Integration is driving non-profit organizations and is key for any institution looking to grow. It allows them to leverage technology, transform existing processes, turn information into insight, and provide better customer experiences.
Non-profit organizations that have yet to integrate end up engaging in endless guesswork exercises using various applications that ultimately yield nothing.
This reduces both their efficiency as an organization and the productivity of their employees.
Such organizations are also slow to grow since consolidating information from all their software is a complex process.
Integration solutions for non-profit organizations automatically consolidate your data in one single location. The integration strategy adapts and accommodates data in different formats.
It allows your communication software to work together seamlessly to grow your brand. Research shows that integrated campaigns are 31 percent more effective at brand building than those not integrated.
Integration is crucial for the success of any fundraising campaign. It reduces errors and ensures seamless data connectivity. With integration, your internal workflows improve significantly.
Other benefits of integration include:
1. Improved and efficient processes
By automating most of your processes, including finance, invoicing, and data entry, you boost employee productivity. They can now focus on actual revenue-bringing tasks instead of wasting time manually entering data into the system.
You reduce their routine and menial tasks and thus make them more innovative and motivated. They will also appreciate their work more and feel a stronger sense of belonging.
Integration saves you the hassle of having to hire more people to handle data entry jobs. Instead, your focus becomes growing the organization and helping it evolve with the already existing team of experts you have.
2. More insight into donors and prospects
Integration makes donor data readily available and accessible from one central location. It allows your team to have a 360-degree view of every donor – their history, donation, amount, time of donating, wealth data, attendance, behavioral data, and so much more.
You get a complete picture of the prospect, which makes it easier to strategize ways to appeal and cultivate a relationship with them.
Access to data allows you to segment your donors and prospects into groups. The segmentation helps you create personalized communications with donors and prospects.
Your donors and sponsors expect personalized communication, and if you don’t offer that, they can easily abandon your cause. According to Deloitte, delivering personalized experiences makes the target audience feel valued and recognized.
Personalization improves efficiency, reduces cost, and is a great path for sustainable growth. Those not offering personalization risk losing customer loyalty and revenue. Research also shows that 70 percent of millennials are frustrated when bombarded with irrelevant emails.
3. Offer better donor experiences
Your employees from different departments can access donor information from any location. This makes it easier to communicate with donors and offer better customer service.
There is regular data flow, and your employees can address all inquiries immediately without having to let the customer repeatedly tell their problem. Seventy-two percent of customers who have to do that consider this poor customer service.
4. Get good quality data
According to research, out of the 90 percent of non-profit organizations that collect data, only 5 percent use it to make decisions. These statistics are worrying because consolidated data can help your organization identify which campaigns are working and which ones are not.
Data allows you to make changes to your messaging and to the way you communicate with donors. You make decisions that help improve communication and drive donors to support your cause.
When data is centralized in one location, you get more accurate results. Every new piece of data is automatically saved to the designated location, which means you get up to date information and thus reduce the probability of incorrect analysis. It also saves you hours of menial work.
5. Save on cost
Integration solutions for non-profit organizations allow you to save at every phase of your business processes. You save in terms of human resources since you do not have to hire additional staff.
You also save through making better decisions. Automating your tasks lets your staff focus on gaining new prospects, nurturing them through the donor journey, and maintaining the existing donors. Your team also has time to develop their skills, innovate, and grow the organization.
6. Real-time visibility
When you have a set of systems, each producing data, you need to find time to consolidate the data. It takes time to acquire information manually, and the final product may not even be accurate.
By the time you complete the process, you have lost some of your leads, and will be basing your decisions on outdated data. A donor may have moved, changed their number, changed their address, or started supporting a different cause.
With time, your team will grow tired of collecting the data to focus on other tasks in the organization.
With integration, you have constant data connectivity. Data is automatically updated to the central location and is accessible from any location at any time. You minimize risks by making data-driven decisions instead of basing them on instinct.
Conclusion
Integration allows your systems to talk to each other, leading to more efficient business processes. According to Cazooomi’s whitepaper, A complete guide to integration for non-profit organizations, an integrated marketing strategy is the difference between marketing with a purpose and getting lucky.
Having an integrated strategy helps you outline your message clearly, provide donors with a unique selling point, address the right target market, and tailor messages to the right audience using the right channel.
Integration solutions for non-profit organizations allow for collaborations within your team. You can make your omnichannel marketing strategy work because the teams are working towards the same goal. It breads cohesion and consistency in messaging, which helps increase visibility for your brand and growth.
You understand your audience better and offer them excellent donor experiences. You can guide them through the donor funnel with ease and maintain the relationship so that they remain loyal donors and ambassadors.
You gain the trust of your audience, leading them to give more because your data allows you to show how their donations are making a difference. You also reduce time wasted and have more time to grow the organization, find and maintain donors while advancing your mission.
To get more information on why integration for non-profit organizations is the key to unlocking your organization’s goals, read Cazoomi’s in-depth article on Why Non-Profit Organizations Need Integration.
