareness and raise funds. Some of the most popular social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. This is because you can use these platforms to share content and ideas in an easy and engaging way for the user.
For your nonprofit organization to help as many people as possible, it must become streamlined and efficient. Fortunately, technology has enabled even the most stagnant organizations to increase donations, improve staff retention, and reach potential donors.