It can take six months or longer to plan a nonprofit event and market it effectively. Then, the event itself requires careful management and will inevitably face a few challenges. When it’s all said and done, an event planning team may be (understandably) ready for a break, but one final step is always needed: post-event follow-up.
Follow-up is an indispensable aspect of donor engagement for solidifying supporter relationships after they’ve attended an event. Let’s explore five tested tips for mastering follow-up and securing long-term support.
1. Segment your audience.
71% of donors feel more engaged when they receive personalized content, meaning you can use what you know about your audience to divide them into groups related to their interests and send them meaningful and unique follow-ups.
Donor segmentation is the process of dividing donors into groups based on shared characteristics, which will, in this case, depend on the type of event you host. Here are some common segments you may create relevant to event follow-up:
First-time attendees: A follow-up message to first-time attendees might welcome recipients to your nonprofit’s community by providing brief background information about your organization and inviting them to learn more.
Repeat attendees: For attendees who’ve been to your nonprofit’s events before, your follow-up communications should recognize their continued support and thank them for their commitment to your organization.
High-value donors: Follow-up for high-value donors should reflect the significance of their support, highlighting the direct impact their attendance and donation made. Offer exclusive insights, such as details about upcoming projects, that aren’t widely shared with other donors.
Non-donors: Use your follow-up to thank non-donors for their attendance and offer various ways they can continue to support your organization. For example, perhaps they’re unable to donate monetarily but can join your volunteer team.
To make your follow-up even more individualized, create donor recognition tiers based on levels of engagement. eCardWidget’s donor recognition guide recommends assigning different types of recognition to each tier to keep your efforts organized. For example, an attendee who donated for the first time might receive a thank you card in the mail, while one who has been deeply involved with your organization for many years may receive a thank you card and a branded t-shirt.
2. Establish a detailed follow-up schedule.
Communication frequency is essential to engagement, as your nonprofit must find the balance between keeping donors informed and avoiding donor fatigue. This balance will vary greatly depending on your event attendees. For example, we know that Millenials prefer more frequent communication than other generations, and fundraising statistics show that email is the most preferred channel by 48% of donors.
Create a post-event follow-up schedule that details when a message should be sent and the content it should include. It might look something like this:
Immediate acknowledgment, 0-24 hours post-event: Prompt post-event recognition is essential for maintaining the momentum generated at your event.
Feedback request, 1-3 days post-event: Give donors a chance to catch their breath after the event, but ask for their feedback while it’s fresh on their minds. Send out concise surveys that don’t require much of the attendee but are comprehensive enough to gather useful data, such as multiple choice surveys with only one or two short answer questions.
Impact sharing, 1-2 weeks post-event: Share the outcomes of the event, including real numbers, like the amount raised, and how those donations were used.
Additionally, consider donor preferences such as preferred communication channels. For example, you might send a donor thank-you email immediately after the event and share the event’s impact in social media posts so that it reaches a wider audience.
3. Provide valuable content.
Vague, dull, and irrelevant content can cause nearly 75% of donors to stop giving to an organization. To keep event attendees engaged after your event ends, your follow-up must provide valuable content.
Meaningful, authentic messages go a long way in thanking donors. Infuse your follow-up with valuable content, including:
A thorough event recap
Educational content about the cause
Numbers and statistics, including total revenue
Behind-the-scenes insights into your nonprofit’s work
Multimedia elements, like photos and video
Testimonials from beneficiaries
Upcoming opportunities and projects
To gather numbers-related data to share with attendees, use an event management tool with analytics and reporting features. These platforms can generate reports based on your event’s performance, making it easy for your nonprofit to share data-based insights with attendees.
4. Keep the conversation going.
Effective post-event follow-up results in committed and loyal donors who attend future events and support your organization long-term. This means sending follow-up messages that encourage donors to stay engaged and even join the conversation!
Invite attendees to share their experiences or respond to your nonprofit’s communications. This might include sharing their pictures and videos from the event on social media or commenting on your nonprofit’s posts. Social media is the top marketing tool for facilitating two-way communication since it inspires nearly one-third of donors to give and is widely regarded as highly interactive because of its commenting and sharing capabilities.
5. Plan ahead using data-backed insights.
In addition to thinking ahead about keeping donors engaged, your nonprofit must also use the follow-up period to prepare for its future campaigns. Gather data about donors’ readiness to support future initiatives, such as a capital campaign.
This feedback can come not only from the post-event survey you send but from a variety of sources. NPOInfo recommends leveraging post-event data metrics, such as attendance records and lead generation. You can also gain insights by:
Monitoring social media activity
Hosting focus groups
Analyzing website traffic and interactions
Conducting follow-up interviews
Gathering feedback and doing your research shows event attendees that your nonprofit values their opinions. When you implement their ideas and address their concerns, they won’t just attend future events—they’ll become committed supporters.
Your nonprofit knows that donor recognition and appreciation are crucial aspects of follow-up for any event or campaign. Using the tips in this guide, you can take post-event follow-up a step further to convert event attendees into loyal supporters of your cause.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/eCardwidget_NXUnite_Becoming-Excellent-at-Post-Event-Follow-Up-Tested-Tips_Feature.jpg322846wpenginehttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgwpengine2024-05-15 15:39:312024-05-15 15:41:53Becoming Excellent at Post-Event Follow-Up: 5 Tested Tips
Your mission statement is the ultimate declaration of what your organization stands for and hopes to accomplish in the long run. For instance, the American Heart Association’s mission is to “be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. As we move into the second century of our work, we are advancing health and hope for everyone, everywhere.”
This statement demonstrates that this organization is not just trying to help people fight heart disease and stroke in the present moment but is instead committed to helping people stay in better health for the long term.
When your goals are focused on the future, you need sustainable fundraising strategies that help you consistently progress toward these objectives. We’ll provide fundraising tips for how your nonprofit can achieve long-term viability.
1. Create a fundraising plan.
Before you start a fundraiser, you need a clear plan to guide you. This plan should align your entire fundraising team so everyone’s aware of your top priorities and their individual responsibilities for achieving your goals. By making your campaigns more manageable and providing a framework for future fundraising initiatives, your fundraising plan will help you achieve long-term viability.
Follow these steps to create a fundraising plan that will set you up for continued success:
Identify SMART goals. Provide focus to your campaigns with both short-term and long-term objectives that follow the SMART goal framework, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, a cheerleading team may aim to raise $1500 with its three-month peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to supplement national competition fees based on its earnings of $1200 the previous year.
Establish a timeline. Break down each stage of your campaign into manageable tasks with deadlines. At a minimum, include steps for planning your fundraiser, soliciting donations, and following up with donors.
Develop a budget. Identify how much you expect to raise and spend on your campaign based on past fundraising data. These figures will allow you to determine your expected net revenue and better project your fundraising results.
Delegate tasks. Distribute tasks needed to make your fundraiser a success to different members of your fundraising team. Responsibilities may include preparing fundraising and marketing materials, securing a venue for your fundraising event, or securing sponsors.
To ensure your plan includes all necessary information, use a dedicated fundraising plan template to keep everything organized. Once you find a template that works for your team, you can reuse it for all future fundraising initiatives to build consistency.
2. Diversify your revenue streams.
When you have multiple revenue streams, you can be more confident in your organization’s ability to reach its fundraising goals and provide for its beneficiaries, even if one funding source dries up. Examples of potential revenue streams include:
Individual donations, whether those come from peer-to-peer fundraising, online campaigns, product fundraisers, or regular submissions on your donation page
Grants from foundations, businesses, or government agencies to fund specific projects or programs
Corporate partnerships that result in corporate giving revenue and sponsorship opportunities
Events, such as walkathons, galas, and auctions
Earned income from merchandise sales, program fees, and membership fees
Maximize these revenue opportunities by combining them as your organization sees fit. For example, you may host your annual spring festival fundraiser where you also sell flower bulbs to earn extra funds.
3. Focus on donor retention.
According to Double the Donation’s donor retention guide, the average donor retention rate for nonprofits is 45%, meaning that the majority of donors don’t make repeat donations. The cost of acquiring donors who only give once makes it significantly more cost-effective to keep current donors around instead.
Plus, the more donors you retain, the better you’ll facilitate a community around your cause instead of a group of disparate one-time givers. Some ways you might increase donor retention include:
Providing multiple ways to give. Encourage donors to continue contributing to your cause by giving them a choice in the way they give. Select a payment processor that accepts a variety of payment methods, such as credit, debit, ACH check, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Venmo.
Offering recurring gifts. One of the easiest ways to secure steady revenue is to automate the giving process for repeat donors. When you offer recurring giving, you make it simple for those who are passionate about your cause to contribute on a monthly basis after filling out your donation form just once.
Showing appreciation. Thanking donors for their support goes a long way in showing them that they’re valued and entices them to continue giving back. Test a variety of donor recognition strategies, including eCards, thank-you notes, social media shoutouts, and appreciation events.
Get a sense of how successful your donor retention efforts are by asking supporters directly. Consider surveying them once a quarter to see whether they feel inclined to keep contributing to your organization, and question if there is anything else your nonprofit could do to provide them with a better experience.
4. Involve a variety of stakeholders.
When you engage a variety of stakeholders in the fundraising process, you take the pressure off your staff to facilitate all fundraising activities, making it easier to run campaigns efficiently. For instance, you may train board members and volunteers to lead donor cultivation and solicitation activities so you can better distribute your fundraising team’s work.
Reaching out to local businesses can also alleviate concerns about reaching your fundraising goals or hitting your targets in a timely manner. Many companies are willing to sponsor events, contribute in-kind donations, or promote your organization online. Look for businesses with similar values to your organization so the partnership is mutually beneficial. For example, an environmental conservation organization may work with an upcycled clothing brand.
Lastly, if your fundraiser involves kids, teach them how to fundraise on behalf of your organization. Not only can schools and student groups raise more for their causes with more helping hands, but they can also teach kids the importance of giving back. As ABC Fundraising’s fundraising ideas for kids guide states, 80% of parents who model philanthropic behavior see it reflected in their children. Set a good example for the kids in your organization, and reach your fundraising goals more quickly at the same time.
Continue supporting your beneficiaries and upholding your mission for the long haul with sustainable fundraising ideas and practices. That way, you can rest assured you’ll see a regular inflow of donations to your organization that enable you to carry out your important work for years to come.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ABC-Fundraising-NXUnite-Sustainable-Fundraising-Strategies-for-Long-Term-Viability-Feature-1.jpg360945wpenginehttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgwpengine2024-05-14 09:17:232024-05-14 09:17:25Sustainable Fundraising: Strategies for Long-Term Viability
These days, a significant portion of college life happens on students’ phones. On average, students spend almost 95 minutes a day texting—meaning that if you want their attention, you need to meet them there. This is true for both current and prospective university students.
Fortunately, the applications and uses for higher education SMS are limitless. From recruitment all the way to graduation and beyond, text messages can help you deliver a better and more engaging student experience.
In this guide, we’ll focus on where text messages fit into the admissions process. We’ll discuss how the right strategies and technology can boost efficiency and help you build relationships with prospective and admitted students. Let’s dive into five ways you can leverage SMS for admissions.
1. Connect with prospective students.
Text messages are the perfect communication channel for getting prospective students’ attention and building genuine relationships that make them interested in learning more about your school.
But why should you opt for texts instead of traditional channels like email or direct mail? Mogli’s SMS marketing guide explains that texts are the best choice because they’re easy for recipients to read and easy for your team to send with an intuitive text marketing app. Plus, SMS messages have an impressive 98% open rate, meaning recipients are much more likely to open your text messages than emails.
To leverage this channel to connect with prospective students, you might use texts to:
Send a survey asking recipients how interested they are in your school and how likely they are to apply.
Send an automated text to everyone who attended an admissions event expressing how glad you are they attended.
Share links to student testimonials or blog posts on your college website that give prospects a positive impression of your school.
Respond to text messages from prospects to answer their questions and further engage them.
Ideally, you should build out a strategic SMS campaign cadence for prospects so you don’t overwhelm them with too many messages in a short time. For instance, you might use a content calendar to space out messages across the fall semester or use automation tools to set up certain prospect actions that trigger relevant messages.
