4 Ways to Curb Event Planning Chaos with Digital Waivers

Guest post by Smartwaiver

Plenty of nonprofits find success with events. In 2024, 75% of the organizations that hosted in-person events met or exceeded their goals, with 76% of hybrid events reaching their targets. 

However, planning a successful event requires your nonprofit to manage logistics, ensure compliance, track participation, and more—all these moving parts can quickly become chaotic. Tools like event CRMs and specialized event planning tools will reduce friction, but digitizing the entire event planning process will have the biggest positive impact.

In particular, digital waivers are a powerful but often overlooked solution that helps streamline event planning and provide better experiences for your staff, volunteers, and event attendees. This article explores the key benefits of creating and using waivers as well as practical, proven ways digital waivers can reduce headaches and streamline event logistics.

Why Add Digital Waivers to Your Event Toolkit?

The benefits of using digital event waivers are twofold: they protect your nonprofit from legal liability and boost efficiency. 

When attendees sign waivers, they are acknowledging the risks associated with the event and releasing your organization from liability if something happens. Typically, every guest needs to sign a waiver if your event warrants one. By handling the whole process digitally, you can collect necessary participant information quickly and securely without needing to wrangle clipboards or decipher illegible handwriting.

But how do you know if your event needs a waiver? Here are some common scenarios where nonprofits benefit from using digital waivers:

• Physical activities like fun runs or fitness challenges

• Volunteer shifts involving tools, heavy lifting, or other minor risks (e.g., a volunteer working with animals at an adoption event fundraiser for an animal shelter)

• Youth programs requiring parental consent

• Events involving photography, video, or other media recordings that require a signed photo release

• Vendor or partner participation agreements

Keep in mind that not all digital waiver platforms are created equal, and some solutions won’t have everything you need to make your event a success. Smartwaiver’s guide to activity waivers emphasizes the importance of highly customizable form-building tools that allow you to add signature and initial boxes, flagged questions, and safety or training videos. The waivers should also work on any device, securely store data, and integrate with your other event management tools.

4 Ways Digital Waivers Streamline Event Planning

1. Go Paperless

Traditionally, event planning involved piles of physical documents—waiver forms, checklists, contact sheets, and schedules. While most organizations have moved away from this method and now rely on event planning technology, using digital waivers is a key step in transitioning your entire planning process into a fully paperless, cloud-based system.

By digitizing waivers, your nonprofit can:

• Eliminate printing costs and reach your sustainability goals.

• Save staff time and reallocate the hours that would be spent printing and filing forms toward strategic or mission-critical activities. 

• Manage everything from one platform, making collaboration between departments faster and more transparent.

Digital waivers fit seamlessly into your broader event and communications strategies. For example, you can make registration easy for participants by linking to the digital waiver in social media posts promoting the event. 

2. Simplify Record-Keeping and Reporting

Waivers are a treasure trove of valuable first-party data, or information collected directly from your supporters. This includes personal information like name and birthday, contact information, event participation and history, and even communication preferences. By choosing to use digital waivers, you can export clean data sets directly from the platform to your donor database rather than manually input information from stacks of paper.

Here’s how this data can come in handy throughout the event planning process:

• Before the event:

• Analyze past data to proactively address common issues, estimate attendance rate, etc.

• Automatically send reminders to registrants who have not completed the waiver

• Follow up on waivers that contain errors or incomplete information.

• During the event:

• Quickly pull participant data as needed (e.g., allergies or other medical information).

• Use waiver responses to anticipate capacity and efficiently allocate staff.

• After the event:

• Easily export attendance data and signed waivers.

• Generate follow-up lists for thank-yous, surveys, or future event invitations.

• Analyze participation trends to inform planning for your next event.

The result is a faster, more organized workflow that gives you time back to focus on your mission. Plus, you can avoid siloed or fragmented data by storing all event metrics, from waivers to marketing data to donated inventory information, digitally.

3. Accommodate Last-Minute Changes

Even the best-laid event plans can shift unexpectedly. Weather changes, volunteer no-shows, or updated health protocols can require fast adjustments. Digital waivers give you flexibility in the face of the unexpected.

For example, say it’s a day before the event. Your marketing team asks if you can add a quick survey to the end of the waiver asking how participants heard about the event, helping them accurately track the success of individual communication channels. With digital waivers, this is simple—all you need to do is add the question to the digital form, and it will automatically be updated.

Being able to revise waivers in real-time without having to reprint forms means no more last-minute scrambles and event planning headaches. Participants can re-sign updated versions instantly from their devices, keeping everyone informed and protected.

4. Streamline Registration and Check-In

Modern event planning tools allow nonprofits to automate repetitive, manual tasks that would otherwise cost them hours of their valuable time. As Double the Donation explains, automation benefits both organizations and donors by freeing up time for nonprofit staff to connect with supporters, answer questions, solve problems, and work on mission-focused tasks.

Digital waivers can be smoothly integrated into your existing automated workflows, functioning as a self-service registration tool for event attendees. Participants can register, complete the waiver, and submit the forms all without your staff lifting a finger. Then, signed waivers are automatically stored in a secure database.

Best of all, attendees can complete these steps online ahead of the event, cutting down on check-in desk congestion (and guest frustration). Share links to the waiver in digital communications and embed the form on your website. However, make sure you have a plan or alternative for those who don’t complete the waiver in advance. For example, set up waiver kiosk stations by using a waiver solution with a mobile app for tablets. This way, you’ll still be able to collect day-of waivers digitally and save time and paper.

