Simplify Your Work With Fundraising Event Software

Most nonprofits know just how difficult event planning can be. Whether you’re organising a gala, a marathon, or a charity auction, it can be difficult to stay on top of all of the logistics you need to cover!  

But it is easier said than done. Asking for money from a crowd is not as effortless as it sounds. There are tons of fundraising challenges when it comes to online fundraising for both nonprofits and individuals. As a vital part of a nonprofit’s operations, fundraising is a major concern for many organisations. Not having enough funds can be a major issue for these organisations. However, it is also true that the pandemic has led to an increase in donations.  

Here are few examples of fundraising challenges:

• Finding perfect fundraising platform
• Telling your story
• Finding donors
• Lack of easy access
• Donor relationship - Donor retention
• Post campaign engagement

By having successful events, nonprofits are expecting to gain a lot of exposure to achieve their goals while tackling those challenges. Today, there are many tools available to help administrators streamline the fundraising event planning process. By utilising online fundraising software, event planners have access to all event details in one centralised place. Participants can register for the event online and then create a personalised fundraising webpage to help them spread awareness and easily collect online donations. They can also track their personal progress against their goals and compare with other participants, instilling a sense of motivation.

There are distinctions, big and small, between fundraising platforms and Nonprofit CRM tools. It’s important to learn about the functionality of each one to understand which one is best for you.  

Fundraising platforms allow non profits to manage all aspects of online fundraising, from crowdfunding and everyday donation pages to peer – to – peer and event fundraising. While nonprofits manage these pages, volunteer fundraisers, often called personal fundraisers, are also encouraged to share existing campaigns and create their own fundraising web pages.

Common uses for fundraising platforms include:

• Online Fundraising
• Event Fundraising
• Peer - to - peer fundraising
• Basic CRM
• Integrations with other software programs such as MailChimp, Google Sheets, Stripe payment

CRM systems are often developed for large businesses and used by corporate sales departments but can be modified for nonprofits to track every aspect of the donor experience, from contact information to multiple touchpoints and sending out communications.  

Common use for nonprofit CRM system and Donor management:  

• General campaign data
• Donor contact information
• Donation history
• Touchpoint and multi channel interactions
• Tracking ability how gifts are acquired

To start reaping the benefits of holding a different type of fundraising event, whether it’s a virtual fundraising, gala, seminar, social media contest, online auctions, donation page or form and webstore, it is important to streamline all your channel and focus on better managing your fundraising effort funnel.  

Your fundraising event software essentially needs the following features to hold a successful event:  

• Flexible Events: Manage multiple events and campaigns year - round and easily pivot between physical event and online / virtual event
• Integrated Ticketing: Sell tickets and manage RSVP’s online to save you and your guest time. Create personalised experience for both in – person and virtual events. 
• Registration & Checkout: Provide amazing guest experience, QR technology integration for advance hassle free process, and allowing guest to manage their own event preferences.
• Vendor & Logistics Management: Manage different event actors & roles with ease. Easily view planning & scheduler on each partners. Even upload seating chart & table arrangement to the tools 
• Donor Management: Track donations, manage communication, and easily acknowledge donors. View activity across different events & donators, and enable recurring donations 
• Reporting and Analytics: Takes thousands of data points collected before, during and after event and converts them into actionable insights to help your team strengthen your mission.  
• Donor Database Integration: Work with different departments on one database layer to provide consistent and seamless collaboration across different teams. 

So, all these features should be able to efficiently help your team to manage an entire planning process so your nonprofit can focus on advancing its mission. You should be able to answer the following questions about your fundraising event software:  

• Are you successfully fundraising online with the program? Explore more fundraising opportunities on different platforms, start small ,such as organising Teams event or social media giveaways. In other ways, you can have a deeper role in promoting change and tap different opportunities across different platforms.  
• Does your current CRM system support you with all above requirements? If not, shop around to find a fundraising event software that able to accommodate both CRM function and marketing function.  
• Are you fundraising online using diverse fundraising techniques? Trying your hand at various types of fundraising like donation pages, peer to peer, crowdfunding, social media giveaways, forms / landing pages. The right fundraising ERP Software will offer you a variety of ways to fundraise and engage your supporters!