2. Send application reminders.
Most applicants aren’t just applying to your school—they’re likely deep into their college search and may feel overwhelmed with all the applications and details they need to keep track of. Help out prospective students and encourage them to apply by sending simple text reminders about upcoming deadlines, the status of their applications, and other important announcements.
Plus, using the best SMS marketing apps, you can easily automate messages for certain groups to streamline these reminders. For example, you might segment prospective students in your database based on their:
Application status: Create groups of prospects who have submitted applications, those who started them but have not finished, and those who sent in applications with missing information. You can send requests for missing application data and remind those in the “started” category to finish by the deadline.
Level of interest: Consider sending out a text survey that asks about prospects’ interest levels, then grouping them based on their answers. Those who are the most interested will want more frequent application reminders, while students who aren’t sure will need a more strategic approach.
Potential field of study: If you have multiple applications for different colleges or programs within your university, applicants will need to remember to fill them out before the deadline along with their main application. Send targeted reminders for those with an interest in specific schools so they don’t forget.
Setting up automated reminders saves your staff time, keeps prospective students in the loop, and delivers a better overall admissions experience. Even if they apply to five other colleges, these messages will give them a positive impression of your school that they’ll remember when it comes time to make their decision.
3. Respond to questions quickly.
One-to-one text messages open the door for impactful two-way communication, empowering prospects and admitted students to ask questions and bring up concerns directly to your admissions team. Instead of leaving applicants and students in the dark or losing their questions in mountains of emails, you can answer with a quick text.
When you receive a question via text, any of your team members can respond quickly to get students the information they need to navigate the admissions process with ease. With a unified SMS app that integrates with your CRM, all relevant team members can see and respond to text conversations at any time. Follow-up questions will stay organized in the same text thread so no data gets lost in the shuffle.
Get a question you can’t answer? Pass their text message along to the financial aid team or the appropriate counselor. You can even direct prospects to pages on your website with more information by sending them a link directly.
4. Provide real-time application updates.
As every admissions counselor knows, applicants have a lot on their plates. Their future often feels unclear until they know if they’ve been admitted to their top school and made their decision, and they feel this pressure acutely. Anything you can do to ease their minds during the application process and keep them as up-to-date as possible will help.
One easy way to do so is to send real-time updates about general admission, financial aid, and scholarship applications via text. Applicants can read all the details in their emails, but they’ll greatly appreciate an immediate text alert when their application status changes.
For example, you might send the following texts to update applicants:
Andrew, we just received your application for the Singh College of Business. We’ll let you know if we need any more information. Otherwise, you’re all set!
Hi Andrew, it looks like we’re missing your FAFSA information. Could you please edit your application in our portal here to complete it? Thank you!
Congratulations, Andrew! Your application for Singh College has been accepted! Please check your email for more information. We’re so excited to have you!
The easiest way to send these texts is to integrate your text automation tools with your CRM or application management software. If you go this route, Acceptd’s application management software guide suggests finding a solution with intuitive progress tracking features. This way, you can set up automated messages based on application progress and status changes.
5. Support new students in their transition into college life.
With the right SMS strategies, you can engage students with text messages throughout their entire journey with your university, from prospect to full-time student to alum.
Don’t stop texting students once they’re admitted! Use SMS to help them prepare for the transition to college life during the summer and throughout their first semester. For example, you might send the following message to students admitted to your liberal arts program in July:
Langston, are you getting excited about coming to campus yet? We can’t wait! 🎉 Check out our blog post about the most important dorm supplies to pack here.
You can use messages like this to send reminders about room assignments, blog posts to ramp up excitement, and more. Put yourself in the shoes of incoming freshmen and write messages that speak to their needs, emotions, and concerns about coming to college.
All of these tips will help you connect with prospective and admitted students in the format that they’re most comfortable with—texts. Best of all, the power of texts extends beyond the admissions process. You can use SMS to improve your university’s fundraising, alumni engagement, student communications, and so much more.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mogli_NXUnite_5-Ways-You-Can-Streamline-College-Admissions-with-Texts_Feature.png7201890wpenginehttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgwpengine2024-04-29 13:23:532024-04-29 13:23:545 Ways You Can Streamline College Admissions with Texts
When planning an event for your nonprofit or association, you’re probably focused on securing a venue, soliciting sponsor support, and encouraging people to register for your event online. Likely, you’re not anticipating things that could go awry at your event. However, all event organizers know there’s a chance that something will go wrong, such as the internet going out, your check-in software malfunctioning, or attendees getting lost.
While you can’t always prevent these issues from popping up, you can prepare yourself to tackle them head-on and ensure your event remains a success. In this guide, we’ll cover tips for handling unexpected event challenges so you can remain calm, cool, and collected if and when disaster strikes.
1. Create a crisis response plan.
Before your event, create a plan for addressing specific protocols and procedures your staff should follow in the case of an unexpected challenge or emergency. While you can’t anticipate every potential issue, list risks and scenarios that could arise and how your team would handle them.
For example, let’s say you’re hosting a panel as part of your virtual event, and the featured panelist loses internet connection, causing them to miss the session. In this scenario, you’d want to have answers to the following questions ready to go:
Is there anyone else who can step in to fill the panelist’s place?
Does the panelist have any materials or resources that attendees can reference to make up for the information they missed?
Will you need to make changes to the event schedule to accommodate the issue?
Additionally, delegate roles for your event staff, volunteers, and other key stakeholders in a possible crisis. That way, everyone knows their responsibilities and can prepare themselves to take action instead of overwhelming the event organizers with questions and concerns.
2. Familiarize yourself with your event tech in advance.
When you’re hosting an event, many of the potential issues you’re anticipating likely have to do with the event technology you’re using. Make sure all staff and stakeholders know how to use the software they’re responsible for—whether that’s your event management platform, app, video conferencing software, text-to-give tool, or something else entirely.
To get all team members on board with your event technology, follow these steps:
Assess your training needs. Start by determining who needs to learn how to use which features of your software. For example, volunteers may only need to learn how to check people in with your event management software while staff members must be familiar with how to set up gamification challenges and communicate with attendees.
Gather or create training materials. Next, provide your team with the resources they need to familiarize themselves with the software. These may include user manuals, online tutorials, help guides, and training videos. Additionally, you may compile a list of tips you’ve come up with after testing out the software yourself.
Offer hands-on training sessions. Lastly, allow team members to experiment with the software in a training session. Consider demonstrating how to use the tool and walking through key features so people can immediately start testing the software and ask questions.
Additionally, EventMobi’s event management software guide recommends looking into the customer support options for your event tools. Will you be able to contact them during the event just in case of an emergency? Some providers will even send a representative of their team on-site, which can help ensure everything runs smoothly and that your team can quickly resolve any issues with the software.
3. Communicate effectively with stakeholders.
If things don’t go as planned, being open and transparent with your stakeholders is essential. Keep everyone informed about the situation—including event staff, exhibitors, sponsors, speakers, and attendees—by:
Notifying everyone as soon as possible. Once you’ve assessed the issue and formed a solid plan to tackle it, let your stakeholders know what’s going on. That way, you promote honesty with your stakeholders, even when everything isn’t going according to plan.
Providing regular updates. Keep everyone updated on the status of the issue through announcements or push notifications on your event or conference app. For instance, attendees and speakers will appreciate knowing if there are any changes to your event schedule so they can plan accordingly.
Explaining your efforts to resolve the issue. Assure stakeholders that you’re working hard to resolve the issue by explaining how you’re fixing things. For example, if your internet connection goes out during event check-in, explain to incoming attendees that you’re currently working with the internet company to get the connection back up and running and will check them in manually in the meantime.
While you may be nervous about disclosing any problems or shortcomings during your event, your stakeholders will prefer your honesty over attempts to cover up the issue and hide it from those involved with your event.
4. Learn from your experience.
Mistakes happen, but it’s how you handle them that matters. After your event, debrief and evaluate how your team handled any challenges. Compare your original crisis plan to what actually occurred, and make updates as needed.
Then, document any lessons learned, best practices, and key takeaways to inform your future event planning and management efforts. For instance, if your conference venue was difficult for attendees to find and didn’t have adequate on-site parking, you may note to seek out another venue for your next event.
Lastly, ask stakeholders for their input. According to 360MatchPro, 66% of people volunteer to improve their community, and 83% volunteer to contribute to a cause they care about. These statistics demonstrate that your volunteers—and other stakeholders—are invested in your success, and they may be able to offer insight into what worked well and what didn’t from a different perspective.
With a plan (and the right mindset) for mitigating challenges, your team will be better prepared to handle any unexpected issues, hopefully alleviating some stress for your organization. After the event, be sure to thank attendees for their patience and positivity despite any challenges that may have occurred, and follow up with additional event or engagement opportunities.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/EventMobi-NXUnite-4-Tips-for-Handling-Unexpected-Challenges-During-Events-Feature.png360945Adam Weingerhttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgAdam Weinger2024-04-05 11:58:022024-04-05 13:48:364 Tips for Handling Unexpected Challenges During Events
Companies gave $29.48 billion to nonprofits last year, representing an incredible 3.4% increase. Nonprofits Source shared these impressive numbers in its corporate giving trends article, indicating that companies proactively seek causes like yours to support.
The benefits of corporate support for nonprofits are clear: more revenue, extra volunteer power, and greater brand exposure. But what’s in it for the businesses? It turns out quite a bit!
It’s about more than just looking good or getting a tax write-off. A lot is happening behind the scenes, and we’re excited to share a peek. First, we’ll explore common ways companies give back before diving into the corporate motivations behind these programs. That way, you can find the best opportunities for your cause and confidently interact with companies.
5 Ways Companies Donate to Nonprofits
From employee giving programs to direct donations, corporate giving looks different at every business, yet some programs are more popular than others. Let’s start with the most impactful one.
1. Matching Gifts
Corporate matching gifts help companies give back year-round. When a business offers this program, it promises to match employees’ donations to eligible nonprofits. The approach is straightforward:
A donor gives to your nonprofit.
The individual researches their employer’s program using a company search tool.
If eligible, they submit a matching gift request via paper form or their company’s employee giving portal.
After confirming the gift, the company donates to your nonprofit.
These programs empower your nonprofit to boost donations. When someone is on the fence, being match-eligible may be the push they need to give. In fact, 84% of donors are more likely to donate if they know their gift is match-eligible. In some cases, donors will actually give more — 1 in every 3 donors to be exact.
Knowing a match is on the line even gamifies the giving experience, especially when an employer sets an annual donation goal. There’s just one problem: a lack of awareness.
You need to educate donors about these programs. Our favorite option is to embed a search tool into your donation page:
This catches donors’ attention during the height of their engagement. Using the matching gift database, they can research their companies’ guidelines. Matching gift automation software can also follow up with donors based on eligibility. While a match-eligible donor may receive an email linking to their employer’s match-request form, a donor with unknown match eligibility may be prompted to research their eligibility.
Go further than that by featuring matching gifts on your Ways to Give page, a dedicated matching gifts page, fundraising appeals, and social media. Share testimonials from beneficiaries about how an increased donation helped them, and ask your corporate partners to promote the opportunity to employees.
2. Volunteer Grants
Corporate volunteers already lend a helping hand, but did you know some employers will donate to further volunteers’ impact?
Volunteer grants are financial donations companies make to nonprofits where their employees volunteer regularly. This monetizes the volunteer hours their workforce contributes. For example, a company might donate $25 per volunteer hour, with a minimum of 5 hours required.
This encourages employees to engage in community service, knowing additional financial backing will amplify their efforts. Your matching gift database may even house information on companies’ volunteer grant programs, helping you pinpoint these opportunities.
3. Direct Donations
Other common ways companies give back are direct donations, grants, and sponsorships. For instance, AP News reports that Yield Giving, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s foundation, announced it would give $640 million to 361 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications. The open call asked for community-led nonprofits with missions “to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means.” Eligibility was limited to nonprofits with annual budgets between $1-$5 million.
According to Renee Karibi-Whyte, the senior vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, open grant opportunities empower organizations without connections to specific funders. These opportunities surface organizations that wouldn’t otherwise have access to those offering major funding. Her company advises funders who run competitive grants and philanthropic prize competitions.
Companies often offer grants through their foundations. For example, 360MatchPro’s list of corporate philanthropy examples shares that the Coca-Cola Foundation awarded $94.8 million in grants to over 300 organizations in 2022.