---

Digital waivers are a strategic tool your nonprofit can leverage to streamline operations, protect your organization, and create smoother experiences for participants. By choosing the right platform and integrating it into your event planning process, you can reduce stress, inspire more attendees to contribute to your cause, and focus on supporting and spreading awareness of your mission.

Succession Planning for PTOs: How to Pass the Baton Smoothly

By Renee Zau, Co-founder of DonationMatch

Each year, Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs and similar groups, such as PTAs, PTSAs, HSAs, Boosters, Friends of, Clubs, Sororities, Fraternities, & Education Foundations) see new volunteers step up to lead. While this infusion of energy is exciting, it can also mean that valuable knowledge and access to critical tools and resources are at risk of being lost if there's no proper succession plan in place.

Too often, each year, we at DonationMatch encounter volunteers creating new accounts for an organization because the previous account wasn't handed off correctly. This results in unnecessary extra work and delays—particularly when it's difficult to verify new volunteers.

Succession planning, both online and offline, is essential for maintaining continuity, ensuring that communication, finances, and programming run smoothly during leadership transitions. It promotes efficiency by equipping new leaders with the tools and knowledge they need to be effective from day one. Additionally, it enhances security by safeguarding access to critical systems and protecting sensitive information.

To ensure your PTO continues running smoothly year after year, it’s essential to have a comprehensive plan for passing down information and access to digital and financial assets. Here are some simple tips and a handy checklist of what to pass on to the next team.

---

What to include in a PTO Succession Plan:

✅ 1. Organizational Knowledge

• Bylaws and meeting minutes

• Year-at-a-glance calendar of events

• Volunteer and committee structure

• Annual reports or summaries

• Notes or tips from outgoing officers, including any unofficial duties or helpful habits

• Receipts or lists of key assets and equipment in storage

• Event vendor lists and lessons learned from past events

✅ 2. Financial Records

• Annual budgets and financial reports

• Bank account access info (or instructions for authorized access change)

• Tax ID number and nonprofit status documentation, including the next due dates of annual filings

• State registration information, including the next due dates of state filings and payments

• Previous year’s fundraising totals and expenses

• Payment processor login (e.g., PayPal, Square, Stripe)

• Receipts, invoices, and reimbursement forms

• Contact info for accountants or bookkeepers

✅ 3. Digital Accounts & Logins

Create a shared and secure master document or password manager (like LastPass, 1Password, or Google Password Manager) that includes:

• Website admin login and hosting provider credentials

• PTO email account(s) and recovery options

• Social media logins (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)

• Fundraising platforms (e.g., MemberHub, Cheddar Up)

• Payment processing platforms (PayPal, Stripe, etc.)

• School key employee directory or contact management tools

• Google Drive/OneDrive login and key document links

✅ 4. Communication Channels

• Access to email marketing tools (e.g., Mailchimp, Constant Contact)

• Contact lists for families, volunteers, and staff

• Access to asset creation tools (e.g., Canva)

• Templates for newsletters, flyers, and event invitations

• Key email threads and communication history with school admins

✅ 5. Partner & Sponsor Information

• List of past and current sponsors/donors

• Contact info and notes on relationships (who to contact, when, and how)

• Past donation request letters and thank-you templates

• In-kind donation details and restrictions

• DonationMatch, Benevity, and other corporate giving platform logins

✅ 6. Software & Tools

Make sure new leaders have access to:

• PTO management software (e.g., MemberHub, PTOffice, Konstella)

• Event registration/ticketing software (Eventbrite, SignupGenius)

• Fundraising platforms and tools

• Survey tools (Google Forms, SurveyMonkey)

• Document storage/sharing tools (Google Drive, Dropbox)

✅ 7. Legal & Compliance

• Insurance policy documents and renewal dates

• State nonprofit registration documents (e.g. Articles of Incorporation, Secretary of State, State Attorney General’s Office, Franchise Tax Board, etc.)

• IRS Letter of Determination, filings, and tax return copies (Form 990)

• Background check policy and vendor details, if applicable

✅ 8. ORGANIZATION-SPECIFIC DETAILS TO PASS DOWN

Every PTO is unique, and some of the most valuable knowledge isn't written down—it's passed on. Be sure to include the following often-overlooked details to help the next team avoid starting from scratch:

• Event schedules, timelines, and planning checklists specific to your school’s traditions

• Preferred vendors and suppliers, including where to buy materials, school merchandise, or food—plus any known discounts or tax-exempt processes

• Expert or pro bono volunteers in your community (e.g., graphic designers, photographers, accountants) who’ve supported the PTO in the past

• Facility usage info, like how to reserve the gym, cafeteria, or parking lot for events

• Contacts and relationships with school staff, custodians, and local businesses that support events or donate regularly

• Tech quirks and workarounds for commonly used platforms or school-specific systems

• Storage locations, keys, and access info for physical supplies, decorations, or inventory used year-to-year

• Annual event feedback or notes to capture what worked and what didn’t

Capturing and sharing these insider tips can save the new team hours of guesswork and keep your PTO running smoothly.

---

for a Smooth Transition,

• Schedule an overlap period or transition meeting between outgoing and incoming officers.

