Top 3 benefits of Salesforce for nonprofits

Hi, I’m Laura Croudace, VRP Consulting’s Nonprofit Practice Director. I’ve worked in the nonprofit industry for 12 years and have been a Head of Fundraising in that time. If you’re thinking about Salesforce^® and are new to it, then this is the blog for you. I’ll be exploring the biggest benefits of Salesforce for nonprofits. Salesforce is a powerful tool that can help nonprofit organisations become fully data driven, saving them huge amounts of time, resources and money, whilst helping you scale your fundraising income

As someone who has been a fundraiser, I know that having the tools to manage your donor relationships, track fundraising efforts, and ultimately increase donations using the right platform is vital to your charity’s success. In this blog post, I want to highlight the top 3 ways that nonprofits can use Salesforce data to scale their fundraising efforts.

1. Track donor engagement and retention

I know as a fundraiser you will have so many tasks at the front of your mind, in your inbox and also if you are like me before I had Salesforce a trusty notepad! One of the most important ways that Salesforce data can help nonprofits scale their fundraising efforts is by tracking donor engagement and retention with a view we call the Donor 360 View. Why do we call it that? 

We call it a Donor 360 View as Salesforce allows nonprofits to track donor interactions, such as donations, event attendance, and how they respond to campaigns in one place – giving you a view of everything a donor cares about, engages with to enable you to respond back in a data driven way and send communications the donor is really going to love. 

By tracking these interactions, nonprofits can identify their most engaged donors and tailor their fundraising efforts to these individuals. Additionally, nonprofits can use Salesforce to track donor retention rates, which can help them identify areas where they may need to improve their donor engagement strategies.

Sounds good? 

2. Personalise donor outreach

When I was running a fundraising department as a fundraiser, I found it exceptionally important to ensure that I knew who had been thanked for their gift, who had been approached to upgrade their donation based on conversations, and all of the ways people wanted to be involved in our mission. 

I have written so many articles over the years about why thanking donors is important — the work doesn’t just stop after acquiring donors., However,but another area of communication I’m hugely passionate about is creating personalised donor journeys using technology to power them. 

Nonprofits can use Salesforce data to scale their fundraising efforts by personalising their donor outreach. Salesforce allows nonprofits to segment their donors based on a variety of factors, including donation history, demographics, interests, programmes they support and engagement level. By segmenting their donors, nonprofits can tailor their outreach efforts to each individual, providing more personalised communications and this allows donors to see the impact they are making through donating. 

Making communications more relevant and personal is definitely one of the biggest benefits of Salesforce for nonprofits – it can have a huge impact on donor engagement. 

3. Becoming data-driven across your organisation 

Becoming data driven is a really important idea and thought to consider. How are you using  your data? What are you guessing on when creating new campaigns, where are you focusing your energy, budgets and teams? 

Nonprofits can use Salesforce data to analyse their fundraising efforts and identify areas for improvement, or where to invest time, resources, people and efforts. Salesforce provides a wealth of data on fundraising efforts, including donation amounts, donor demographics, and fundraising campaign performance. 

By analysing this data, nonprofits can identify which fundraising campaigns are most effective, which donor segments are most engaged, and which areas may need improvement. This information can help nonprofits refine their fundraising strategies and ultimately increase donations.

This allows leadership to be able to see where their resources are being used best, or which teams need to change or update approaches to have bigger impacts.

Time to make the most of these benefits of Salesforce for nonprofits?

I’ve worked with hundreds of organisations over the past 5 years and there is always one constant with nonprofits who are able to scale rapidly. They use their data wisely, and base all decisions around it.  

Salesforce is a powerful tool that can help nonprofits scale their fundraising efforts by tracking donor engagement and retention, personalising donor outreach, and analysing fundraising data. By leveraging the power of Salesforce, nonprofits can improve their fundraising strategies and ultimately increase their impact on the communities they serve.
VRP has a team of experts which allow us to deliver the best possible solutions which mean that our clients get the best impact, innovations which naturally accelerates their fundraising, programmes and goals. Get in touch with our team today so that we can chat about how we help your nonprofit leap forward in your mission.

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About the Author

Laura Croudace

Global Nonprofit Practice Director, VRP Consulting

Laura has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 12 years, including as a Head of Fundraising and Salesforce Partner Advisory Board Member. As our global Nonprofit Practice Director, she is passionate about enabling nonprofits everywhere to harness the power of Salesforce technology.