Features of Donation Management Software!

Posted on October 7, 2021

It’s no wonder that fundraisers are looking for methods to make their labor more efficient. Every day, as a fundraiser, you wake up and strive to enlist more people to your cause. With just so many hours in the day and a seemingly endless need for funding for your cause, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the face of the world’s most pressing social issues.

Donor management software allows companies to centralize and manage all of their donor information. It’s geared at nonprofits, but it can be used for any type of fundraising, including schools, churches, and political groups.

What is a Donor Management Software?

Donor management software is a form of nonprofit software that facilitates understanding the donors which in turn maximizes donor relationships. The program organizes donor data, recognizes donor patterns, and provides recommendations to enhance the chance of obtaining future gifts as a tool for donor relationship management.

Donor management software, as the name implies, helps you to keep track of your contributors and their contributions. Not only can you trace your donations, but you can also discover more about the people who make them. You can save all of this important information in one place using donation software.

Benefits of a Donation Management

Donor Management Software is a single source of information that can be accessed by all members of your organization to gain valuable insights about your donors. It essentially replaces spreadsheets, which may quickly get cluttered and lead to inaccurate or missing data.

Most of your nonprofit’s admin activities can be done through the DMS or connected applications. A good DMS eliminates a lot of the manual data entry that is necessary with spreadsheets. Donor management software may also facilitate wealth screening to anticipate which contributors are most likely to contribute larger quantities of money. To also see how contributors are related to one another and to highlight giving behaviors. Donor management software, for example, may track when and how frequently contributors contribute, as well as an estimate when and how much they are likely to give in the future.

Donor management software enhances productivity by categorizing donations by giving levels and handling all donations in one place. All donations coming from different sources such as social media platforms, email campaigns, and charity events are available in DMS.

A donor management system can also assist you in analyzing data about your contributors and developing educated strategies for increasing donor satisfaction and retention. It may be used to build highly personalized communications, allowing you to convey the appropriate message to the appropriate individuals at the appropriate time.

The more information you have on potential, existing, and lapsed donors, the better your DMS will be able to assist your organization. Whether you aim to get new supporters, keep existing ones, or reactivate lapsed contributors, a DMS can help you better understand and interact with each of these groups, thereby increasing the amount of funds raised.

Must-have features of Donation Management Software

It’s important to remember that donation management software and customer relationship management (CRM) software are the same things. There are various donation software and CRM choices to select from, and at first look, they may appear to be quite similar. Small changes and missing features, on the other hand, might have a significant influence on the value you derive from your platform.

Here are 5 Features for Managing Donors that your Platform should Provide:

1. Donor Tracking

All of the vital information about your contributors, volunteers, sponsors, partners, and other supporters will be stored in donor profiles. Because donor data is the bedrock of the platform, it should be simple to access, add, and edit. The following is an example of a typical donor profile:

Name, age, address, phone number, and email address are all examples of contact information.

Donations, volunteer hours, email opens and clicks, and customer service interactions, for example, are all part of the engagement timeline.

Giving history: the date of your first donation, the date of your most recent donation, the average period between gifts, and so on.

Units of a family: Relationships with current, former, and potential donors

Donor segments: Use groups, lists, or tags to categorize contacts.

2. Donor Management

It’s not simple to raise money. It necessitates an awareness of your donors as well as maintaining track of the relevant data that provides you with useful insights. A donor management system may help you keep track of everything from donor giving histories and trends to mailing lists and fundraising campaign statistics by simplifying data management.

Donor management solutions, on the other hand, allow your team to import, edit, and communicate important information with appropriate employees in one central spot! Many solutions enable tracking and updating fundraising schedules, documenting and tracking donor interactions, and even assigning duties to particular team members simple for your fundraising team!

3. Setting Communication Pathways

Most donor management systems enable you to segment your contributors based on a variety of criteria, including interests, demographics, and giving history. You may tailor your messages and make particular fundraising appeals that are more appealing to each donor if you do this.

Donor management software may also help you enhance your overall donor care by being more consistent with your communication, being more precise with your thank-yous. Personalized correspondence demonstrates to your contributors that you care about them, which can only help you raise more money!

4. Online Giving

Fundraising features are included in the finest donation management software. We’re not talking about the types of forms you’d expect to see, such as contribution forms or fundraiser pages. We’re talking about things like “giving potential” scores, gift forecasts, and wealth intelligence, which are all quite important.

They should be able to assist you in determining who is most likely to donate and when. From people who are most likely to become big donors to the projected dollar amount of each donor’s next donation, you may obtain a full picture of your prospective giving and volunteer community.

This aids in the development of your entire fundraising plan, and it’s a game-changer for charities that rely on individual donations rather than sponsors, grants, and government funds.

5. Application Integration

Every donor management platform should allow you to link your existing software tools and optimize your entire operation. These connections allow you to seamlessly integrate all of your favorite platforms and websites, such as accounting software or email marketing software, with your donor software.

6. Identify Trends Amongst Donors

It’s simpler to recognize and follow donation patterns if you have a good understanding of all your donor data. Donor management software might also alert you to fresh giving possibilities that you would not have been aware of otherwise.

Most donation management software includes monitoring and reporting features to make it easier to keep track of everything year after year. The more information you collect, the more powerful the tool becomes for your team!

Choosing the Right Software for Your Nonprofit

Apart from the above essential features, when it comes to choosing software for your nonprofit, you need to consider a few things before finalizing.

• Capacity: Consider the size of your donor list as a starting point for your search. Some are designed to work with multinational corporations. When you’re beginning from scratch, it’s tempting to go for the biggest and finest option. Those added features and complex capabilities, on the other hand, might be intimidating rather than helpful.
• Free Trials: If your present system is very simple, or if segmenting and tagging are completely new to you, a demonstration is especially beneficial. Demonstrations of donor management software are typically the easiest method to see how a product may help your business.
• Cost: If your company can’t afford it, even the best software in the world won’t help. However, remember, that it is an investment for long-term benefits. A good donor management software will save you time, make your communications more efficient and successful, and help you connect with your donors better.

iConnectx is a powerful donation software, that gives you smart insights and can be customized for your nonprofit needs.