• Conduct a walkthrough of each system or tool being transferred.

• Set up role-based email addresses (e.g., president@ourPTO.org) that can be easily forwarded or reassigned to new officers each year.

• Update PTO contact information and addresses on all accounts.

• Host a shared-drive cleanup and organization session.

• Encourage outgoing leaders to write "how-to" guides for their roles.

• Store all documentation in one centralized, easily accessible place.

---

Succession planning may not be the most glamorous part of volunteering, but it’s one of the most important. Taking the time to organize your organization’s knowledge and tools ensures that next year’s volunteers—and the students and school you serve—are set up for success.

By using this checklist and making intentional plans, you can build a lasting legacy of strong leadership and effective support.

Don’t forget to share this list with your board and team!

Tracking Donated Goods: Nonprofit Inventory Management Tools

Guest post by ThriftCart

Picture this: Thanks to your nonprofit’s recent marketing efforts, you receive an influx of donated goods to support your operations and programs. While your team is incredibly grateful to your donors, you find it challenging to keep track of all the items. As a result, you overstock some products and run out of others. You even let some perishable goods slip through the cracks until their expiration dates are long past.

Accepting non-monetary (or in-kind) donations can significantly free up your nonprofit’s budget and provide your organization with the resources to expand its community impact. Without tools and procedures for managing these donated goods, however, you dilute their impact and risk letting the generosity of your donors go to waste.

Organizing, tracking, and using in-kind donations doesn’t have to be complicated or intensive. Let’s explore what inventory management software is and how it can help your nonprofit seamlessly incorporate donated goods into your mission-critical activities.

What is inventory management software?

Typically included as part of a point of sale (POS) system, inventory management tools provide a clear and accurate bird’s eye view of your nonprofit’s inventory. According to ThriftCart, a cloud-based inventory solution allows your team to monitor stock levels from anywhere in real time, so you’re always updated on what’s coming in and out.

Why do nonprofits need inventory management tools?

Nonprofits typically accept and use donated goods for various purposes, from stocking a thrift store to providing high-quality items at an auction. You may have a highly organized team, but without the right tools, managing your organization’s inventory can cut into your already limited time and energy.

State-of-the-art inventory management software allows you to:

• Enhance efficiency. Inventory tools provide an easy and consistent workflow for your whole team — even volunteers — to follow, with minimal training required. Barcode and labeling systems enable you to sort and process items quickly, reducing human error.

• Minimize waste. With precise tools for tracking donated goods as they come in, you avoid misplacing or completely losing track of them in your inventory. As a result, you can put all contributions to their best use, whether you’re distributing food items well before they expire or providing winter clothing to constituents.

• Improve donor engagement. While donors don’t expect anything in return when they contribute items to your nonprofit, they deserve a “thank you” at the very least. Reliable tools for generating receipts and monitoring inventory allow you to follow up with the right donors at the right time and communicate the specific impact of their generosity.

Plus, if your nonprofit runs a social enterprise or thrift store to generate more funds, you probably stock your inventory with donated goods. Inventory management software makes it easy to log various items, their conditions, and repeat donations all in one place. These centralized capabilities keep your entire team on the same page when optimizing inventory, managing finances, and interacting with donors and customers.

No matter what you’re doing, using inventory management software enables you to focus less on manual administrative tasks and more on furthering your mission.

What inventory management features do nonprofits need?

At their most basic, inventory management solutions facilitate the process of monitoring and updating your nonprofit’s inventory. However, the top software solutions on the market come equipped with additional features for streamlining your donation tracking, such as:

1. Donation pickup

To secure more in-kind donations from both individuals and companies with a strong focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), your nonprofit might offer scheduled pickup services. Look for inventory management software that gives you the ability to:

• Set pickup zones.

• Optimize pickup routes to conserve fuel.

• Make pickup reminder calls.

• Request item photos from donors.

At the same time, it should be effortless for donors to schedule a dropoff or pickup time with your organization online.

2. Real-time inventory syncing

For nonprofits that run physical and online storefronts, it can be challenging to synchronize new items and purchases promptly and precisely. A comprehensive inventory management solution provides real-time tracking that instantly updates your inventory so your team can avoid the stress of accidentally selling an item that is no longer in stock.

Plus, your system should automatically log online orders so you can remove items from your physical shelves if necessary.

3. Donor management

Inventory management is about more than the donated goods your organization receives. Some solutions come with tools for creating a convenient and rewarding experience for donors, allowing you to:

• Track donor information and interactions.

• Monitor repeat donations and thank these donors accordingly.

• Automate personalized emails and text messages.

• Give donors the option to choose between printed receipts or eReceipts.

By investing in donor retention and recognition, you build lasting relationships that you can rely on and boost your reputation in the community.

4. Reporting

A well-designed inventory management system streamlines your processes and helps you unlock new insights for future improvement. Your solution should have a built-in reporting hub that displays real-time data such as:

• Types of items donated

• Donation frequency

• Times of year with the highest donation volume

• Items sold

Your nonprofit can use this information to adjust marketing, staffing, and pricing strategies as needed. For example, if you notice a certain type of item selling well, you might increase the price to generate more revenue to power your mission. If another product appears to be falling out of favor with customers, you might temporarily stop accepting these goods as donations to avoid overstocking.

