We live in an era where anyone can voice their opinions online, or organize with others to take action towards creating change. Even though it might feel like we are living in unending chaos right now, the truth is that we are in the middle of a massive cultural shift — one which is giving way to a new type of nonprofit: The Digital Nonprofit.
These non-profits are using technology as a way to bridge the gap between donors and beneficiaries, as well as operate more efficiently as businesses (instead of just charities).
Create an action plan for digital transformation
One of the most important aspects of digital transformation is that it’s not a one-off project — instead, it is a process of continual evolution. This will be very different for each organization, but you need to start by having a clear understanding of where you are, where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there. It is important to assume that you will fail at many of your attempts to make change, and to have a plan for what to do when that happens. Digital transformation requires a cultural shift, and that isn’t easy — it requires buy-in from the entire organization and sometimes even requires staff who are resistant to change to be retrained to use new tools. This can be a long process, and you need to always be checking in to make sure you are headed in the right direction and making the right changes.
Stop (and actually listen to) the endless meetings
One of the things people often think they need to do more of when they are trying to become more efficient is to have more meetings. But, while they can be a useful tool, they can also be incredibly inefficient if not used properly. For example, have you ever been in a meeting where everyone just talks over each other and nothing seems to get done? Or, where someone takes the meeting off track because they are trying to solve a problem that the meeting wasn’t designed to solve? Meetings like these can easily take up a lot of time and accomplish very little, and they can create an environment that is unproductive and frustrating.
Automate your communications
One of the biggest ways that digital transformation can help a nonprofit increase efficiency is through automation of communications. For example, when you sign up to donate, instead of getting a letter from your board president thanking you and telling you about the organization, you could get a text thanking you. When you respond to the text, you could get more information about your donation and the organization. Signing up for emails and newsletters is a great way for non-profits to keep their donors and supporters informed about what is happening in their organization, as well as what they are doing with their donations. However, the emails and newsletters can quickly become overwhelming if there are too many coming in on a regular basis. This is where automation comes in handy. You can set up rules and filters to send any email you want (for example, whenever you write an email to a specific person, or when you post a new blog post) to go directly into a folder that isn’t sent out to your supporters. This way, you can write emails that get sent directly to the right people, but they don’t clog up other people’s inboxes.
Use automation to save time and money
One of the major benefits of digital transformation is that you can create software that will do things automatically for you. You may not be able to hire more people or expand your staff right now, but you may be able to set up an email tool that sends out a pre-written message to new donors, thanking them for their support, or a content management system that allows you to write posts and publish them without having to do any formatting or inputting manually. These types of digital tools can help you save time without adding more work hours to the schedule. There are also more advanced tools that allow you to set up systems that automatically send emails, schedule content, or do other things for you — for a fee, of course. These tools can take a lot of the manual labour out of digital transformation, saving you time and money in the long run.
Leverage data to understand your beneficiaries
One of the best ways to understand your beneficiaries and find creative solutions to the issues they are facing is to use data. This is something that is unique to digital transformation — you can set up polls, surveys, and other types of data collection to gather information on who your beneficiaries are and how they are feeling. You can then use this information to decide on new strategies and ways of doing things — instead of relying on gut reactions or what you think might work best, you have data to back it up. You can also use data to understand your supporters and donors, which can make your organization more effective overall. One of the most effective ways to use data is to set up a media monitoring dashboard. This will help you track mentions of your organization in media, as well as any other hashtags or topics related to your mission. This will help you keep track of any negative or false information that is being circulated about your non-profit, as well as any positive mentions you might otherwise miss.
Wrap Up
No matter what type of nonprofit you operate, you need to be taking advantage of digital transformation. Why? Well, 92% of people who search for information online expect to find a solution, and 90% of them want to interact with a business before making a purchase decision. You need to be available online, respond to people’s questions, and provide them with the information they need. But, how can you do all of that if you don’t have the budget that big companies have? Luckily, there are low-cost ways to make your nonprofit a change-maker online!