4. In-Kind Gifts
Companies give in-kind donations of goods or services, enabling them to leverage their unique assets to support charity. Here are common examples of in-kind donations:
Pro bono services like designing nonprofit websites or offering legal advice
Products, such as how Chobani donates its food products to food banks, schools, and other organizations
Free equipment or technology, such as how Google offers Workspace to nonprofits and free advertising credits via the Google Ad Grant program
In-kind gifts can directly fulfill your nonprofit’s specific operational needs or project requirements, reducing expenses and allowing you to allocate your budget directly toward your programs.
5. Cause Marketing
When a company donates a percentage of its sales, it’s known as cause marketing. This approach supports and advertises your nonprofit while also increasing consumer loyalty by aligning the company’s products and services with social causes.
For example, Bombas is a popular retailer. For every item a customer buys, the company donates a pair of socks, a t-shirt, or underwear to a shelter, transitional living facility, or other relevant organization. Through its network of over 3,500 Giving Partners, Bombas has donated over 100 million items.
4 Reasons Companies Donate to Nonprofits
If you’re a corporate partnerships manager at your nonprofit, understanding how companies give back is important, but you also need to understand why businesses engage in philanthropy. Then, you can align your communication strategy with each company’s goals and interests to secure financial support.
1. Communicate their values
Donating to nonprofits demonstrates a company’s commitment to specific social, environmental, or ethical issues, reinforcing its core values to consumers, employees, and stakeholders.
It’s about strengthening brand reputation, aligning the company’s image with stakeholders’ values, and using resources to influence the causes it supports.
To do this, companies often donate to causes aligned with their products and services. For example, The John Deere Foundation recently announced a three-year $3.9 million grant to the National FFA Organization. For context, John Deere manufactures agricultural machinery, lawn care equipment, and similar products. The unrestricted grant will enable the FFA to provide resources and educational programs to students interested in agricultural career pathways.
“This support truly helps us work toward our mission of preparing members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success,” said FFA President Molly Ball.
As you can imagine, that grant will go a long way in supporting one of John Deere’s core values: a love for agriculture. Consider how your mission aligns with different companies’ values.
2. Boost employee satisfaction
Employees seek companies that give back to charity. Our employee giving research found that 86% of employees want to participate in corporate giving. CSR programs are linked to increased employee engagement, improved productivity, and reduced turnover by up to 50%.
Corporate philanthropy gives employees a sense of purpose beyond daily business operations. In particular, workplace giving involves employees in philanthropy.
Matching gifts make employees actively involved in corporate philanthropy. Meanwhile, volunteer grants turn employees’ hands-on involvement into financial support that amplifies their impact. Then, in-kind gifts allow employees to leverage their professional skills or contribute goods to nonprofits.
Knowing this, your nonprofit can target corporate employees to direct their workplace giving contributions to your cause. You can also communicate this benefit to corporate partners to increase their likelihood of launching these programs.
3. Tax Deductions
While companies genuinely want to give back, charitable spending is also tax-deductible. This financial incentive makes philanthropy more economically feasible for businesses and encourages them to allocate more resources toward social causes.
Use this compelling point in fundraising pitches. By highlighting donations’ altruistic and fiscal advantages, your nonprofit can strengthen its case for support and show businesses how contributing can be financially prudent.
4. Market Expansion
When a company donates to your nonprofit, it can connect with your donors, volunteers, and other corporate sponsors. That means it can introduce its brand to new markets and demographics. Plus, these new audience members will already know that the company has a philanthropic mindset, positioning the brand favorably in their eyes.
The best part is that this benefit goes both ways! Your nonprofit can access new donors and volunteers from the business’s loyal customers and employees. Corporate giving isn’t limited to industry giants either; local businesses can also boost your reach, connecting you with community members invested in making a difference.
In conversations with businesses, propose marketing their brand as a trade-off for financial support. For instance, if companies sponsor your upcoming 5K, promise to display their logos on promotional materials and event signage, offering them valuable visibility in return for their backing.
Getting Started
Companies donate in various ways for various reasons. There’s a growing commitment among businesses to contribute beyond mere profit-making, but the main point is companies are more philanthropic than ever.
Your nonprofit needs to tap into these opportunities. When navigating this evolving terrain, understanding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of corporate giving is crucial for fostering beneficial partnerships.
Start by searching your CRM for matching gift and volunteer grant opportunities. Contact eligible supporters and explain the grant application process. When your nonprofit joins forces with philanthropic businesses like this, the potential for positive change is boundless.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Double-the-Donation_How-and-Why-Do-Todays-Companies-Donate-to-Nonprofits_Feature.png360945Erin Tolandhttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgErin Toland2024-04-02 11:31:432024-04-02 11:31:44How and Why Do Today’s Companies Donate to Nonprofits?
Between the limitations of restricted funds and the need to continue fueling charitable missions, your nonprofit must keep organized data for a successful approach to accounting. A foundational tool for keeping organized finances is the nonprofit chart of accounts (COA), which is a resource that records your organization’s financial activity.
In this quick guide, we’ll explore how you can create a COA by covering the following topics:
As a nonprofit leader, you know that accurate financial records and reporting are crucial to maintaining your 501(c)(3) status. Let’s explore the basics of COAs so your organization can establish a system for reliable recordkeeping.
What is a nonprofit chart of accounts?
A nonprofit chart of accounts (COA) is a spreadsheet or table that lists an organization’s financial accounts and ledgers. This table is a directory of your nonprofit’s financial records, helping you organize important information about your finances. It is typically divided into five categories:
Assets, or anything that your nonprofit owns.
Liabilities, which include everything your nonprofit owes.
Net assets, or the total amount your nonprofit is worth. This is calculated by subtracting your liabilities from your assets.
Revenue, which consists of any funding your organization receives through its various income sources.
Expenses, or all the expenditures your nonprofit incurs for its operations and fundraisers.
While it offers a broad overview of your finances rather than a deep dive into insightful metrics, your COA is the foundation upon which you’ll build reports that summarize your financial data, such as your:
Statement of activities: Outlines your organization’s revenue, expenses, and net assets
Statement of financial position: Indicates your nonprofit’s financial health by breaking down your assets, liabilities, and net assets
Statement of functional expenses: Shows how your funding is used to fulfill your mission by dividing your expenditures into the categories of program, administrative, and fundraising costs
Statement of cash flows: Reveals how cash moves in and out of your organization
According to Double the Donation, these financial statements are helpful when filing Form 990, which has a direct impact on your nonprofit’s ability to maintain tax exemption! In other words, your COA is an important tool for finding the information you need to file, as well as navigating financial records in case of an audit.
How to create a nonprofit chart of accounts
Every nonprofit’s finances are unique, and your chart of accounts will be, too. Although your chart must be organized in a way that makes sense for your organization, you can use the following steps to guide its development.
1. Determine your numbering convention.
A chart of accounts uses a numbering convention to identify certain categories of financial data. While your organization can use whatever system works best for your data, the numbers are usually organized as follows:
1000: Assets
2000: Liabilities
3000: Net assets
4000: Revenue
5000: Expenses
You’ll use this numbering system to categorize your financial data and then create subcategories to make your records as detailed as possible. For example, your subcategories might look something like this:
Depending on the complexity of your budget, you may need to get more specific with each category. For example, money spent on donor recognition efforts may be lumped in with fundraising expenses or given its own category. Ultimately, it depends on how much your nonprofit gains and spends in a given category.
2. Fill in the account information.
Once you’ve determined how you’ll categorize financial data, it’s time to set up the document! List your financial activity according to your category numbers and their names. Place the account number in one column and its name in the next.
For example, your list of assets might look something like this:
1100: Checking
1200: Savings
1300: Investments
In the next column, you’ll list the main category for these records, which would be “Assets” in our example.
3. Add notes as necessary.
For extra transparency in your financial records, be sure to include a column for notes. This way, you’ll be able to look back on your spreadsheet and remember exactly what each account refers to.
For example, if your nonprofit relies on fundraising event revenue, it might be helpful to categorize fundraisers by event type and include a note for more details. This way, you’d be able to see that record 4200 refers to the revenue collected from product fundraisers specifically, rather than a lump amount of all fundraising revenue.
Best practices for maintaining your chart
After your nonprofit creates its chart of accounts, you need to maintain it over time to ensure it accurately reflects your changing financial activities and circumstances. To ensure you properly maintain this resource, employ the following best practices:
Work with a nonprofit bookkeeper. Partner with an expert who can review your chart of accounts. Foundation Group’s bookkeeping guide recommends hiring a professional who has experience with nonprofit finances and a deep understanding of state and federal rules. This way, you’ll entrust this full-time job to an expert who can handle it.
Keep your accounts simple. While your COA should offer ample detail to be easily navigable, it must also avoid becoming overwhelming. Group accounts where possible but divide them into more specific subcategories when necessary.
Remove unused accounts from your chart. To ensure your chart is relevant and up-to-date, remove any unused or unnecessary accounts. For example, there’s no need to log a category for federal grants if your nonprofit doesn’t plan to apply for any.
Above all, remember to include room for growth in your COA. Your nonprofit’s finances will change over time, and the best way to account for that is to make the chart easily editable. Additionally, familiarize yourself with each account to avoid creating unnecessary ones when it’s time to log a new activity.
Many nonprofits start as a charitable mission with a few initiatives, then expand over time into an organized operation with a clear mission and fundraising approach. Naturally, your nonprofit’s finances can become increasingly complex as a result. With a COA, you’ll be able to stay organized with your accounting, ensuring you comply with nonprofit requirements.
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For event planners at an association, nonprofit, or other organization, investing in the right event management software can streamline many of your tasks, making your job easier.
From large trade shows to fundraising events, having an event platform that facilitates planning, alleviates common bottlenecks, and enhances the attendee experience can ensure success every time. It also ensures your organization has ongoing access to data that you can use to guide your future decision-making.
However, there are a lot of options on the market and not all of them provide the same level of support or effectiveness. Here’s how to make the best decision before you invest.
What is Event Management Software?
Event management software is a tool that supports the entire planning process for your event. This typically includes online registration, attendee badging and check-in, and gathering reporting data.
Well-selected event management software is capable of:
Ensuring team productivity and successful working relationships
Enhancing attendee satisfaction
Improving return on investment (ROI)
Gathering strategic insights for decision-making
Reducing event planning costs and time drains
The best event management software helps you plan and execute events from start to finish.
Types of Event Management Software
Every organization’s event needs are different, which is why there are so many different platforms to choose from. There are primarily two types of event management software:
Specialized Single-Purpose Tools
Some software products are single-purpose tools, meaning they are very good at doing one thing or one event. These tools can typically handle tasks like:
If one single, specialized platform meets your specific end goal, it may be more cost-effective to consider this option.
All-in-One Event Management Software
All-in-one event software aims to address all of your event needs in a single platform. This typically includes all event planning tasks, including those listed above.
While these platforms have a higher cost, they can streamline event planning by keeping the entire project within a single application. This often includes everything from registration, event marketing, and event reporting. Their more robust features make them ideal when you’re not just planning a single event but likely will host multiple over time.
What are the Common Features of Event Management Software?
Depending on your event needs, your software should include the tools and features necessary to plan an effective event and manage it from start to finish. There are numerous areas to consider, such as:
Sponsor Management
Managing sponsors is critical for all event planning teams. Event sponsorship management features can include:
Sponsorship categories to organize sponsors based on commitment or sponsorship levels
Digital asset management for sponsor logos and graphics
Sponsor portals that provide sponsors with relevant information
Custom sponsor branding options
Sponsor advertising options through an event app
These features streamline the sponsorship process, enhance sponsor engagement, and maximize the value for both event organizers and sponsors.
Registration Technology
Most event management solutions support establishing and managing your event registration process. Though tools are different, expect to find features like:
Badge creation and printing
Various types of registration, timelines, restrictions, and other customization options
Automated registration emails to provide reminders and detailed information for attendees
Group registration options
Secure payment gateways
These features are designed to make the registration process as smooth and efficient as possible, improving the experience for attendees and providing event organizers with essential data and insights for future event planning and marketing.
