non-profit
Technology for Not-for-Profit Organizations
PeakNFP
Mobile
Nonprofits are starting to use products such as PeakNFP to deliver on email marketing and social media as part of their engagement strategy. However, a small percentage of nonprofits have optimized their websites for mobile. With dramatic growth in the use of smartphones and a large number of nonprofits using email marketing as part of their engagement strategy, it follows that supporters must be viewing tons of these emails on mobile devices. The call to action is to click to the website to view content or make a donation. When clicking through to your website on a smartphones many people are unable to take any action because your website appears too small and illegible on phones. How many times does this problem result in a lost opportunity?
Apps
Smartphone apps offer innovative opportunities to engage constituents and are limited only by our imaginations. With an organization specific app, you can reach higher levels of engagements with your supporters or provide a powerful management tool to your employees. An app may be far better than mediums such as ‘Text-to-Give’ and not as difficult as you might think to build and launch. Today, we are able to seamlessly tie custom apps to core business applications such as Microsoft Dynamics GP and PeakNFP Donor Management powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
Fundraising and Donor Management
For most nonprofits engaging supporters is a vital part of funding their missions. There is a growing need to reach more supporters and develop and maintain relationships with them. The sheer numbers of donors even a small nonprofit must engage far outstrips what staff can do without the aid of technology. Technology offers an assortment of ways to facilitate engagement with supporters. This is why many nonprofits are transitioning from a database focused solely on tracking donations toward a solution that manages the entire scope--supporter/constituent tracking, to communications, to tracking gifts of time and money. PeakNFP Donor Management, built to take full advantage of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, offers full blown donor tracking, communications management, marketing, social media connectors, and power reporting and analytics.
ERP Software
Microsoft Dynamics GP provides the tools to manage typical ERP or accounting processes such as writing checks, paying employees, and budgeting, while also addressing the fund-centric nature of nonprofit accounting. Fund accounting functionality lets you track records by funding source, department, grant, or program.
One of the unique requirements for nonprofits is the need for reports designed for audiences other than just the accounting staff. Funders, grantors, and boards need to easily understand key financial information from the reports provided them by the nonprofit. The ability to communicate clearly about the impact of fund allocations is critical for nonprofits looking to execute on their missions and secure funds for future important projects and programs.
Cloud-based Computing
With aging servers and/or infrastructure, many nonprofits can’t use current software programs and tools and both constituents and employees alike, pay the price through lost productivity and frustration. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your core business applications for functions such as accounting, fundraising, and email managed by experts, kept automatically up-to-date, and located in a world-class datacenter? Wouldn’t it even be nicer if the price was lower than you could do it on your own with guaranteed 99.99% system uptime? This is the reality of the cloud.
Cloud-based computing shifts the responsibility of technology management to the provider. You no longer need to worry about backups, power failures, hardware failures, maintenance and patching or other unexpected costs related to these technologies. Think about your strategy for hardware and software upkeep and upgrades—when do you buy that new server? When do you upgrade “the system”, whatever that means? For a small monthly fee you can put your concerns aside and you have your strategy. Now you can route the savings in both dollars and time into programming and focus on driving your organization’s mission.
Technology is moving fast and nonprofits need a strategy that allows them to benefit from technology, not get burdened by it. Nonprofits need to engage their supporters through trending social media and mobile technology. They need to drive productivity within their daily business efforts. They need to focus on their mission.