Inventory management tools can revolutionize how your nonprofit handles and follows up on donated goods. However, you must first find the right solution for your needs. As with any fundraising software, Double the Donation recommends creating a list of must-have features, consulting online reviews, and booking demos to hone in on the right choice for your organization.

Once you’ve made your selection, take the time to train your team and create a simple guidebook for using the software. With a strong foundation in place, you’ll be well on your way to making your inventory management processes more accurate and efficient than ever before.

Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of AI for Nonprofits

Guest post by DonorSearch

It’s no secret that tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) have increasingly become part of daily life, from online chatbots to social media algorithms and even facial recognition. Similarly, AI use has become a trend in the nonprofit sector as organizations are discovering that machine learning and intelligent content generation can enhance many aspects of their management and fundraising efficiency.

While many of the available AI tools for nonprofits can benefit your organization, there are also real risks associated with using them improperly. If you’ve experienced pushback from leadership about implementing AI at your nonprofit, you aren’t alone!

However, if your team uses AI responsibly, its benefits significantly outweigh the risks. In this guide, we’ll discuss some of the advantages of AI for nonprofits before diving into some common challenges with these tools and ways to overcome them. 

Benefits of Leveraging AI at Your Nonprofit

Although AI tools can be used in many aspects of your nonprofit’s work, they tend to provide the most advantages when it comes to fundraising. DonorSearch’s AI fundraising guide lists seven general roles that AI plays in engaging donors and generating revenue for nonprofits’ missions, including that it: 

1. Saves time and money by allowing you to work smarter, not harder, on more targeted efforts.

2. Automates mundane tasks so you can focus on decision-making, relationship-building, and other activities that require human oversight.

3. Personalizes the supporter experience through segmented outreach, consistent follow-ups, and tailored fundraising appeals.

4. Provides accurate and actionable insights via detailed analytics and recommendations to maximize fundraising effectiveness, especially when it comes to identifying and cultivating major donors.

5. Levels up your marketing efforts by generating higher-quality content that resonates with your target audiences.

6. Taps into exciting new donation methods while also optimizing your existing campaigns to maximize donor engagement.

7. Measures your organization’s impact so you can identify strengths and areas for improvement in your fundraising strategy.

Of course, you can also leverage AI in other areas of your nonprofit’s work outside of fundraising—for example, generating content to promote your programs to beneficiaries or modeling financial data to inform the creation of your annual budget. Think of your AI tools as collaborators in your organization’s mission-driven success since using the best solutions in the most effective ways will provide you with new capabilities that increase your capacity to make a positive impact on your community.

Common Nonprofit AI Challenges (& How to Overcome Them)

As mentioned above, the risks of improper AI use are very real—they include data breaches, biased decision-making, noncompliance with legal regulations, and more. However, your nonprofit can prevent these risks while maximizing the benefits in the previous section by making a commitment to leverage AI responsibly.

Let’s dive deeper into a few of the challenges that many nonprofits face when implementing AI and how your organization can overcome each one.

Ensuring Data Privacy & Security

AI tools process and analyze copious amounts of data—some of which includes sensitive information about your nonprofit’s existing supporters, prospective donors, and beneficiaries. It isn’t surprising, then, that concerns about data protection with these solutions may arise both inside and outside your organization.

Fortunately, your nonprofit can keep community members’ personal information safe by taking similar precautions with your AI tools that you would with other software. As a start, Double the Donation’s donor data guide recommends taking the following security steps:

• Implement access controls. Ensure only team members who need to use AI-processed data for their jobs can work directly with it. Each of them should have their own login credentials with strong passwords that are updated regularly.

• Use reliable solutions. Look for AI tools with security features built in, such as encryption and multi-factor authentication. Some providers have also committed to promoting responsible AI use in the nonprofit sector (such as members of the Fundraising.AI Collaborative), so do your research before choosing solutions for your organization.

• Regularly update and patch systems. AI is constantly evolving and learning from new data, and new security measures are often rolled out as this happens, too. Ensure you’re always using the most up-to-date version of your solutions to maximize data protection.

Once you’ve implemented these measures, focus on being transparent with your nonprofit’s supporters about how you’re using their data for AI fundraising and allowing them to opt out if they wish to do so.

Preventing Unintentional Bias & Discrimination

Before they can produce useful outputs, AI tools must be “trained” to recognize patterns and draw conclusions from existing data. However, sometimes solutions are trained on biased data, or the algorithms they’re based on were designed (intentionally or unintentionally) in a way that perpetuates harmful biases and leads to discrimination.

To mitigate this problem, ensure your nonprofit’s responsible AI commitment includes the principle of inclusiveness. Monitor and evaluate your systems’ outputs to verify that the information is representative of your organization’s community, promotes equality, and allows you to make objective, fair decisions based on it.

Additionally, there are steps you can take to promote inclusiveness through your use of AI tools. For instance, if you use AI image generation tools, prompt them to create outputs that feature diversity. Or, if you create audio and video content with AI, ensure the solution generates a transcript and closed captions to make the finished product accessible to all audience members. Maintaining diverse and accurate data in your organization’s databases also gives your AI tools a more inclusive source of information to pull from in analysis and modeling.

Maintaining a Human Touch

AI is meant to assist your nonprofit’s team with content creation and data-driven decision-making. Organizations often run into problems when they let AI do the work for them.