Event Marketing
Many platforms offer marketing tools that will assist in growing your total registration and attendance. Some of the most common features of event marketing are:
Email tools for sending various messages like event invitations, registration confirmations, and newsletters
Customizable event website, including registration forms, speaker profiles, agendas, and payment tools
Social media integration, which streamlines access to various social media platforms to share updates and engage with attendees before, during, and after events
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Event Management Software
Before deciding on any platform, it’s crucial to know what you need the tool to do based on the way you run your event. Effective event management software must meet your specific needs, and while these may change, consider what key factors matter most or how adaptable your prospective platform is. Here are several essential factors to keep in mind:
Event Goals and Objectives
When selecting event management software, consider how the solution aligns with your event’s objectives and the overarching goals of your organization.
The software you choose should not only resonate with these goals but should also amplify your ability to achieve them with finesse and precision. It’s about finding a tool that transforms your vision into reality, fostering an environment where every aspect of your event is seamlessly orchestrated to meet, and even exceed, your attendees’ expectations.
Attendee and Staff Experience
The software you select should specifically address the types of experiences you hope to create for both attendees and event staff. Giving your attendees an impactful experience is key to building relationships. Always look for:
User-friendly experience for attendees
Ease of use for your staff
Available onboarding support
Keep an eye out for solutions with an easy-to-use but intuitive interface and supportive tools. You don’t want to make more work for your team or make it complicated for attendees to get the support they need.
Event Planning Frequency
How often do you plan to host events? For occasional or one-time events, you need solutions that align just with that type. However, if you’re hosting events on a regular schedule, it’s more important to ensure the planning and execution of multiple events at one time can work well together.
Necessary Features
While event software with a plethora of features might seem attractive, focus on those that are essential for your specific requirements. Identify the features that are critical to your event’s success. This could range from registration and ticketing systems to attendee engagement tools or analytics.
Software bloated with features you’ll never use can lead to unnecessary complexity and costs. It’s important to differentiate between ‘nice-to-have’ and ‘must-have’ features. Use cost-effective decision-making and keep your budget in mind as you conduct research into potential options.
Integrations
Many organizations use a variety of digital tools in their daily operations. The right integrations with an event management system can keep everything smooth and organized. Consider tools that align with your CRM, for example.
Steps to Choosing the Best Event Management Software
Navigating the event management software landscape can be intimidating, with an array of options each boasting unique features and capabilities. However, selecting the right software is crucial for your event’s success. Simplify your decision-making by following these steps:
1. Understand your event management needs.
Using your event goals, figure out what specific needs you want your event management software to address. For instance, consider:
Event types
Team skills or in-house supportive tools
Target audience and attendees
Growth rate over time
Analytics insights
Regulatory or compliance concerns
Note these down and use these as a reference as you begin exploring potential event solutions for your organization.
2. Identify your event management software non-negotiables.
Every event management solution should support the way you plan to operate your events over time. Outline factors you consider non-negotiable or the specific features and tools you want your product to offer. This may include:
Functional aspects like ticketing, event registration, attendee engagement, and agenda management
Integration requirements, including marketing and CRM tools
For example, if you’re planning to host a hybrid or virtual event, you might want to prioritize solutions that make it easy for you to engage attendees online.
3. Research and compare software providers.
Once you have these lists, it’s time to check out the products on the market. During your research, consider the following information:
Market research and case use studies
Vendor evaluation, including references and reviews
Pricing comparison among products
Compare each solution based on your requirements and needs to start compiling the top options for your team to consider.
4. Request demos or sign up for free trials.
With your shortlist created, ask for demos or sign up for trial periods that allow you to test-drive prospective platforms. Take the time to read through and understand the often unseen aspects of new software like:
Pricing
Contract terms
Limitations and restrictions
Service level agreements
Legal and compliance requirements
Once you’ve asked any specific questions and gotten a clearer understanding of how the platforms work, re-assemble your team and make your decision.
Choosing the right event management software tailored to your specific needs can transform how you orchestrate your events. By thoroughly evaluating and comparing available options, you can make a strategic decision that will yield long-term benefits, enhancing the way you manage and execute your events for years to come.
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Your university’s alumni don’t just give back by donating to fundraising campaigns. They also help current students, represent your school in the community, and so much more. Because of all they do for their alma maters, engaging and connecting with alumni regularly is a priority for most universities.
But to engage thousands or tens of thousands of alumni—all with different interests and relationships with your university—you need the right tool.
Your constituent relationship management (CRM) system houses all the data you need to successfully communicate with alumni. We’ll cover four strategies for leveraging this impactful tool to improve alumni relationships. Let’s dive in!
1. Identify opportunities to improve alumni offerings.
According to Redpath Consulting Group, one of the biggest benefits of a robust CRM is that it gives you a holistic, 360-degree view of every constituent in your database. By centralizing data in alumni profiles, your staff can get a better understanding of your alumni and the ways they want to engage with your university, allowing you to improve your offerings based on their preferences.
For instance, say that you track survey results in your CRM and recently sent out a survey about your Young Alum Mentoring program. You can analyze survey results both:
Individually in alumni profiles. For example, maybe Jane wants to see more STEM mentors available and Javier didn’t hear about the program enough to form an interest.
Across entire groups of alumni. You might learn that the class of 2021 expressed the most interest in the program or that liberal arts graduates as a whole feel underrepresented.
To engage alumni based on the feedback above, you might put extra effort into recruiting more STEM and liberal arts mentors. Or, if you discover that the most highly requested change to the Young Alum program is the age cutoff, you can extend the program to anyone who graduated in the last 10 years.
2. Personalize alumni outreach.
In addition to using the information in your CRM to improve your offerings, you can use information about your alumni’s interests, habits, and preferences to personalize your communications. The more tailored and relevant your alumni outreach is, the more likely each recipient is to read and engage with your messages.
A robust higher education CRM can help you enhance your alumni communications with the following features:
Automated personalization: By creating email or text message templates, you can set up your CRM to automatically populate messages with individual alumni names, event attendance, past donation amounts, etc.
Alumni segments: Organize alumni by shared characteristics and send messages that appeal directly to certain groups. For instance, you might segment alumni by class, field of study, career, demographics, and charitable interests to send more relevant messages.
Action-triggered email series: With integrated email automation tools, such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, you can use your CRM to set up entire email series that are triggered by alumni actions. When someone first joins your email list, for example, they might trigger a series of welcome emails.
To see these tactics in action, take a look at this example email message that recognizes recent alumni donors who graduated from a university’s business school:
Felicia, thank you so much for your generous $200 donation to the Randolph School of Business. Your gift will go towards scholarships for BIPOC students with dreams of earning their MBAs just like you did. Our current and incoming students appreciate your passion for excellence and inclusivity—thank you again!
3. Manage events.
Events are one of the most common ways that universities engage their alumni, whether they take the form of class reunions, volunteering events, or virtual public lectures. Your CRM can help you manage all of your alumni events by centralizing event data and automating reports and outreach.
A comprehensive CRM solution will allow you to:
House information about event logistics, plans, and invitations.
Send personalized invitations to relevant alumni.
Track event registrations and attendance.
Manage relationships with event sponsors.
Identify, recruit, and communicate with volunteers.
Report on the success of event marketing messages.
Track event-related donations and fundraising goals.
Plus, you can analyze data about your event’s success after the fact, helping you improve future event marketing and management. For instance, Double the Donation explains that tools like Google Analytics can help you report on user behaviors on your alumni website. By tracking website engagement data in your CRM, you can discover how engaging your event landing pages are and identify ways to improve them.
4. Engage alumni in fundraising.
Higher education CRMs include a variety of features designed to help institutions track and boost fundraising. You can record donations, monitor fundraising metrics, send personalized donation appeals, and more.
By leveraging these features with alumni engagement in mind, you can increase the number of alumni who participate in your fundraisers and improve their experiences. Features like donor segmentation, marketing automation, and donation histories allow you to streamline alumni fundraising and track your results.
For example, say that you’re promoting a capital campaign to renovate a beloved dormitory and give students living there a better experience. You might use your CRM to take the following steps to engage more alumni in fundraising:
Search alumni profiles for financial capacity markers that indicate which alumni might be good candidates for major giving.
Create a segment of all the alumni who lived in that building while on campus.
Reach out personally to alumni in that segment to ask for donations.
Design and automate an email series about the capital campaign’s purpose, progress, fundraising needs, and expected impact.
Track donations from alumni and send personalized thank-you messages that include their names and donation amounts.
Once the campaign is over, you can easily use your CRM to follow up with all the alumni who participated in or engaged with the capital campaign. Then, you might add them to a new segment of capital campaign donors and tailor future appeals based on their interest in this campaign.
If you need help taking full advantage of your CRM or feel that your current system isn’t meeting your university’s needs, connect with a higher education technology consultant. These experts can analyze your tech stack, recommend new solutions or integrations to fill gaps, and even implement a new CRM for you. When you have a robust CRM you can leverage strategically, you’ll be able to engage alumni more effectively and efficiently.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Redpath-Consulting-Group_NXUnite_5-Ways-to-Leverage-Your-CRM-to-Connect-with-Alumni_Feature.jpg358942Adam Weingerhttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgAdam Weinger2024-03-20 19:28:252024-03-20 19:28:274 Ways to Leverage Your CRM to Connect with Alumni
When you think about your nonprofit’s funding, the first thing that comes to mind is probably fundraising. Your team likely plans and launches multiple fundraisers throughout each year to bring in enough revenue to fund the various initiatives associated with furthering your mission.
However, proper financial management is just as important as fundraising for making a difference in the community. As funding comes in, you have to carefully plan how you’re going to spend it in order to make the most of it. Then, you need to report on your fundraising and spending to demonstrate that you’re using your donors’ money wisely and complying with government regulations for nonprofits.
In this guide, we’ll share four proven tips to help your organization manage its finances more effectively. Let’s get started!
1. Create an Annual Operating Budget
Jitasa’s nonprofit budgeting guide defines a budget as “a planning document used to predict expenses and allocate resources for your organization.” While there are several types of nonprofit budgets you might create (such as budgets for specific programs or long-term fundraising campaigns), your annual operating budget serves as the master financial plan for your entire organization, making it a critical component of your strategy.
Let’s break down the two sides of an operating budget—revenue and expenses—in more detail.
Revenue
The revenue side of your nonprofit’s operating budget details all of the funds your organization expects to bring in throughout the year. To keep your budget organized and make more accurate projections, we recommend categorizing your revenue by source.
Here is a breakdown of the major nonprofit revenue sources and a few subcategories you might include under each one:
Individual donations: Small, mid-sized, and major gifts; event revenue; in-kind donations
Grants: Government grants, public and private foundation grants, Google Ad Grants
Having a combination of these revenue streams in your budget can help your organization achieve financial sustainability, as you’ll still have plenty of funding you can rely on if one source falls through. And if everything goes according to plan, you may have additional funds that you can reserve for the future or use to expand your organization.
Expenses
In general, nonprofits find it most useful to organize the expense side of their budget based on how their spending furthers their mission. These functional expense categories, as they’re known, are also consistent with nonprofit tax returns and other required reports.
The three types of functional expenses are:
Program costs, which are directly related to furthering your mission, meaning they’re different for every organization. For example, an animal shelter would include spending on pet food, toys, and medical supplies under their program costs.
Administrative costs, which are necessary for your nonprofit to operate and include expenses like staff salaries, utility bills, and purchases of office supplies.
Fundraising costs, which are the upfront costs associated with fundraising campaigns and include event planning, marketing, and fundraising software investments.
You may have heard of the 65/35 “rule” of nonprofit budgeting, which states that nonprofits should spend at least 65% of their funds on their programs and no more than 35% on administrative and fundraising costs combined. In reality, this breakdown looks different for every organization. Treat this rule as a guideline to help you allocate more funding toward your mission and cut administrative and fundraising costs where possible.
2. Implement Fiscal Policies
Fiscal policies give your team guidance on how to properly handle your nonprofit’s funds day-to-day as they act on the predictions in your budget. Make sure to implement the following regulations at your nonprofit:
Gift acceptance policy. This details the types of donations (both financial and in-kind) that your nonprofit can and can’t accept, as well as the circumstances under which you’ll accept each contribution.
Expense reimbursement policy. If your employees or volunteers spend their own money on behalf of your organization, this policy outlines whether they can be reimbursed and the procedure for providing reimbursements.
