A Winning Combo: Staff + Technology
Do your systems feel like a drain on resources, rather than a powerful set of technical tools to support your team? You are not alone. Many nonprofits have platforms and apps that are barely “out of the box,” meaning they are not being fully utilized to their best advantage.
Alternatively, we see nonprofits creating systems to manage their contact information and data, but in an uncoordinated way that leads to confusion – with some tasks having to be completed multiple times and others not getting done at all. In rare cases, small organizations are foregoing technology altogether because it is “just too hard.”
And that’s a shame. The potential for improving your workflow, and your effectiveness, with today’s technology is huge. Once upon a time technology was seen as a way to reduce the time it took for staff to implement routine tasks. Today, the right system can become a valuable partner in planning, analysis and decision making. Why are so many nonprofits struggling to get these benefits?
Budget constraints and staff limitations are a big part of the problem. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a small organization to invest in a full-time staffer dedicated to systems management. A good system relies on big-picture thinking, consistency, and coordinated oversight. When already overburdened staff members are taking on portions of a system independent of each other, well, you can imagine how quickly things will become chaotic.
Fractional professionals from The More Than Giving Co. have helped hundreds of organizations operate more efficiently and effectively through highly flexible nonprofit staffing solutions. We have fractional professionals ready to support executive leadership, operations, information systems, fundraising, communications and more. Our unique Nonprofit Virtual Assistant (NPVA®) service is staffed by fractional administrative professionals who are specially trained in nonprofit systems and best practices.
More Than Giving’s new Nonprofit System Optimization (NPSO) service is designed to support clients’ technology needs on an even deeper level. An NPSO systems audit will assess the technology tools you are using, how you are using them, and will provide an objective analysis of what is and isn’t working. The audit report will note gaps between what exists and what is needed and will present a program of adjustments, and perhaps even new platforms, to get better results.
The NPSO engagement doesn’t have to end there. More Than Giving can provide fractional experts to implement changes and to train your in-house staff to use these technology tools effectively. And if you need additional staff to power up your new and improved system, fractional technical assistants and tech savvy NPVA®s are available to keep your data management humming along.
Kathy Corbett, a More Than Giving NPVA® assigned to an arts organization, shoulders the organization’s day-to-day fundraising data management, freeing the staff to do what they do best – cultivating and stewarding donors. Importantly, the organization’s team reports that with Kathy’s help they are getting more out of their technology investment. We thought you might be interested in her perspective on the value a fractional virtual assistant can bring to the table.
“Although I was not brought in to work specifically with the client’s donor management system, I already had experience with the product they use, which is the Little Green Light (LGL) cloud-based platform,” Kathy tells us. “I was able to customize auto responses and donation processing so that donors are thanked immediately with an on-brand message. We can easily follow up with personalized thank-you letters that are fresh and relevant, and that are specific to donors’ contributions.”
“This way, donors are more likely to take ownership of the organization and to feel the impact of how their dollars are being used,” Kathy continues. “This has dramatically increased the satisfaction of their recurring donors and has helped encourage one-time donors to opt into the recurring gift program.”
Kathy notes that having an NPVA® as the point person for the system improves workflow, reduces the human error rate, and provides the staff and board with access to quality data related to donor engagement. The in-house team has more freedom to focus on face-to-face donor development. “I handle the day-to-day administrative tasks, giving them time back,” she says.
Little Green Light, a More Than Giving referral partner, also published a blog about how one of their clients was able to get more out of their LGL system when they engaged a trained fractional nonprofit assistant – a More Than Giving NPVA®!
“An NPVA® can save you time by integrating your system and bringing new tech options to your operation,” Kathy adds. “You will realize an excellent return on investment in the form of time saved and improved donor and staff satisfaction.”
The technology products available today that are specifically designed to support nonprofit organizations are more powerful than ever – but only if you have the expertise and staffing to access and fully utilize all of the available features. A technology-capable NPVA® can help you unlock the potential of your system, allowing you to capitalize on the winning combination of staffing and technology.
The More Than Giving Co. can help you combine staff and technology.
Schedule a call today to learn how we can help.