Your fundraising efforts will be most effective when they’re human-centered, even if AI also supports them. Use your content generation tools’ outputs as a starting point for donor communications, but edit the outputs to tailor them to your organization and audience before sending them off. Before you make any decisions based on machine learning models, discuss the results with your team and ensure they align with your nonprofit’s overall strategy.

Additionally, remember that as advanced as AI technology is, building genuine relationships with supporters is still a human activity. While AI can save time on data-gathering and preparation for donor interactions, it’s still up to your staff members to get to know each donor personally and use your understanding of their needs and preferences to inform their journey with your nonprofit.

---

AI is the future of nonprofit work, especially fundraising. By committing to responsible AI use and investing in the right tools now, your organization will be well on its way to more effective decision-making, outreach, cultivation, and retention for the long term.

How to Make Your Marketing Messages More Donor-Centric

Guest post by Meyer Partners

The only way for your nonprofit to acquire donors, raise funds, and sustain your work is to effectively market your cause. But many nonprofits find it challenging to get donors’ attention with their donation appeals and outreach, making it difficult to earn donors’ support. 

If your organization struggles with marketing, it could be because you need to shift your focus. A common roadblock for nonprofits is that their messaging focuses too much on the organization itself rather than its donors. You can solve this problem by using these tips to make your messaging more donor-centric and therefore more appealing to donors:

• Ground your messages in data.

• Tell donor-centric stories.

• Make it easy for donors to act.

• Always incorporate gratitude.

Donor-centric nonprofit marketing is all about showing donors that they can play active roles in your nonprofit’s work to drive positive change. Explore these tips to learn how to celebrate donors’ impact as you invite them to engage with your nonprofit further.

Ground your messages in data.

To center donors in your marketing messages, you must first understand your donor base. The best way to get to know them, aside from talking with them directly over the phone or in person, is with accurate data.

Collect and organize data in your nonprofit’s CRM that gives you a better picture of who your donors are, what interests them, and how to grab their attention. Data that can help you understand your donors may include:

• Demographics: Donors’ ages, locations, and careers may give you insight into their interests and preferences. This data will not only help you understand your existing donors but will also help you target prospective donors with similar interests. 

• Giving levels: Supporters who give at higher levels warrant more personalized communications and different types of outreach. By segmenting your donors based on giving level, you can write tailored messages that better center each type of donor.

• Engagement histories: Analyzing how donors engage with your organization differently helps you send personalized invitations to the right people. Look at attendance data from past events and volunteer opportunities to find out what kind of activities donors like best.

• Personal and charitable interests: Note any personal interests you discover in conversations with donors, and pay attention to the types of campaigns each donor engages with. Then, segment donors by interests to suggest more relevant campaigns and events in your outreach. 

• Communication preferences: Part of centering donors is respecting the ways they want to interact with your organization. If you see that a group of donors only engages with direct mail, for example, focus your efforts there rather than on digital marketing.

To ensure the donor data you use to guide your marketing is accurate and up-to-date, practice good data hygiene by removing duplicate data and standardizing your data collection practices. Audit your data periodically to check for inconsistencies and update information as needed. This way, you can be confident that your data presents an accurate picture of your donor base, helping you appeal to them effectively.

Tell donor-centric stories.

Once you understand your donors, the next step is to craft messages that give donors a role in your nonprofit’s story. Using storytelling strategy is a great way to boost your marketing success since genuine stories appeal to readers’ emotions and help them visualize the impact of your cause. However, you can take it a step further by ensuring your donors play an active role in every story you tell.

Meyer Partners’ direct mail fundraising guide emphasizes that a key aspect of successful storytelling is relevance to the donor. To ensure your messages are clearly relevant to every donor, leverage these strategies:

• Use donor-inclusive language. As you tell stories to the donor, make it clear that you’re inviting them to join you in working towards your mission. Use language like “you,” “we,” and “our community.”

• Center the impact donors can make on your cause. Include details and concrete examples of the difference donors can make for your beneficiaries. For instance, you might say “Because of generous donors like you, John received a full scholarship, enabling him to complete his final semester of college and graduate.”

Remember to only tell genuine, respectful stories that represent your organization well. Always ask those involved for permission to tell their stories, and give them the option to remain anonymous.

Make it easy for donors to act.

You can also center donors by thinking about their perspectives and needs when writing marketing messages. 

For instance, think about where and when donors are likely to read your message. If you send a fundraising appeal via direct mail, they may open it when on their way out the door to run errands. Donors often read nonprofit emails on their phones while going about their days. Most donors are busy, and as much as they want to donate, they may not have time to track down your online giving page or search for information about your event. 

With this perspective in mind, you can center donors by making it as easy as possible to take action. Provide straightforward calls to action and clear next steps. Let them know exactly how they can help, and include links or QR codes that lead directly to your donation page.

Getting Attention's awareness campaigns guide provides a great example of a clear and compelling call to action from the nonprofit Color of Change: “Start a petition & amplify your cause.” On their Instagram page, Color of Change paired this call to action with a link to a page on their website that explains how to start a petition, giving readers everything they need to act.

Always incorporate gratitude.

Your nonprofit’s marketing should extend beyond only asking donors to give or engage with your organization. To truly make your messages donor-centric, they should also be infused with gratitude for your donors’ support.

Incorporating gratitude into your marketing strategy could look like:

• Sending a variety of thank-you messages after someone makes a donation, including emails, handwritten letters, and social media shoutouts.