Investment policy. This provides guidelines for investing, withdrawing, and spending your nonprofit’s reserve funds so you can effectively save for the long term.
Staff compensation policy. This ensures all of your employees receive fair salaries and benefits while preventing overcompensation for leadership (which has damaged some nonprofits’ reputations).
Compile all of these policies in a shared organizational handbook so that your team members can easily reference them as they go about their daily tasks.
3. Compile Financial Statements
Think of your nonprofit’s financial documentation as guiding your organization’s activities before, during, and after funds change hands. Your budget applies before, your fiscal policy handbook during, and your financial statements after, since their purpose is to summarize financial data for easier analysis.
Here is an overview of the four core nonprofit financial statements and what each one reports:
Statement of activities: Revenue raised, expenses incurred, and change in net assets
Statement of financial position: Assets, liabilities, and net assets
Statement of cash flows: Cash movement in and out of your organization through operating, investing, and financing activities
Statement of functional expenses: Detailed breakdown of program, administrative, and fundraising costs incurred
These four documents are extremely useful for reporting your organization’s financial history and health on its annual tax return. Plus, DonorSearch recommends attaching your financial statements as appendices to your nonprofit’s annual report so supporters and stakeholders can learn more about how your organization has used its funds in the past year.
4. Hire a Bookkeeper and Accountant
Since bookkeepers and accountants both work with financial data, it’s common for nonprofits to confuse the two roles and only hire one or the other. However, bookkeepers and accountants have different functions within an organization, so you need both to effectively manage your finances.
Bookkeepers take care of your nonprofit’s day-to-day financial needs. Their duties include basic data entry, writing checks, making bank deposits, and running payroll. While bookkeepers need some basic training to do their jobs well, they don’t need specialized education or certifications.
Accountants, on the other hand, need at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field and a CPA certification to be qualified for their role. This is because accountants focus on financial data analysis and reporting tasks, such as reviewing your nonprofit’s budget and fiscal policies and filing tax forms. Having a bookkeeper to keep accurate records allows your accountant to focus on the analytical responsibilities they specialize in.
Pro tip: If your organization doesn’t have enough work to warrant hiring a full-time bookkeeper and accountant or the budget to do so, you can invest in outsourced nonprofit bookkeeping and accounting services to gain access to the financial expertise you need at a lower cost!
Every nonprofit has different financial goals, so keep that in mind as you consider how to apply the tips above at your organization. Also, remember to regularly revisit your budget, fiscal policies, and financial statements so that, with your bookkeeper’s and accountant’s help, you can stay on top of your nonprofit’s needs and create the best possible management strategy.
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When it comes to fundraising and marketing, your nonprofit needs to maximize its revenue in order to fund its important work. Aside from inspiring donors to give more, you must cultivate deeper relationships with them to show your appreciation and strengthen the community surrounding your organization.
Donor stewardship allows you to do both! In this guide, we’ll explore how you can cultivate major gifts through effective stewardship by covering the following topics:
What is donor stewardship?
How to steward donors
Donor stewardship tools
Donor stewardship is not just a fundraising strategy, but an important part of building the community that defines your nonprofit. That’s why you’ll need a thorough understanding of stewardship before you can develop a plan of action.
What is donor stewardship?
Donor stewardship is the process of building relationships with donors after they make a gift to your nonprofit. By strengthening these relationships, you’ll help donors feel a sense of loyalty to your organization, increasing the likelihood that they’ll give again—and sometimes in larger quantities!
Effective donor stewardship can help your nonprofit in many ways, but it also benefits the donor. Building a relationship with donors and encouraging a response initiates reciprocal communication, through which both your organization and your donor benefit from stewardship.
How to steward donors
Understanding the benefits of donor stewardship should incline you to take action. Use the following stewardship strategies to start cultivating major gifts.
1. Thank the donor for their gift.
Not only should you thank donors for their contributions, but you must thank them as quickly as you can. As a result, supporters will associate giving with the positive feeling of being appreciated, and this sets the foundation of your stewardship campaign. Once a donor feels recognized the moment they contribute time, money, or other resources to your nonprofit, you’re poised to continue this stewardship.
Email:CharityEngine’s nonprofit donations guide recommends leaning on email as the foundation of your fundraising strategy, and that includes following up with thank-you emails!
Events: Donor appreciation events are like a grand gesture of gratitude and can double as stewardship opportunities when you offer additional ways to give at the event.
eCards: Make thank-you messages fun with exciting animations and branded designs on digital greeting cards. For example, Youth for Understanding (YFU) created the following digital card to celebrate its 70th anniversary and express gratitude for those who have donated.
Timely appreciation and personalized outreach are the key to donor stewardship. The more you can learn about your donors, the easier it is to develop genuine relationships with them and encourage greater giving. For example, understanding why a donor gives to your organization can provide valuable insights that will help your stewardship efforts.
2. Research and segment your donors.
To send messages and plan stewardship activities that resonate with donors, you’ll first need an understanding of their ability and motivation to give. Research your supporters and append any existing data to gain a comprehensive view of their involvement with your organization. Some key questions to ask include:
Where do they live? Local supporters may be available for in-person stewardship activities, such as volunteer opportunities, facility tours, or a luncheon with your board members. Supporters who live farther away may be more responsive to virtual events or consistent communications.
Why do they donate? Knowing why a donor gives can indicate what would motivate them to increase that gift. For example, if they donate in honor of a loved one, you might ask them to make a larger tribute gift on special days.
What is the frequency of their giving? Recurring donors may be promising candidates for major gifts. In addition to pursuing them as major donors, guide other supporters through the giving levels by asking one-time donors for another gift and occasional donors for a monthly commitment.
What are their communication preferences? Donors are more likely to increase their gift size when you ask through the communication channels they frequently use. For example, send an email newsletter about the importance of major gifts to the group that prefers to receive messages this way.
This information can be used in your marketing efforts, too, when creating social media posts or crafting email newsletters. For example, you may learn that your college-aged donors tend to use Instagram daily. If these individuals are young, unemployed college students, they may be more receptive to a crowdfunding campaign rather than major giving.
3. Create a stewardship matrix.
Equipped with information about your donors, you’re ready to create a specific plan for donor stewardship. Double the Donation’s donor stewardship guide recommends organizing this information in a stewardship matrix, which is an outline of the method and cadence your nonprofit will use when reaching out to donors.
Following this matrix ensures that you’re engaging your supporters throughout the donor journey. Consistent communication will keep your nonprofit at the top of a supporter’s mind and keep your mission relevant when it’s time to choose where to give.
Donor stewardship tools
Now that you have a donor stewardship plan, you’re likely ready to jump in and start fundraising! However, you’ll need the right tools to execute this plan and ensure your fundraising succeeds.
Major gifts features help you identify opportunities and track their progress.
Email automation will make it easy to communicate regularly with donors.
Robust reporting and analytics will help you segment your donors according to any filters you want.
Optimized online forms can help increase conversions.
Your stewardship efforts are more valuable when you have technology that records and tracks all engagement with your nonprofit. With a close view of your donors and their activities, you can quickly discern whether or not your stewardship efforts are working. If not, you’ll have the data to see where you’re falling short, and you can quickly pivot to keep those donors engaged.
https://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/CharityEngine_NXUnite_Donor-Stewardship-Tips-for-Cultivating-Major-Gifts_Feature.png7841676wpenginehttps://nxunite.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NXUnite-by-nexus-marketing-White-3.svgwpengine2024-03-18 14:41:322024-03-18 14:41:33Donor Stewardship: Tips for Cultivating Major Gifts
Becoming Excellent at Post-Event Follow-Up: 5 Tested Tips
It can take six months or longer to plan a nonprofit event and market it effectively. Then, the event itself requires careful management and will inevitably face a few challenges. When it’s all said and done, an event planning team may be (understandably) ready for a break, but one final step is always needed: post-event follow-up.
Follow-up is an indispensable aspect of donor engagement for solidifying supporter relationships after they’ve attended an event. Let’s explore five tested tips for mastering follow-up and securing long-term support.
1. Segment your audience.
71% of donors feel more engaged when they receive personalized content, meaning you can use what you know about your audience to divide them into groups related to their interests and send them meaningful and unique follow-ups.
Donor segmentation is the process of dividing donors into groups based on shared characteristics, which will, in this case, depend on the type of event you host. Here are some common segments you may create relevant to event follow-up:
To make your follow-up even more individualized, create donor recognition tiers based on levels of engagement. eCardWidget’s donor recognition guide recommends assigning different types of recognition to each tier to keep your efforts organized. For example, an attendee who donated for the first time might receive a thank you card in the mail, while one who has been deeply involved with your organization for many years may receive a thank you card and a branded t-shirt.
2. Establish a detailed follow-up schedule.
Communication frequency is essential to engagement, as your nonprofit must find the balance between keeping donors informed and avoiding donor fatigue. This balance will vary greatly depending on your event attendees. For example, we know that Millenials prefer more frequent communication than other generations, and fundraising statistics show that email is the most preferred channel by 48% of donors.
Create a post-event follow-up schedule that details when a message should be sent and the content it should include. It might look something like this:
Additionally, consider donor preferences such as preferred communication channels. For example, you might send a donor thank-you email immediately after the event and share the event’s impact in social media posts so that it reaches a wider audience.
3. Provide valuable content.
Vague, dull, and irrelevant content can cause nearly 75% of donors to stop giving to an organization. To keep event attendees engaged after your event ends, your follow-up must provide valuable content.
Meaningful, authentic messages go a long way in thanking donors. Infuse your follow-up with valuable content, including:
To gather numbers-related data to share with attendees, use an event management tool with analytics and reporting features. These platforms can generate reports based on your event’s performance, making it easy for your nonprofit to share data-based insights with attendees.
4. Keep the conversation going.
Effective post-event follow-up results in committed and loyal donors who attend future events and support your organization long-term. This means sending follow-up messages that encourage donors to stay engaged and even join the conversation!
Invite attendees to share their experiences or respond to your nonprofit’s communications. This might include sharing their pictures and videos from the event on social media or commenting on your nonprofit’s posts. Social media is the top marketing tool for facilitating two-way communication since it inspires nearly one-third of donors to give and is widely regarded as highly interactive because of its commenting and sharing capabilities.
5. Plan ahead using data-backed insights.
In addition to thinking ahead about keeping donors engaged, your nonprofit must also use the follow-up period to prepare for its future campaigns. Gather data about donors’ readiness to support future initiatives, such as a capital campaign.
This feedback can come not only from the post-event survey you send but from a variety of sources. NPOInfo recommends leveraging post-event data metrics, such as attendance records and lead generation. You can also gain insights by:
Gathering feedback and doing your research shows event attendees that your nonprofit values their opinions. When you implement their ideas and address their concerns, they won’t just attend future events—they’ll become committed supporters.
Your nonprofit knows that donor recognition and appreciation are crucial aspects of follow-up for any event or campaign. Using the tips in this guide, you can take post-event follow-up a step further to convert event attendees into loyal supporters of your cause.
Sustainable Fundraising: Strategies for Long-Term Viability
Your mission statement is the ultimate declaration of what your organization stands for and hopes to accomplish in the long run. For instance, the American Heart Association’s mission is to “be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. As we move into the second century of our work, we are advancing health and hope for everyone, everywhere.”
This statement demonstrates that this organization is not just trying to help people fight heart disease and stroke in the present moment but is instead committed to helping people stay in better health for the long term.
When your goals are focused on the future, you need sustainable fundraising strategies that help you consistently progress toward these objectives. We’ll provide fundraising tips for how your nonprofit can achieve long-term viability.
1. Create a fundraising plan.
Before you start a fundraiser, you need a clear plan to guide you. This plan should align your entire fundraising team so everyone’s aware of your top priorities and their individual responsibilities for achieving your goals. By making your campaigns more manageable and providing a framework for future fundraising initiatives, your fundraising plan will help you achieve long-term viability.
Follow these steps to create a fundraising plan that will set you up for continued success:
To ensure your plan includes all necessary information, use a dedicated fundraising plan template to keep everything organized. Once you find a template that works for your team, you can reuse it for all future fundraising initiatives to build consistency.
2. Diversify your revenue streams.
When you have multiple revenue streams, you can be more confident in your organization’s ability to reach its fundraising goals and provide for its beneficiaries, even if one funding source dries up. Examples of potential revenue streams include:
Maximize these revenue opportunities by combining them as your organization sees fit. For example, you may host your annual spring festival fundraiser where you also sell flower bulbs to earn extra funds.
