What Nonprofits Need to Be Doing to Protect Data Post-GDPR

Nonprofit Management

Article | July 14, 2022

Salesforce.org has just released a whole slew of new products and feature enhancements that have generated a lot of excitement here at Vera. One of these, the Program Management Module (PMM), has been in the works for a while – we are delighted to see it brought to life and hope it helps many more nonprofits realize the benefits of using Salesforce for program management. On the surface, the PMM may sound redundant or even competitive with Amp Impact – in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Whereas Amp Impact offers a portfolio management and portfolio-level impact measurement solution (using logframes, indicators, targets, and results), the PMM is focused on tracking individual beneficiaries and their engagement with programs and services. For organizations working across multiple geographies, tracking at both of these levels is crucial, and data can automatically ‘roll up’ from the PMM objects into Amp Impact’s Indicators and Results.

Nonprofit Management

Article | July 13, 2022

Much of the nuts and bolts of fundraising costs money, and expenses can impact your organization’s bottom line. Still, many successful nonprofits have enjoyed robust giving in recent years due to one relatively inexpensive method to exploit: social media. We’ve become much more familiar with the various social media platforms recently; if the pandemic showed us anything, there is connective power to social media platforms. From the comfort of our homes, we can engage with people and organizations in our hometowns and far away places. If you are fundraising for a nonprofit, this connectivity is one way to attract new donors, cultivate current donors, steward your donors, and, ultimately, encourage gifts from friends new and old. Through peer-to-peer social outreach, the most impactful online connections are made, just as in “real life” fundraising. Peer-to-peer fundraising can look a few different ways. One way is by encouraging your supporters to set up their own fundraiser pages. Some fundraising softwares make this easy by allowing a person to set up their own campaign. All of a sudden, their network becomes your network, too! Understanding the Best Platform for your Organization Another way of tapping into peer-to-peer power is through social media. How can social media help attract new donors? First, take an inventory of the social media accounts associated with your organization. Do you have a Facebook page? LinkedIn? Instagram? TikTok or Twitter? Find someone savvy within your nonprofit – or a friendly supporter – to help you determine if all of these (or some of them) are a good fit for your nonprofit’s personality and mission. Do you serve an adult client base? Facebook and Instagram might be good starting platforms for you. Does your organization help teenagers? Post to Instagram and TikTok. Perhaps a professional LinkedIn page is more in line with what you do. If so, make sure it is up to date and that you are interacting with other like-minded organizations! Organizing Campaign Content for Donors Once you have your platforms figured out, pushing organizational content that highlights your group’s work and mission will help you attract new friends and cultivate your loyal supporters. Think about posting entries that highlight the work you do in short sentences and compelling pictures, and think about posting on some kind of schedule. Perhaps you post about programming on Tuesdays and feature a client or member on a Thursday. Mindless posts are not compelling – make them relevant, interesting or clever, and tactical. Overwhelming the social media feed is not the goal – compelling content which drives social media users to your organization to learn more is. Peer-to-peer social media fundraising often begins with peer-to-peer content sharing. Once you have a handle on the kinds of posts your organization will create – and when they’ll be pushed out – you must leverage the power of social media connections to help further your organization and its case for support. Encourage all of your staff and Board members to “friend” you on the various platforms, and encourage them to boost your content by sharing it with their networks. Do you have an event coming up? Be sure to get this out to your social media contacts and ask them to share it. Has a donor been particularly generous, and can you feature them in a social media post? If you can do so, “tagging” the donor will, in many instances, automatically push your content out to their networks. The reach becomes massive with the right connections. Leveraging Peer Audiences Cultivation and stewardship of your nonprofit’s loyal supporters are very easy on social media. Pictures and words of gratitude or recognition are simple to post and can demonstrate your organization’s impact far beyond the reach of any email or mailing list. Finally, social media’s usefulness in fundraising cannot be overstated. Create virtual events that allow friends to RSVP and share them with their networks. Use Instagram to push out the publicity about the fundraiser – any promotional materials you may have or can create – to manufacture some “buzz” about the event. Utilize TikTok to showcase aspects of the fundraiser: perhaps highlight a program that the fundraiser will benefit or a behind-the-scenes of the event planning. There is no need to restrain creativity – give viewers a reason to return to your site, your event, and your nonprofit!

Nonprofit Management

Article | July 12, 2022

It's not difficult to learn how to market your non-profit. Organizations can take a lot of simple steps to get in front of their target audience, inform the public, and win more people on board for their cause. These four stages will help kickstart marketing initiatives and put them on the right track to achieving their company's objectives. The non-profit is missing out on critical chances if its only marketing efforts are to organize an annual benefit event and periodically update its website. For a non-profit to expand and remain active, consistent marketing is just as important as for 'for-profit' enterprises. Without public awareness, even the greatest charitable group will be unable to accomplish anything. To properly carry out its objective, a non-profit needs strong ties with funders, volunteers, the media, and even governmental bodies. In order to retain relationships, attract regular donations, and keep an organization's activities in the public view, continual marketing initiatives are necessary. However, there are still stages that every employee can help with to establish a marketing plan, even if the non-profit doesn't have the funds for a professional marketing team. Choose the Target Market A non-profit must identify its target audience and the actions it wants them to adapt before it can take any steps to advertise its organization. Organizations can adjust their marketing initiatives to reach their target audience and motivate them to act once they are aware of who they are and where to find them. For example, they might find it helpful to look into firms that are comparable to their own to discover how they sell to the same demographic. Set Measurable Objectives Organizations can't determine whether their non-profit marketing is successful without knowing their goals. They are better equipped to assess what is working and what needs to change when they have quantifiable goals. After establishing their objectives, they should plan with their team how they'll gauge their success in achieving them. Curate Marketing Materials Marketing materials are necessary for non-profits whenever they engage with the public. These materials should be customized for their group, exhibit their achievements, offerings, and core principles, and provide information on how to get involved or donate. Build a Database Once the promotional strategies are ready, it's time to put them to use. But before they accomplish that, organizations must create a database of present and potential members. Organizations can use databases to categorize their audience into different groups depending on things like whether or not they've donated in the past, their economic level, or whether they prefer to be reached through email or physical mail. While deploying these above-mentioned steps, non-profit organizations can effectively boost their marketing capabilities that would, in return, aid in achieving their organizational goals.

Article | April 15, 2020

Last week we released an article outlining a list of software that can make working from home as painless as possible. The goal of that blog, and all others we post, is to share our insights to hopefully provide value for nonprofits. A few days after writing the post, I started thinking about organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Red Cross. Zoom doesn’t seem very helpful if you’re trying to collect blood donations or construct new homes.