• Thanking donors for their previous contributions in fundraising appeals.

• Expressing gratitude for all contributions to a campaign so far when you ask for donations.

• In year-end donation appeals, reiterating your thanks for all of a donor’s previous gifts that year or the year before.

These efforts will ensure that donors feel valued by your nonprofit every time you communicate with them. Plus, gratitude-focused messages can even help you acquire new donors by showing them that your nonprofit fosters a positive supporter community. 

---

Centering donors in your nonprofit’s messaging can not only boost your marketing success but also improve your relationships with donors long-term. As you implement these strategies, keep an eye on your marketing engagement data and listen to any feedback you receive from donors. Don’t be afraid to adjust your strategy further as you learn more about your donors’ preferences. 

How to Maximize Your Nonprofit’s Event Success With a CRM

Guest post by DNL OmniMedia

For nonprofits, hosting an event is about more than raising funds; it's about building relationships, engaging supporters, and advancing your mission. With a constituent relationship management (CRM) system, you can streamline these tasks and ultimately drive greater impact for your cause. 

In this guide, we’ll explain how to harness the power of your CRM software to plan, execute, and optimize events. From efficiently managing event registrations and ticket sales to capturing donor data, these insights will help you enhance every aspect of your event strategy.

Leverage Integrations

Certain CRMs have built-in event management tools, allowing users to plan events and analyze their performance all in one platform. Other systems, however, may require users to integrate third-party software, including: 

• Event management software: Integrate your CRM or donor management system with event management software. This integration allows you to seamlessly manage event registrations, ticket sales, attendee information, and communication. It also provides tools for tracking attendance, managing check-ins, and collecting valuable data about your event attendees.

• Email marketing tools: Connecting your CRM or donor management system with an email marketing platform like Mailchimp can help you send personalized event-related emails. You can automate event reminders, updates, and post-event follow-ups, as well as segment your email list to ensure the right messages reach the right recipients.

• Payment processing systems: If your event involves ticket sales, donations, or merchandise purchases, integrating your CRM with a secure payment gateway is essential. This integration ensures that payments are processed smoothly, reducing manual data entry and potential errors.

If you need help integrating these tools, consider working with a technology consultant. Their expert teams will assess your technology infrastructure and identify compatible solutions. They can then configure and customize the integration, ensuring that data flows smoothly between your CRM and event-related tools.

Train your staff 

Training users on using the CRM before the event is crucial so that staff and volunteers are well-prepared to manage event-related tasks and interactions. It also helps prevent potential errors and confusion during event activities like registration, attendee tracking, and donor engagement. 

Take these steps to train your employees and engage them in the process of data management: 

• Customize training for roles and responsibilities. Not all staff members will use the CRM system in the same way. Tailor your training sessions to each staff member's specific role and their level of interaction with the CRM. For example, event coordinators might need to focus on managing attendee data and communications, whereas a fundraising committee may be more interested in payment processing. 

• Implement hands-on training and real-life scenarios. Instead of just theoretical training, prepare your staff for the event with hands-on training exercises and real-life scenarios. Allow staff to interact with the CRM system directly and practice using it in a controlled environment. Create simulated scenarios based on common event-related tasks, such as registering attendees, tracking donations, or sending out event communications. 

• Provide ongoing support. Learning how to use a CRM system effectively takes time, and staff members may encounter questions or challenges as they start using it. Even after the formal training period ends, offer ongoing support and resources, such as user guides, video tutorials, or a dedicated point of contact for CRM-related inquiries. 

After the event ends, schedule a check-in meeting in which staff can share their experiences and learn from one another. Gather feedback to identify any pain points that may require additional training or system improvements.

Personalize Outreach

Outreach plays an important role in building relationships, increasing attendee engagement, and ultimately enhancing the overall event experience. For the greatest impact, use the data stored in your CRM to personalize outreach based on:

• Engagement level: Leverage historical data to recommend events that align with an individual's past participation or interests. Include this information in your invitations to pique their curiosity and encourage attendance. For example, a major donor might be invited to an exclusive gala, while a new donor receives information about an upcoming welcome luncheon. 

• Behavioral triggers: Implement automated workflows to trigger personalized responses based on user behavior during the invitation phase, such as sending additional event details immediately after someone registers.

• Participation: After the event, thank supporters for their participation and contributions. To make the follow-up communication relevant, mention the specific sessions they attended or interactions they had during the event.

Keep in mind that your CRM data must be up-to-date and accurate for your personalization efforts to be effective. Implement data validation tools and procedures to verify email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses. This helps prevent inaccuracies and ensures that communication reaches the intended recipients. Additionally, enhance your database by adding missing information, such as social media profiles, job titles, or organization affiliations. 

Track Attendee Interactions

By monitoring attendee interactions, you can gather insights into which sessions or activities were most popular, which marketing strategies were effective, and what areas need improvement for future events.

Here are a few different interactions to take note of in the CRM:

• Event attendance: Record which events (fundraisers, workshops, seminars, etc.) attendees have participated in. This helps you gauge their level of engagement with your organization and identify their interests.

• Audience questions: Record questions asked by attendees during live or virtual sessions and capture poll responses provided by attendees during the event. Analyze the results to gauge attendee sentiment and areas for improvement.