3. Focus on donor retention.
According to Double the Donation’s donor retention guide, the average donor retention rate for nonprofits is 45%, meaning that the majority of donors don’t make repeat donations. The cost of acquiring donors who only give once makes it significantly more cost-effective to keep current donors around instead.
Plus, the more donors you retain, the better you’ll facilitate a community around your cause instead of a group of disparate one-time givers. Some ways you might increase donor retention include:
Get a sense of how successful your donor retention efforts are by asking supporters directly. Consider surveying them once a quarter to see whether they feel inclined to keep contributing to your organization, and question if there is anything else your nonprofit could do to provide them with a better experience.
4. Involve a variety of stakeholders.
When you engage a variety of stakeholders in the fundraising process, you take the pressure off your staff to facilitate all fundraising activities, making it easier to run campaigns efficiently. For instance, you may train board members and volunteers to lead donor cultivation and solicitation activities so you can better distribute your fundraising team’s work.
Reaching out to local businesses can also alleviate concerns about reaching your fundraising goals or hitting your targets in a timely manner. Many companies are willing to sponsor events, contribute in-kind donations, or promote your organization online. Look for businesses with similar values to your organization so the partnership is mutually beneficial. For example, an environmental conservation organization may work with an upcycled clothing brand.
Lastly, if your fundraiser involves kids, teach them how to fundraise on behalf of your organization. Not only can schools and student groups raise more for their causes with more helping hands, but they can also teach kids the importance of giving back. As ABC Fundraising’s fundraising ideas for kids guide states, 80% of parents who model philanthropic behavior see it reflected in their children. Set a good example for the kids in your organization, and reach your fundraising goals more quickly at the same time.
Continue supporting your beneficiaries and upholding your mission for the long haul with sustainable fundraising ideas and practices. That way, you can rest assured you’ll see a regular inflow of donations to your organization that enable you to carry out your important work for years to come.
5 Ways You Can Streamline College Admissions with Texts
These days, a significant portion of college life happens on students’ phones. On average, students spend almost 95 minutes a day texting—meaning that if you want their attention, you need to meet them there. This is true for both current and prospective university students.
Fortunately, the applications and uses for higher education SMS are limitless. From recruitment all the way to graduation and beyond, text messages can help you deliver a better and more engaging student experience.
In this guide, we’ll focus on where text messages fit into the admissions process. We’ll discuss how the right strategies and technology can boost efficiency and help you build relationships with prospective and admitted students. Let’s dive into five ways you can leverage SMS for admissions.
1. Connect with prospective students.
Text messages are the perfect communication channel for getting prospective students’ attention and building genuine relationships that make them interested in learning more about your school.
But why should you opt for texts instead of traditional channels like email or direct mail? Mogli’s SMS marketing guide explains that texts are the best choice because they’re easy for recipients to read and easy for your team to send with an intuitive text marketing app. Plus, SMS messages have an impressive 98% open rate, meaning recipients are much more likely to open your text messages than emails.
To leverage this channel to connect with prospective students, you might use texts to:
Ideally, you should build out a strategic SMS campaign cadence for prospects so you don’t overwhelm them with too many messages in a short time. For instance, you might use a content calendar to space out messages across the fall semester or use automation tools to set up certain prospect actions that trigger relevant messages.
2. Send application reminders.
Most applicants aren’t just applying to your school—they’re likely deep into their college search and may feel overwhelmed with all the applications and details they need to keep track of. Help out prospective students and encourage them to apply by sending simple text reminders about upcoming deadlines, the status of their applications, and other important announcements.
Plus, using the best SMS marketing apps, you can easily automate messages for certain groups to streamline these reminders. For example, you might segment prospective students in your database based on their:
Setting up automated reminders saves your staff time, keeps prospective students in the loop, and delivers a better overall admissions experience. Even if they apply to five other colleges, these messages will give them a positive impression of your school that they’ll remember when it comes time to make their decision.
3. Respond to questions quickly.
One-to-one text messages open the door for impactful two-way communication, empowering prospects and admitted students to ask questions and bring up concerns directly to your admissions team. Instead of leaving applicants and students in the dark or losing their questions in mountains of emails, you can answer with a quick text.
When you receive a question via text, any of your team members can respond quickly to get students the information they need to navigate the admissions process with ease. With a unified SMS app that integrates with your CRM, all relevant team members can see and respond to text conversations at any time. Follow-up questions will stay organized in the same text thread so no data gets lost in the shuffle.
Get a question you can’t answer? Pass their text message along to the financial aid team or the appropriate counselor. You can even direct prospects to pages on your website with more information by sending them a link directly.
4. Provide real-time application updates.
As every admissions counselor knows, applicants have a lot on their plates. Their future often feels unclear until they know if they’ve been admitted to their top school and made their decision, and they feel this pressure acutely. Anything you can do to ease their minds during the application process and keep them as up-to-date as possible will help.
One easy way to do so is to send real-time updates about general admission, financial aid, and scholarship applications via text. Applicants can read all the details in their emails, but they’ll greatly appreciate an immediate text alert when their application status changes.
For example, you might send the following texts to update applicants:
The easiest way to send these texts is to integrate your text automation tools with your CRM or application management software. If you go this route, Acceptd’s application management software guide suggests finding a solution with intuitive progress tracking features. This way, you can set up automated messages based on application progress and status changes.
5. Support new students in their transition into college life.
With the right SMS strategies, you can engage students with text messages throughout their entire journey with your university, from prospect to full-time student to alum.
Don’t stop texting students once they’re admitted! Use SMS to help them prepare for the transition to college life during the summer and throughout their first semester. For example, you might send the following message to students admitted to your liberal arts program in July:
Langston, are you getting excited about coming to campus yet? We can’t wait! 🎉 Check out our blog post about the most important dorm supplies to pack here.
You can use messages like this to send reminders about room assignments, blog posts to ramp up excitement, and more. Put yourself in the shoes of incoming freshmen and write messages that speak to their needs, emotions, and concerns about coming to college.
All of these tips will help you connect with prospective and admitted students in the format that they’re most comfortable with—texts. Best of all, the power of texts extends beyond the admissions process. You can use SMS to improve your university’s fundraising, alumni engagement, student communications, and so much more.
4 Tips for Handling Unexpected Challenges During Events
When planning an event for your nonprofit or association, you’re probably focused on securing a venue, soliciting sponsor support, and encouraging people to register for your event online. Likely, you’re not anticipating things that could go awry at your event. However, all event organizers know there’s a chance that something will go wrong, such as the internet going out, your check-in software malfunctioning, or attendees getting lost.
While you can’t always prevent these issues from popping up, you can prepare yourself to tackle them head-on and ensure your event remains a success. In this guide, we’ll cover tips for handling unexpected event challenges so you can remain calm, cool, and collected if and when disaster strikes.
1. Create a crisis response plan.
Before your event, create a plan for addressing specific protocols and procedures your staff should follow in the case of an unexpected challenge or emergency. While you can’t anticipate every potential issue, list risks and scenarios that could arise and how your team would handle them.
For example, let’s say you’re hosting a panel as part of your virtual event, and the featured panelist loses internet connection, causing them to miss the session. In this scenario, you’d want to have answers to the following questions ready to go:
Additionally, delegate roles for your event staff, volunteers, and other key stakeholders in a possible crisis. That way, everyone knows their responsibilities and can prepare themselves to take action instead of overwhelming the event organizers with questions and concerns.
2. Familiarize yourself with your event tech in advance.
When you’re hosting an event, many of the potential issues you’re anticipating likely have to do with the event technology you’re using. Make sure all staff and stakeholders know how to use the software they’re responsible for—whether that’s your event management platform, app, video conferencing software, text-to-give tool, or something else entirely.
To get all team members on board with your event technology, follow these steps:
Additionally, EventMobi’s event management software guide recommends looking into the customer support options for your event tools. Will you be able to contact them during the event just in case of an emergency? Some providers will even send a representative of their team on-site, which can help ensure everything runs smoothly and that your team can quickly resolve any issues with the software.
3. Communicate effectively with stakeholders.
If things don’t go as planned, being open and transparent with your stakeholders is essential. Keep everyone informed about the situation—including event staff, exhibitors, sponsors, speakers, and attendees—by:
While you may be nervous about disclosing any problems or shortcomings during your event, your stakeholders will prefer your honesty over attempts to cover up the issue and hide it from those involved with your event.
4. Learn from your experience.
Mistakes happen, but it’s how you handle them that matters. After your event, debrief and evaluate how your team handled any challenges. Compare your original crisis plan to what actually occurred, and make updates as needed.
Then, document any lessons learned, best practices, and key takeaways to inform your future event planning and management efforts. For instance, if your conference venue was difficult for attendees to find and didn’t have adequate on-site parking, you may note to seek out another venue for your next event.
Lastly, ask stakeholders for their input. According to 360MatchPro, 66% of people volunteer to improve their community, and 83% volunteer to contribute to a cause they care about. These statistics demonstrate that your volunteers—and other stakeholders—are invested in your success, and they may be able to offer insight into what worked well and what didn’t from a different perspective.
With a plan (and the right mindset) for mitigating challenges, your team will be better prepared to handle any unexpected issues, hopefully alleviating some stress for your organization. After the event, be sure to thank attendees for their patience and positivity despite any challenges that may have occurred, and follow up with additional event or engagement opportunities.
How and Why Do Today’s Companies Donate to Nonprofits?
Companies gave $29.48 billion to nonprofits last year, representing an incredible 3.4% increase. Nonprofits Source shared these impressive numbers in its corporate giving trends article, indicating that companies proactively seek causes like yours to support.
The benefits of corporate support for nonprofits are clear: more revenue, extra volunteer power, and greater brand exposure. But what’s in it for the businesses? It turns out quite a bit!
It’s about more than just looking good or getting a tax write-off. A lot is happening behind the scenes, and we’re excited to share a peek. First, we’ll explore common ways companies give back before diving into the corporate motivations behind these programs. That way, you can find the best opportunities for your cause and confidently interact with companies.
5 Ways Companies Donate to Nonprofits
From employee giving programs to direct donations, corporate giving looks different at every business, yet some programs are more popular than others. Let’s start with the most impactful one.
1. Matching Gifts
Corporate matching gifts help companies give back year-round. When a business offers this program, it promises to match employees’ donations to eligible nonprofits. The approach is straightforward:
These programs empower your nonprofit to boost donations. When someone is on the fence, being match-eligible may be the push they need to give. In fact, 84% of donors are more likely to donate if they know their gift is match-eligible. In some cases, donors will actually give more — 1 in every 3 donors to be exact.
Knowing a match is on the line even gamifies the giving experience, especially when an employer sets an annual donation goal. There’s just one problem: a lack of awareness.
You need to educate donors about these programs. Our favorite option is to embed a search tool into your donation page:
This catches donors’ attention during the height of their engagement. Using the matching gift database, they can research their companies’ guidelines. Matching gift automation software can also follow up with donors based on eligibility. While a match-eligible donor may receive an email linking to their employer’s match-request form, a donor with unknown match eligibility may be prompted to research their eligibility.
Go further than that by featuring matching gifts on your Ways to Give page, a dedicated matching gifts page, fundraising appeals, and social media. Share testimonials from beneficiaries about how an increased donation helped them, and ask your corporate partners to promote the opportunity to employees.
2. Volunteer Grants
Corporate volunteers already lend a helping hand, but did you know some employers will donate to further volunteers’ impact?
Volunteer grants are financial donations companies make to nonprofits where their employees volunteer regularly. This monetizes the volunteer hours their workforce contributes. For example, a company might donate $25 per volunteer hour, with a minimum of 5 hours required.
This encourages employees to engage in community service, knowing additional financial backing will amplify their efforts. Your matching gift database may even house information on companies’ volunteer grant programs, helping you pinpoint these opportunities.
3. Direct Donations
Other common ways companies give back are direct donations, grants, and sponsorships. For instance, AP News reports that Yield Giving, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s foundation, announced it would give $640 million to 361 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications. The open call asked for community-led nonprofits with missions “to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means.” Eligibility was limited to nonprofits with annual budgets between $1-$5 million.
