Why You Should Have Both Fundraising and Donor Management Software

Whether you’re raising money for a widespread cause or funding your nonprofit, fundraisers allow you to gain money organically. And new, modern software gives you the ability to optimize your campaign even amidst challenges.

Here’s more about fundraising and donor management software and how they can help your fundraiser.

The challenges of fundraising

With all of the little details and tasks, fundraising often seems like a big challenge. No matter what you’re raising money for, fundraisers require a lot of careful planning. And if you want to run more than one fundraising campaign at once, these responsibilities only grow.

Here are some common challenges with fundraising:

• Communication: One of the most important aspects of a campaign is keeping track of your donors. You want to maintain sufficient contact with all donors, but sometimes the overwhelming number of participants causes you to miss out on meaningful conversations and updates.
• Keeping track of donations: Without the right software, managing records of gifts can be a daunting task. Manually sending out receipts to each donor is time-consuming and confusing.
• Limited reach: Sometimes, your fundraiser fails to attract an ample crowd. If you can only advertise locally, you might not reach the goals you need for the campaign. 

All of these restrictions can impede your campaign’s success. However, online fundraising software can solve many of these problems.

What does fundraising software do?

Fundraising software is designed to streamline the fundraising process. The online format combines all aspects of a fundraising campaign and makes it easier for organizations. You can reach wider audiences, easily organize donations and keep all of your contacts instantly updated.

GiveSmart offers efficient and high-quality nonprofit database software. Here are some of its features and how it can help your campaign:

• Interactive website design: Your website is one of the most critical components for online fundraisers. GiveSmart helps you design an optimized website for your campaign. With interactive features and engaging effects, we can help you find the best website for your goals.
• Progress tracker: One of the best aspects of fundraising software is instant results tracking. You can follow your campaign’s progress in real-time and make adjustments. And with GiveSmart’s interactive, customizable progress thermometer, you can view these updates easily. You can also display the thermometer for potential donors, inspiring further donations.
• Recurring gift options: With recurring donation options, donors have the opportunity to make monthly donations with little or no hassle. Donors simply sign up for the recurring option and select the most comfortable amount for them. This feature automatically withdraws from donors’ accounts, making it easier for them and you.
• Revenue enhancers: GiveSmart offers interactive revenue optimizers for your campaign. These enhancers provide even more ways to increase your earnings, from little games and prizes to instant auctions.

What is donor management, and why is it important?

Donor management consists of contacting and maintaining your relationship with your donors. Creating connections with donors is a critical aspect of a successful campaign. You need to understand donor needs and expectations during the process. As they become aware of your cause and ultimately decide to contribute, your job is to manage their feelings and assumptions.

Your relationships with donors ultimately determine your fundraiser’s success. Donor management should remain one of the most important aspects of your process. By maintaining meaningful relationships with contributors, you can ensure donors will return year after year. With the right communications, donors might even upgrade their contributions.

These are the basic components of donor management:

• Acquisition: Acquisition is an ongoing process for fundraising campaigns. At the center of this process are marketing strategies. With creative and compelling advertisements, you draw contributors in and inspire them to get involved. Campaigns are constantly marketing for new donors, so it’s essential to keep advertising updated and appropriate for the current times.
• Retention: Once you attract donors, you also need to find ways to keep them active and interested in your cause. Effective donor management can get donors to stay with the campaign long after their initial contribution. A great way to get donors to retain interest is by enacting regular check-ins. Engaging with them about the cause and their lives helps them remember your campaign and stay interested.
• Enhancement: Donor management also includes upgraded donors. When donors remain with the campaign and increase their funding, it’s a major success for your movement. Increased donations can help you cover growing campaign costs and ensure your nonprofit’s success. To establish upgraded donors, develop strong connections with all contributors. Reach out to them regularly and update them on campaign goals. Try segmenting donors by estimated donations to market specifically toward potential contributions and create a more personalized connection.

How does donor management software help?

Donor management software assists your team with all the crucial aspects of the process. Similar to fundraising software, it simplifies the management process by uploading it to an online format.

Here are ways nonprofit donor management software can help you:

• Efficiency: Ensuring you communicate regularly with every contributor can become overwhelming. With this software, you can work to make automated messages and reminders for donors. Most software uses a donor database to keep everyone organized. What was once the work of your entire team becomes the work of a single person. In turn, your workload becomes much lighter, and you have more time to focus on other aspects of your cause.
• Data analysis: Donor tracking software lets you view all of your donors at once. Many even provide sorting options so you can divide participants by participation activity or donation amount. With all this data at your fingertips, it’s simple to analyze for adjustments or updated goals.
• Broad reach: Online formats give you the ability to reach much broader audiences. You can expand your advertising to many more people than local campaigns allow, and the software keeps every contributor and donation organized so you can manage records easily.

Why do you need both?

Both fundraising and donor management software provide a streamlined and efficient process. When you use both applications at once, you maximize your campaign’s efficiency and reach.

Here are more benefits of using both nonprofit database software:

• Easy analysis of campaign: Combining fundraising and donor software gives you a cohesive look at your campaign’s progression. The fundraising aspect allows you to analyze your marketing efforts and their effectiveness, while donor management helps you gain and retain donors. You can analyze monetary goals and donor attribution while creating a cohesive plan for your nonprofit.
• Better connection with donors: The importance of donors cannot be understated, and the best relationships form from personalization. With these software applications, you can evaluate the best practices for individual donors. You can also segment donors by activity and donation levels to advertise more specifically to their means. The software also gives you a quick and painless way to send thank you notes to all donors, which is proven to retain them for further donations.
• More money overall: Best of all, using both programs draws in more money for your campaign. The online formats expose you to a wider audience, making you more likely to develop new donors. It will also help you discover similar family members or friends that might also contribute, widening your pool of participants. Overall, it gives you the potential for a broader and more successful campaign.

Learn more about GiveSmart fundraising software solutions

GiveSmart is dedicated to helping nonprofits and organizations with all their fundraising goals. We create an interactive and personalized experience for donors while maintaining your campaign needs. Contact us today for a free demo, where we can show you our fundraising software options.