• Donations: Track all donations and contributions made by attendees, including one-time donations, recurring donations, and in-kind contributions. Knowing how much and how often attendees donate helps you assess their financial support and identify potential major donors.

• Communication engagement: Monitor how attendees engage with your organization's communications, such as emails, newsletters, and social media. Track metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and response rates to tailor your communication strategy to their preferences and interests.

Throughout this process, implement robust security measures to protect sensitive data like credit card numbers, demographic information, and personal opinions. Contact your CRM provider or work with a nonprofit consulting firm to encrypt data and conduct a security audit to identify potential vulnerabilities. 

---

Whether you're organizing a charity gala, fundraising auction, volunteer recruitment drive, or any other type of event, a CRM can be your greatest asset. We encourage you to dive deeper into your system’s features and adapt your approach based on real-time data. Doing so will help you host successful events well into the future.

Pay Transparency: What Nonprofit Orgs Need to Know

Guest post by RealHR

There was a time when compensation discussions were reserved for offer letters and annual performance reviews, but as with so many other aspects of the employer-employee relationship, things have changed. Today, pay transparency is top of mind for both employers and employees.

Legislative mandates have driven some of this focus, but a growing number of employers across all industries are recognizing that openly discussing their compensation practices can benefit their organizations—building more meaningful connections with their workforces and improving bottom lines. 

Nonprofit organizations are not exempt from this sea of change, and in this article, we’ll introduce three concepts to jumpstart your thinking about pay transparency:

• Defining Pay Transparency and the Law

• The Benefits of Pay Transparency in the Absence of Legislation

• Things to Consider When Implementing a Pay Transparency Strategy

With these themes in mind, you will be able to begin the process of determining how and to what extent pay transparency will work in your organization.

Defining Pay Transparency and the Law 

Pay transparency is the idea of sharing compensation policies, practices, and strategies with job applicants, your existing workforce, and, to some extent, the public. This can be accomplished in various ways, but the most common way is to include such information in job postings. 

Several states and municipalities have enacted legislation requiring employers to provide pay ranges in job postings. The details vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but every law focuses on making pay data available during the hiring process. 

Determining if one of these laws applies to your nonprofit is more complex than identifying your business headquarters. For example, employers with five or more workers in Jersey City must comply with the city’s pay transparency law, even if this location is not their primary place of business. 

Other localities do not require an employer to have a physical presence in their state or city, extending their law’s reach to remote workers (e.g., Colorado and Washington state). If an organization meets the requisite number of employees working in these states (and the number may be as low as one), the employer must disclose its pay ranges. 

Also, some of these legal schemes encompass an employer’s existing workforce. In these locales, employers must provide pay scale information if an employee requests it for their current position.

Pay transparency is rapidly developing, with new laws being introduced regularly. For example, both the U.S. Congress and the state of New Jersey have bills pending on this very subject. So, it is important to consult with legal counsel or other HR professionals with expertise in this area to stay up to date.

The Benefits of Pay Transparency in the Absence of Legislation

Aside from any legal requirements, being straightforward about your compensation package is a best practice that garners several organizational benefits. By embracing a pay transparency model, you will:

• Build trust with your prospective and current employee populations

• Identify pay gaps

• Erode barriers by addressing inequities

• Foster a positive, inclusive culture 

• Improve your public and employer brand

• Engage in more effective recruiting by attracting salary appropriate candidates 

• Improve retention rates 

By sharing pay practices, employers and nonprofit leaders provide candidates and current employees with an accurate picture of their compensation. Empowered with this knowledge, individuals will make better employment decisions based on accurate information. 

Pay transparency also engenders trust and a commitment to your organization and its mission. People want to associate with, work for, and support forward-thinking nonprofits.

Things to Consider When Implementing a Pay Transparency Strategy

Entering the world of pay transparency is more than just publishing pay ranges in job postings. Proper preparation and planning are necessary for a successful implementation, so it is important to invest the time to think through the process.

Key steps to take before rolling out a pay transparency program include:

• Defining your pay philosophy and strategy

• Comparing your pay structure to the competition and adjusting as appropriate

• Reviewing current salaries to ensure they are fair, equitable and defensible

• Identifying and remedying disparities

• Communicating effectively and often

• Share pay data in a manner and to an extent that fits your culture and moves your objectives forward

• Formalize communications for your existing workforce about what pay information you will release and the timing

• Establish channels for employees to access supervisors so they may ask questions, express concerns, and receive prompt answers

Nonprofits often struggle to compete with for-profit employers solely based on compensation, and revealing pay ranges may generate additional conversations or negotiations regarding the right salary level for given individuals. To effectively respond, it is critical to focus compensation discussions and communications—to both candidates and employees—on a total rewards approach. 

In addition to stating pay scales, highlight the value-added benefits you provide. As a nonprofit, emphasize your culture and the work you do for the community. For many seeking nonprofit employment, the mission is a key consideration. When they can connect that mission to your pay strategy, the attraction to join your team and stay with the organization is reinforced. 

---

Pay transparency can be something imposed on you or something you champion as a guiding principle. If you accept it as a best practice, developing your strategy will result in an improved compensation philosophy, better connections with candidates, and increased workforce satisfaction. 

4 Effective Budgeting Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations

Guest post by Jitasa

In the nonprofit sector, an essential question that many organizations face is how to accomplish ambitious goals with limited resources. Different nonprofits try to solve this problem in various ways, from making their fundraising efforts more efficient to carefully prioritizing the programs and projects that further strategic growth.