According to Renee Karibi-Whyte, the senior vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, open grant opportunities empower organizations without connections to specific funders. These opportunities surface organizations that wouldn’t otherwise have access to those offering major funding. Her company advises funders who run competitive grants and philanthropic prize competitions.
Companies often offer grants through their foundations. For example, 360MatchPro’s list of corporate philanthropy examples shares that the Coca-Cola Foundation awarded $94.8 million in grants to over 300 organizations in 2022.
4. In-Kind Gifts
Companies give in-kind donations of goods or services, enabling them to leverage their unique assets to support charity. Here are common examples of in-kind donations:
In-kind gifts can directly fulfill your nonprofit’s specific operational needs or project requirements, reducing expenses and allowing you to allocate your budget directly toward your programs.
5. Cause Marketing
When a company donates a percentage of its sales, it’s known as cause marketing. This approach supports and advertises your nonprofit while also increasing consumer loyalty by aligning the company’s products and services with social causes.
For example, Bombas is a popular retailer. For every item a customer buys, the company donates a pair of socks, a t-shirt, or underwear to a shelter, transitional living facility, or other relevant organization. Through its network of over 3,500 Giving Partners, Bombas has donated over 100 million items.
4 Reasons Companies Donate to Nonprofits
If you’re a corporate partnerships manager at your nonprofit, understanding how companies give back is important, but you also need to understand why businesses engage in philanthropy. Then, you can align your communication strategy with each company’s goals and interests to secure financial support.
1. Communicate their values
Donating to nonprofits demonstrates a company’s commitment to specific social, environmental, or ethical issues, reinforcing its core values to consumers, employees, and stakeholders.
It’s about strengthening brand reputation, aligning the company’s image with stakeholders’ values, and using resources to influence the causes it supports.
To do this, companies often donate to causes aligned with their products and services. For example, The John Deere Foundation recently announced a three-year $3.9 million grant to the National FFA Organization. For context, John Deere manufactures agricultural machinery, lawn care equipment, and similar products. The unrestricted grant will enable the FFA to provide resources and educational programs to students interested in agricultural career pathways.
“This support truly helps us work toward our mission of preparing members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success,” said FFA President Molly Ball.
As you can imagine, that grant will go a long way in supporting one of John Deere’s core values: a love for agriculture. Consider how your mission aligns with different companies’ values.
2. Boost employee satisfaction
Employees seek companies that give back to charity. Our employee giving research found that 86% of employees want to participate in corporate giving. CSR programs are linked to increased employee engagement, improved productivity, and reduced turnover by up to 50%.
Corporate philanthropy gives employees a sense of purpose beyond daily business operations. In particular, workplace giving involves employees in philanthropy.
Matching gifts make employees actively involved in corporate philanthropy. Meanwhile, volunteer grants turn employees’ hands-on involvement into financial support that amplifies their impact. Then, in-kind gifts allow employees to leverage their professional skills or contribute goods to nonprofits.
Knowing this, your nonprofit can target corporate employees to direct their workplace giving contributions to your cause. You can also communicate this benefit to corporate partners to increase their likelihood of launching these programs.
3. Tax Deductions
While companies genuinely want to give back, charitable spending is also tax-deductible. This financial incentive makes philanthropy more economically feasible for businesses and encourages them to allocate more resources toward social causes.
Use this compelling point in fundraising pitches. By highlighting donations’ altruistic and fiscal advantages, your nonprofit can strengthen its case for support and show businesses how contributing can be financially prudent.
4. Market Expansion
When a company donates to your nonprofit, it can connect with your donors, volunteers, and other corporate sponsors. That means it can introduce its brand to new markets and demographics. Plus, these new audience members will already know that the company has a philanthropic mindset, positioning the brand favorably in their eyes.
The best part is that this benefit goes both ways! Your nonprofit can access new donors and volunteers from the business’s loyal customers and employees. Corporate giving isn’t limited to industry giants either; local businesses can also boost your reach, connecting you with community members invested in making a difference.
In conversations with businesses, propose marketing their brand as a trade-off for financial support. For instance, if companies sponsor your upcoming 5K, promise to display their logos on promotional materials and event signage, offering them valuable visibility in return for their backing.
Getting Started
Companies donate in various ways for various reasons. There’s a growing commitment among businesses to contribute beyond mere profit-making, but the main point is companies are more philanthropic than ever.
Your nonprofit needs to tap into these opportunities. When navigating this evolving terrain, understanding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of corporate giving is crucial for fostering beneficial partnerships.
Start by searching your CRM for matching gift and volunteer grant opportunities. Contact eligible supporters and explain the grant application process. When your nonprofit joins forces with philanthropic businesses like this, the potential for positive change is boundless.
Nonprofit Chart of Accounts: A Guide for Getting Started
Between the limitations of restricted funds and the need to continue fueling charitable missions, your nonprofit must keep organized data for a successful approach to accounting. A foundational tool for keeping organized finances is the nonprofit chart of accounts (COA), which is a resource that records your organization’s financial activity.
In this quick guide, we’ll explore how you can create a COA by covering the following topics:
As a nonprofit leader, you know that accurate financial records and reporting are crucial to maintaining your 501(c)(3) status. Let’s explore the basics of COAs so your organization can establish a system for reliable recordkeeping.
What is a nonprofit chart of accounts?
A nonprofit chart of accounts (COA) is a spreadsheet or table that lists an organization’s financial accounts and ledgers. This table is a directory of your nonprofit’s financial records, helping you organize important information about your finances. It is typically divided into five categories:
While it offers a broad overview of your finances rather than a deep dive into insightful metrics, your COA is the foundation upon which you’ll build reports that summarize your financial data, such as your:
According to Double the Donation, these financial statements are helpful when filing Form 990, which has a direct impact on your nonprofit’s ability to maintain tax exemption! In other words, your COA is an important tool for finding the information you need to file, as well as navigating financial records in case of an audit.
How to create a nonprofit chart of accounts
Every nonprofit’s finances are unique, and your chart of accounts will be, too. Although your chart must be organized in a way that makes sense for your organization, you can use the following steps to guide its development.
1. Determine your numbering convention.
A chart of accounts uses a numbering convention to identify certain categories of financial data. While your organization can use whatever system works best for your data, the numbers are usually organized as follows:
You’ll use this numbering system to categorize your financial data and then create subcategories to make your records as detailed as possible. For example, your subcategories might look something like this:
Depending on the complexity of your budget, you may need to get more specific with each category. For example, money spent on donor recognition efforts may be lumped in with fundraising expenses or given its own category. Ultimately, it depends on how much your nonprofit gains and spends in a given category.
2. Fill in the account information.
Once you’ve determined how you’ll categorize financial data, it’s time to set up the document! List your financial activity according to your category numbers and their names. Place the account number in one column and its name in the next.
For example, your list of assets might look something like this:
In the next column, you’ll list the main category for these records, which would be “Assets” in our example.
3. Add notes as necessary.
For extra transparency in your financial records, be sure to include a column for notes. This way, you’ll be able to look back on your spreadsheet and remember exactly what each account refers to.
For example, if your nonprofit relies on fundraising event revenue, it might be helpful to categorize fundraisers by event type and include a note for more details. This way, you’d be able to see that record 4200 refers to the revenue collected from product fundraisers specifically, rather than a lump amount of all fundraising revenue.
Best practices for maintaining your chart
After your nonprofit creates its chart of accounts, you need to maintain it over time to ensure it accurately reflects your changing financial activities and circumstances. To ensure you properly maintain this resource, employ the following best practices:
Above all, remember to include room for growth in your COA. Your nonprofit’s finances will change over time, and the best way to account for that is to make the chart easily editable. Additionally, familiarize yourself with each account to avoid creating unnecessary ones when it’s time to log a new activity.
Many nonprofits start as a charitable mission with a few initiatives, then expand over time into an organized operation with a clear mission and fundraising approach. Naturally, your nonprofit’s finances can become increasingly complex as a result. With a COA, you’ll be able to stay organized with your accounting, ensuring you comply with nonprofit requirements.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing Event Management Software
For event planners at an association, nonprofit, or other organization, investing in the right event management software can streamline many of your tasks, making your job easier.
From large trade shows to fundraising events, having an event platform that facilitates planning, alleviates common bottlenecks, and enhances the attendee experience can ensure success every time. It also ensures your organization has ongoing access to data that you can use to guide your future decision-making.
However, there are a lot of options on the market and not all of them provide the same level of support or effectiveness. Here’s how to make the best decision before you invest.
What is Event Management Software?
Event management software is a tool that supports the entire planning process for your event. This typically includes online registration, attendee badging and check-in, and gathering reporting data.
Well-selected event management software is capable of:
The best event management software helps you plan and execute events from start to finish.
Types of Event Management Software
Every organization’s event needs are different, which is why there are so many different platforms to choose from. There are primarily two types of event management software:
Specialized Single-Purpose Tools
Some software products are single-purpose tools, meaning they are very good at doing one thing or one event. These tools can typically handle tasks like:
If one single, specialized platform meets your specific end goal, it may be more cost-effective to consider this option.
All-in-One Event Management Software
All-in-one event software aims to address all of your event needs in a single platform. This typically includes all event planning tasks, including those listed above.
While these platforms have a higher cost, they can streamline event planning by keeping the entire project within a single application. This often includes everything from registration, event marketing, and event reporting. Their more robust features make them ideal when you’re not just planning a single event but likely will host multiple over time.
What are the Common Features of Event Management Software?
Depending on your event needs, your software should include the tools and features necessary to plan an effective event and manage it from start to finish. There are numerous areas to consider, such as:
Sponsor Management
Managing sponsors is critical for all event planning teams. Event sponsorship management features can include:
These features streamline the sponsorship process, enhance sponsor engagement, and maximize the value for both event organizers and sponsors.
Registration Technology
Most event management solutions support establishing and managing your event registration process. Though tools are different, expect to find features like:
These features are designed to make the registration process as smooth and efficient as possible, improving the experience for attendees and providing event organizers with essential data and insights for future event planning and marketing.
Event Marketing
Many platforms offer marketing tools that will assist in growing your total registration and attendance. Some of the most common features of event marketing are:
Having a strong marketing plan is vital to ensuring your event produces the ROI needed to make the whole event worth it.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Event Management Software
Before deciding on any platform, it’s crucial to know what you need the tool to do based on the way you run your event. Effective event management software must meet your specific needs, and while these may change, consider what key factors matter most or how adaptable your prospective platform is. Here are several essential factors to keep in mind:
Event Goals and Objectives
When selecting event management software, consider how the solution aligns with your event’s objectives and the overarching goals of your organization.
The software you choose should not only resonate with these goals but should also amplify your ability to achieve them with finesse and precision. It’s about finding a tool that transforms your vision into reality, fostering an environment where every aspect of your event is seamlessly orchestrated to meet, and even exceed, your attendees’ expectations.
Attendee and Staff Experience
The software you select should specifically address the types of experiences you hope to create for both attendees and event staff. Giving your attendees an impactful experience is key to building relationships. Always look for:
Keep an eye out for solutions with an easy-to-use but intuitive interface and supportive tools. You don’t want to make more work for your team or make it complicated for attendees to get the support they need.
Event Planning Frequency
How often do you plan to host events? For occasional or one-time events, you need solutions that align just with that type. However, if you’re hosting events on a regular schedule, it’s more important to ensure the planning and execution of multiple events at one time can work well together.
Necessary Features
While event software with a plethora of features might seem attractive, focus on those that are essential for your specific requirements. Identify the features that are critical to your event’s success. This could range from registration and ticketing systems to attendee engagement tools or analytics.
Software bloated with features you’ll never use can lead to unnecessary complexity and costs. It’s important to differentiate between ‘nice-to-have’ and ‘must-have’ features. Use cost-effective decision-making and keep your budget in mind as you conduct research into potential options.
Integrations
Many organizations use a variety of digital tools in their daily operations. The right integrations with an event management system can keep everything smooth and organized. Consider tools that align with your CRM, for example.
Steps to Choosing the Best Event Management Software
Navigating the event management software landscape can be intimidating, with an array of options each boasting unique features and capabilities. However, selecting the right software is crucial for your event’s success. Simplify your decision-making by following these steps:
1. Understand your event management needs.
Using your event goals, figure out what specific needs you want your event management software to address. For instance, consider:
Note these down and use these as a reference as you begin exploring potential event solutions for your organization.
