Either of these sound familiar?
We often hear from nonprofits that they don’t feel they have the time or resources to invest in digital transformation. At the same time, those organizations who have already begun working digitally will often complain that they’re swamped by competing – and often overlapping – technology tools. In fact, both of these nonprofits have the same problem; software which doesn’t address their needs in an accessible and comprehensive way.
Nonprofit people are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges, yet are always expected to do more with less. Let’s face it, there’s a lot on your plate. Perhaps you’re trying to invite new potential donors to invite to a fundraising event. Afterwards you’ll have to manage the event itself. You’re still managing all of your regular projects. Will there even be time to nurture these people and encourage them to donate once that’s all done? It’s impossible to manage all of this in your head, but almost as challenging to manage it using a different software for each task!
The digital divide
If we analyse these obstacles and try to group them together, we see that overcoming the digital divide is one of the main challenges faced by nonprofits. CanadaHelps.org’s 2020 “Giving Report” shows that technology within the charity sector lags behind the private sector by at least five years, and many nonprofit organizations struggle to embed digital processes into their operating models. A Weave Impact & monday.com study showed that 78% of global nonprofits are not digitally mature, while three-quarters don’t have any digital strategy. Add to this a COVID pandemic which hit nonprofits hard and drove more activity online than ever before, widening the gap for those who hadn’t already jumped on the technology train.
An opportunity in disguise
Instinctively this might make it seem like nonprofits are at a disadvantage – but that’s not at all the case. As long as organizations can innovate, learn to operate more efficiently, and streamline manual or repetitive tasks, these challenges can actually launch a time of growth in the nonprofit sector. The amount of new software and other digital tools has proliferated, meaning there is great potential for nonprofits willing to seize the opportunity.
Too much of a good thing?
Simultaneously though, nonprofits today are grappling with such an overwhelming array of competing tech tools that this proliferation itself poses significant challenges. While each software promises to enhance everything from organizational efficiency, to fundraising capabilities, or community engagement, limited budgets and resources often constrain a nonprofit’s ability to adopt and integrate multiple platforms effectively. The need to invest in staff training and align new technologies with existing work adds further complexity. Additionally, the pressure to choose the right tools amidst a crowded market can lead to ‘analysis paralysis’ or making suboptimal choices. This can potentially divert focus and energy away from what matters most – core activities that support your mission.
So what do I need?
A case could be made for hundreds of tools being necessary for managing a nonprofit. But chief among them might be a Customer (or Constituent) Relationship Manager – a CRM. A CRM is a tool used to manage and analyze interactions with supporters and anyone in your network to strengthen relationships, enhance engagement, and boost fundraising efforts. According to TechSoup’s ‘Nonprofit Marketing Technology Benchmarks 2022-2023’ study, almost two-thirds of nonprofits either do not have a CRM, or don’t know what one is at all. With a CRM it’s easier to take a potential donor and turn them into a regular supporter. It’s easier to recruit more, and more relevant, volunteers. And it’s easier to track all of the various communication between your organization and its people.
Another must-have is a project management tool. A good solution here is crucial for nonprofits as it helps coordinate tasks, resources, and timelines efficiently, ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget. By providing a centralized platform for collaboration and tracking progress, these tools enhance team communication and improve the overall effectiveness of program delivery.
monday.com can be your one stop shop for nonprofit technology
Are you ready to be introduced to a new era of software development? Companies like monday.com embrace a democratic approach and are making technology available to the people. The ‘no code/low code’ concept means that you don’t need to be a tech wizz or an experience computer programmer to make some really powerful time saving automations. You just need to plug and play from mostly prebuilt recipes and templates.
monday.com is a Work OS (operating system) which has a special nonprofit program designed to address all of these challenges. With just a bit of basic knowledge, anyone working for a nonprofit looking to make their processes more efficient can set up automatic reminders when a grant deadline is approaching, ensure no details are missed on the upcoming fundraising gala, or improve your volunteer recruitment.
It’s easy to get started. Opening a free account here takes just a few minutes. Eligible organizations can then apply to join the Nonprofit Program in an equally speedy process, so getting everything started can often happen on very the same day! If successful you’ll be granted 10 seats absolutely for free and a 70% discount on any extra seats you might need.
monday.com has free solutions already built to help your nonprofit manage projects, events, grants, donors, volunteers, and more. It’s easy to upload your existing data and customize things to fit your needs. It comes with unlimited forms, docs, and dashboards for reporting, covering just about everything your nonprofit might need in the tech space. This year the other monday.com products, including monday CRM, were added to the Nonprofit Program so you actually get access to a growing suite of products, not just one. Imagine shedding most of your expensive and cumbersome tech stack in one go! That’s got to feel good.
Work os monday.com Work OS | Your best work, your way
As well as allowing you to manage so many diverse elements of your work on monday.com, it also integrates with other software, so if someone wants to keep tracking their tasks on an Outlook calendar, or a team member swears by Google Docs, they can keep their work there and have it appear in two places at once. Magic!
There is also 24/7 customer support and a dedicated team for nonprofits providing training, consultation and an online community to ensure you’re looked after every step of the way.
These services are already being used by over 18,000 nonprofits around the world every month. So… what are you waiting for? Take the next step in your digital transformation journey and join them.
Let’s recap!
Step 1: Create your monday.com account (14-day free trial)
Step 2: Apply to have it join the Nonprofit Program (10 free seats, 70% discount on extras)
Step 3: Build your own boards, or download templates, to manage your projects, events, donors, grants, volunteers and more! They’re easy to create or customize.
Step 4: Take advantage of extra support for nonprofits.
- You’re invited to join the upcoming webinar with Nonprofit Apps in October.
- You have FREE access to monday.com’s 24/7 customer support.
- You can take academy courses and join drop in consultation sessions specifically designed for nonprofits
- You can become a member of the online nonprofit community, where you can share with likeminded organizations common challenges, tips and triumphs.
Streamline your nonprofit’s operations with Monday.com! Join our free webinar to learn practical strategies for optimizing workflows and boosting impact.