However, a key tool that your organization may overlook in this process is your annual operating budget. As the master financial plan for your entire nonprofit, this document allows you to gain a deeper understanding of your organization’s available resources and properly allocate them to cover all necessary costs.

To help you get started, this guide will walk through four foundational strategies for creating your nonprofit’s annual operating budget—let’s dive right in!

1. Set Clear Goals

As with the other plans your nonprofit makes (strategic plans, fundraising campaign plans, etc.), starting with clear goals is essential for your operating budget to be as useful as possible. When setting these goals, Jitasa’s nonprofit budgeting guide recommends ensuring they include:

• Defined activities. Review your organization’s current strategic plan and meet with your team to determine what mission-related activities you’ll prioritize during the year. Each of the line items in your budget—both revenue and expenses—should either be related to these activities or to other essential aspects of running your nonprofit, such as maintaining operations or saving for the future.

• Comprehensive timelines. While your full operating budget will cover one fiscal year, you also need to consider when different expenditures or revenue-generating activities will take place. This will help you avoid spending money you don’t yet have, keep up with deadlines for payments and grant applications, and ensure your team isn’t spread too thin when you run concurrent activities.

• Realistic, measurable metrics. Once you know what your organization is doing when in terms of its finances, you can attach dollar amounts to each activity. This process is most effective when you base your decisions on your nonprofit’s recorded financial data (more on this later!).

These features of an effective nonprofit operating budget line up well with the SMART method of goal-setting—i.e., ensuring your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound—which can be a helpful framework for presenting your goals to your team.

2. Review Past Financial Data

Since budgets are future-focused documents, the numbers in them predict your organization’s spending and revenue generation for the coming year. To make more accurate projections, it’s helpful to look back at your nonprofit’s actual numbers from the past few years. Some resources you can use to do this include your organization’s:

• Transaction records, which should be stored in your accounting software and kept up-to-date by your nonprofit’s bookkeeper.

• Financial statements, which organize and summarize data so you can more easily draw actionable conclusions from it.

• Nonprofit audit reports, which detail your auditor’s objective perspective on your organization’s financial situation.

All of these resources should help you figure out how much revenue your nonprofit can reasonably raise from various sources and which of your expenses are most vital to your organization’s success.

3. Organize Expenses by Function

Once you’re ready to start drafting your nonprofit’s operating budget, it’s best to start with the expense side since it’s typically less flexible. Most nonprofits organize their projected spending based on how it furthers their mission—i.e., by function.

The three categories of functional expenses are as follows:

• Program costs are directly related to your mission and vary widely from organization to organization. For example, an animal shelter’s program expenses would likely include its rescue pets’ food and veterinary care, while a nonprofit art museum’s might include the costs of acquiring and maintaining collections of paintings.

• Administrative costs are necessary for your organization to operate day-to-day and range from utility bills to office equipment purchases to staff compensation.

• Fundraising costs are the upfront expenses associated with revenue-generating activities, such as event planning, marketing, and fundraising software fees.

You might have also heard the term “overhead expenses,” which refers to your nonprofit’s administrative and fundraising costs combined. While there are various recommendations about how much of your organization’s revenue should go toward your programs versus your overhead, the exact breakdown will look different for every nonprofit. Just remember that although some overhead is necessary to run your organization, you should put as much funding toward your programs as possible to further your mission effectively.

4. Categorize Revenue by Source

By first establishing your nonprofit’s total expenses for the year, you’ll know how much revenue you need to generate to cover those costs. Using this projection as a guide, determine where this funding will come from and categorize it accordingly so you can set accurate goals for various fundraising campaigns.

To boost your organization’s financial stability, include a variety of revenue sources in your budget, including:

• Individual donations. These make up the bulk of most nonprofits’ funding and include small, mid-sized, and major monetary gifts, as well as event revenue and in-kind contributions of goods, services, and non-cash assets such as stocks.

• Corporate philanthropy. This category includes all charitable contributions from for-profit businesses, such as sponsorships, matching gifts, and volunteer grants.

• Earned income. Although this revenue stream isn’t typically associated with nonprofits, your organization can legally earn income by offering memberships, selling branded merchandise, or charging fees for services provided.

• Investments. This is also a relatively uncommon nonprofit revenue stream and isn’t the most lucrative for short-term fundraising. But as Infinite Giving’s cash management guide explains, investing in low-risk vehicles like mutual funds and money market accounts is an effective way to grow and steward your organization’s long-term savings.

• Grants. Whether they’re provided by government agencies or foundations, grants are often critical for funding your nonprofit’s most important programs and projects. Since most grants are specialized and competitive, look for grants that align closely with your organization’s needs and make sure to submit well-written proposals by their deadlines.

A common misconception about nonprofit budgeting is that because nonprofits by definition can’t turn a profit, their operating budgets have to break even every year. In reality, your total projected revenue can—and should—exceed your predicted expenses if possible. Combined with diversified funding sources, this surplus provides a safety net in case your projections shift throughout the year and makes it easier to plan for future growth.

---

Although you’ll create your nonprofit’s operating budget from scratch once a year, effective budgeting isn’t a one-and-done process. Check in with your budget at least once a month to see if you’re on track with spending and fundraising, and make any necessary adjustments to keep your organization on the best possible financial trajectory.