2. Identify your event management software non-negotiables.
Every event management solution should support the way you plan to operate your events over time. Outline factors you consider non-negotiable or the specific features and tools you want your product to offer. This may include:
For example, if you’re planning to host a hybrid or virtual event, you might want to prioritize solutions that make it easy for you to engage attendees online.
3. Research and compare software providers.
Once you have these lists, it’s time to check out the products on the market. During your research, consider the following information:
Compare each solution based on your requirements and needs to start compiling the top options for your team to consider.
4. Request demos or sign up for free trials.
With your shortlist created, ask for demos or sign up for trial periods that allow you to test-drive prospective platforms. Take the time to read through and understand the often unseen aspects of new software like:
Once you’ve asked any specific questions and gotten a clearer understanding of how the platforms work, re-assemble your team and make your decision.
Choosing the right event management software tailored to your specific needs can transform how you orchestrate your events. By thoroughly evaluating and comparing available options, you can make a strategic decision that will yield long-term benefits, enhancing the way you manage and execute your events for years to come.
4 Ways to Leverage Your CRM to Connect with Alumni
Your university’s alumni don’t just give back by donating to fundraising campaigns. They also help current students, represent your school in the community, and so much more. Because of all they do for their alma maters, engaging and connecting with alumni regularly is a priority for most universities.
But to engage thousands or tens of thousands of alumni—all with different interests and relationships with your university—you need the right tool.
Your constituent relationship management (CRM) system houses all the data you need to successfully communicate with alumni. We’ll cover four strategies for leveraging this impactful tool to improve alumni relationships. Let’s dive in!
1. Identify opportunities to improve alumni offerings.
According to Redpath Consulting Group, one of the biggest benefits of a robust CRM is that it gives you a holistic, 360-degree view of every constituent in your database. By centralizing data in alumni profiles, your staff can get a better understanding of your alumni and the ways they want to engage with your university, allowing you to improve your offerings based on their preferences.
For instance, say that you track survey results in your CRM and recently sent out a survey about your Young Alum Mentoring program. You can analyze survey results both:
To engage alumni based on the feedback above, you might put extra effort into recruiting more STEM and liberal arts mentors. Or, if you discover that the most highly requested change to the Young Alum program is the age cutoff, you can extend the program to anyone who graduated in the last 10 years.
2. Personalize alumni outreach.
In addition to using the information in your CRM to improve your offerings, you can use information about your alumni’s interests, habits, and preferences to personalize your communications. The more tailored and relevant your alumni outreach is, the more likely each recipient is to read and engage with your messages.
A robust higher education CRM can help you enhance your alumni communications with the following features:
To see these tactics in action, take a look at this example email message that recognizes recent alumni donors who graduated from a university’s business school:
Felicia, thank you so much for your generous $200 donation to the Randolph School of Business. Your gift will go towards scholarships for BIPOC students with dreams of earning their MBAs just like you did. Our current and incoming students appreciate your passion for excellence and inclusivity—thank you again!
3. Manage events.
Events are one of the most common ways that universities engage their alumni, whether they take the form of class reunions, volunteering events, or virtual public lectures. Your CRM can help you manage all of your alumni events by centralizing event data and automating reports and outreach.
A comprehensive CRM solution will allow you to:
Plus, you can analyze data about your event’s success after the fact, helping you improve future event marketing and management. For instance, Double the Donation explains that tools like Google Analytics can help you report on user behaviors on your alumni website. By tracking website engagement data in your CRM, you can discover how engaging your event landing pages are and identify ways to improve them.
4. Engage alumni in fundraising.
Higher education CRMs include a variety of features designed to help institutions track and boost fundraising. You can record donations, monitor fundraising metrics, send personalized donation appeals, and more.
By leveraging these features with alumni engagement in mind, you can increase the number of alumni who participate in your fundraisers and improve their experiences. Features like donor segmentation, marketing automation, and donation histories allow you to streamline alumni fundraising and track your results.
For example, say that you’re promoting a capital campaign to renovate a beloved dormitory and give students living there a better experience. You might use your CRM to take the following steps to engage more alumni in fundraising:
Once the campaign is over, you can easily use your CRM to follow up with all the alumni who participated in or engaged with the capital campaign. Then, you might add them to a new segment of capital campaign donors and tailor future appeals based on their interest in this campaign.
If you need help taking full advantage of your CRM or feel that your current system isn’t meeting your university’s needs, connect with a higher education technology consultant. These experts can analyze your tech stack, recommend new solutions or integrations to fill gaps, and even implement a new CRM for you. When you have a robust CRM you can leverage strategically, you’ll be able to engage alumni more effectively and efficiently.
Funding Your Mission: 4 Nonprofit Financial Management Tips
When you think about your nonprofit’s funding, the first thing that comes to mind is probably fundraising. Your team likely plans and launches multiple fundraisers throughout each year to bring in enough revenue to fund the various initiatives associated with furthering your mission.
However, proper financial management is just as important as fundraising for making a difference in the community. As funding comes in, you have to carefully plan how you’re going to spend it in order to make the most of it. Then, you need to report on your fundraising and spending to demonstrate that you’re using your donors’ money wisely and complying with government regulations for nonprofits.
In this guide, we’ll share four proven tips to help your organization manage its finances more effectively. Let’s get started!
1. Create an Annual Operating Budget
Jitasa’s nonprofit budgeting guide defines a budget as “a planning document used to predict expenses and allocate resources for your organization.” While there are several types of nonprofit budgets you might create (such as budgets for specific programs or long-term fundraising campaigns), your annual operating budget serves as the master financial plan for your entire organization, making it a critical component of your strategy.
Let’s break down the two sides of an operating budget—revenue and expenses—in more detail.
Revenue
The revenue side of your nonprofit’s operating budget details all of the funds your organization expects to bring in throughout the year. To keep your budget organized and make more accurate projections, we recommend categorizing your revenue by source.
Here is a breakdown of the major nonprofit revenue sources and a few subcategories you might include under each one:
Having a combination of these revenue streams in your budget can help your organization achieve financial sustainability, as you’ll still have plenty of funding you can rely on if one source falls through. And if everything goes according to plan, you may have additional funds that you can reserve for the future or use to expand your organization.
Expenses
In general, nonprofits find it most useful to organize the expense side of their budget based on how their spending furthers their mission. These functional expense categories, as they’re known, are also consistent with nonprofit tax returns and other required reports.
The three types of functional expenses are:
You may have heard of the 65/35 “rule” of nonprofit budgeting, which states that nonprofits should spend at least 65% of their funds on their programs and no more than 35% on administrative and fundraising costs combined. In reality, this breakdown looks different for every organization. Treat this rule as a guideline to help you allocate more funding toward your mission and cut administrative and fundraising costs where possible.
2. Implement Fiscal Policies
Fiscal policies give your team guidance on how to properly handle your nonprofit’s funds day-to-day as they act on the predictions in your budget. Make sure to implement the following regulations at your nonprofit:
Compile all of these policies in a shared organizational handbook so that your team members can easily reference them as they go about their daily tasks.
3. Compile Financial Statements
Think of your nonprofit’s financial documentation as guiding your organization’s activities before, during, and after funds change hands. Your budget applies before, your fiscal policy handbook during, and your financial statements after, since their purpose is to summarize financial data for easier analysis.
Here is an overview of the four core nonprofit financial statements and what each one reports:
These four documents are extremely useful for reporting your organization’s financial history and health on its annual tax return. Plus, DonorSearch recommends attaching your financial statements as appendices to your nonprofit’s annual report so supporters and stakeholders can learn more about how your organization has used its funds in the past year.
4. Hire a Bookkeeper and Accountant
Since bookkeepers and accountants both work with financial data, it’s common for nonprofits to confuse the two roles and only hire one or the other. However, bookkeepers and accountants have different functions within an organization, so you need both to effectively manage your finances.
Bookkeepers take care of your nonprofit’s day-to-day financial needs. Their duties include basic data entry, writing checks, making bank deposits, and running payroll. While bookkeepers need some basic training to do their jobs well, they don’t need specialized education or certifications.
Accountants, on the other hand, need at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field and a CPA certification to be qualified for their role. This is because accountants focus on financial data analysis and reporting tasks, such as reviewing your nonprofit’s budget and fiscal policies and filing tax forms. Having a bookkeeper to keep accurate records allows your accountant to focus on the analytical responsibilities they specialize in.
Pro tip: If your organization doesn’t have enough work to warrant hiring a full-time bookkeeper and accountant or the budget to do so, you can invest in outsourced nonprofit bookkeeping and accounting services to gain access to the financial expertise you need at a lower cost!
Every nonprofit has different financial goals, so keep that in mind as you consider how to apply the tips above at your organization. Also, remember to regularly revisit your budget, fiscal policies, and financial statements so that, with your bookkeeper’s and accountant’s help, you can stay on top of your nonprofit’s needs and create the best possible management strategy.
Donor Stewardship: Tips for Cultivating Major Gifts
When it comes to fundraising and marketing, your nonprofit needs to maximize its revenue in order to fund its important work. Aside from inspiring donors to give more, you must cultivate deeper relationships with them to show your appreciation and strengthen the community surrounding your organization.
Donor stewardship allows you to do both! In this guide, we’ll explore how you can cultivate major gifts through effective stewardship by covering the following topics:
Donor stewardship is not just a fundraising strategy, but an important part of building the community that defines your nonprofit. That’s why you’ll need a thorough understanding of stewardship before you can develop a plan of action.
What is donor stewardship?
Donor stewardship is the process of building relationships with donors after they make a gift to your nonprofit. By strengthening these relationships, you’ll help donors feel a sense of loyalty to your organization, increasing the likelihood that they’ll give again—and sometimes in larger quantities!
Effective donor stewardship can help your nonprofit in many ways, but it also benefits the donor. Building a relationship with donors and encouraging a response initiates reciprocal communication, through which both your organization and your donor benefit from stewardship.
How to steward donors
Understanding the benefits of donor stewardship should incline you to take action. Use the following stewardship strategies to start cultivating major gifts.
1. Thank the donor for their gift.
Not only should you thank donors for their contributions, but you must thank them as quickly as you can. As a result, supporters will associate giving with the positive feeling of being appreciated, and this sets the foundation of your stewardship campaign. Once a donor feels recognized the moment they contribute time, money, or other resources to your nonprofit, you’re poised to continue this stewardship.
Here are a few effective channels you can use to recognize your donors:
Timely appreciation and personalized outreach are the key to donor stewardship. The more you can learn about your donors, the easier it is to develop genuine relationships with them and encourage greater giving. For example, understanding why a donor gives to your organization can provide valuable insights that will help your stewardship efforts.
2. Research and segment your donors.
To send messages and plan stewardship activities that resonate with donors, you’ll first need an understanding of their ability and motivation to give. Research your supporters and append any existing data to gain a comprehensive view of their involvement with your organization. Some key questions to ask include:
This information can be used in your marketing efforts, too, when creating social media posts or crafting email newsletters. For example, you may learn that your college-aged donors tend to use Instagram daily. If these individuals are young, unemployed college students, they may be more receptive to a crowdfunding campaign rather than major giving.
3. Create a stewardship matrix.
Equipped with information about your donors, you’re ready to create a specific plan for donor stewardship. Double the Donation’s donor stewardship guide recommends organizing this information in a stewardship matrix, which is an outline of the method and cadence your nonprofit will use when reaching out to donors.
Following this matrix ensures that you’re engaging your supporters throughout the donor journey. Consistent communication will keep your nonprofit at the top of a supporter’s mind and keep your mission relevant when it’s time to choose where to give.
Donor stewardship tools
Now that you have a donor stewardship plan, you’re likely ready to jump in and start fundraising! However, you’ll need the right tools to execute this plan and ensure your fundraising succeeds.
Look for nonprofit fundraising software that offers the following features to ensure it aligns with your approach to stewardship:
Your stewardship efforts are more valuable when you have technology that records and tracks all engagement with your nonprofit. With a close view of your donors and their activities, you can quickly discern whether or not your stewardship efforts are working. If not, you’ll have the data to see where you’re falling short, and you can quickly pivot to keep those donors engaged.