Non-profit

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Relationships with suppliers are critical to maximising charities’ success

Charities’ success largely depends on the relationships they maintain with suppliers. By working closely with suppliers, charities can maximise their impact, reduce costs, and improve the quality of services they offer. A charity’s relationship with its supplier can dramatically impact the outcomes achieved.

In this blog post, we will explore five focus areas charities can employ to maximise relationships with suppliers to achieve their goals.

Clear communication, well-defined expectations, mutual trust, support, and collaboration are key elements in building strong relationships with suppliers. Charities should invest time and effort into these relationships, as they play a crucial role in their success. Think of suppliers as an extension of your staff. You would provide staff with the in-depth knowledge and tools they need to do their job. Provide your suppliers with the same resources.

Five focus areas

  1. Establish clear communication channels
    • Regular communication between charities and suppliers is key to building strong relationships.
    • Charities should establish clear communication channels and ensure that suppliers understand their goals, requirements, and expectations.
    • Take these actions to avoid misunderstandings and ensure that suppliers are fully aligned with the charity’s objectives
  2. Define clear expectations
    • Charities should define clear expectations for suppliers, including quality standards, delivery dates, and customer service expectations.
    • By clearly articulating these expectations, charities can ensure that suppliers understand what is expected of them and are able to deliver on their commitments
  3. Foster mutual trust
    • Building trust is essential in any relationship, and this is especially true when it comes to working with suppliers.
    • Charities should be transparent and honest in their dealings with suppliers and should work to build trust by being reliable, trustworthy, and delivering on their promises
  4. Offer support
    • Charities should support suppliers by providing them with the resources they need to succeed, such as training, guidance, and access to funding.
    • This support will help suppliers to improve their products and services, which will, in turn, benefit the charity and its stakeholders
  5. Foster collaboration
    • Charities should encourage collaboration between themselves and suppliers, such as joint projects, events, and initiatives
    • This collaboration will help to build stronger relationships, create new opportunities for both parties, and achieve shared goals
    • Collaboration could also reduce costs and decrease the risk of more than one supplier providing duplicate, overlapping services
    • FundraisingForce are a specialist consultant member of The Xfactor Collective. The Xfactor Collective includes consultants who are experienced, pre-vetted and from multiple disciplines to aid charitable organisations to meet their pressing needs.

Suppliers are an extension of your staff. Working with suppliers in a focused, clear, and concise manner will ensure you receive the optimal benefit for your organisations.

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QR codes are here to stay

QR Code

In 2021, I wrote a blog post about QR codes having nine lives. Now, the simple fact is QR codes are here to stay!

Over the past two to three years, we have seen an abundant use of the QR code. Simply put, we survived COVID due to the QR code and the QR code survived because of COVID.

It used to be a rare occasion when a charity would include a QR code as a convenient way for the donor to give a donation. Now, nearly every charity generates an appeal-specific QR code and prints the code on the appeal response device. Over the past few weeks, all but one direct mail piece received from an Australian charity has included a response mechanism that included a QR code. My heart sank when I opened the one appeal lacking the code.

Musts from iConnectx

iConnectx, a US technology provider, wrote a blog that is a nice summary of the use of QR codes and the how-tos. In the blog post, iConnectx suggests things to think through when creating one:

  • ensure that your website can be accessed on mobile and tablets. Remember QR codes are designed to be used on smart devices such as phones and not on desktops
  • generate a QR code with the help of a QR code generator. There are several free options available online for generating QR codes. You can also consider paid or subscription versions for greater flexibility. Paid versions offer customisation with your organisation’s brand colours, logo, etc.
  • integrate data analytics into the code
  • link the QR code to web pages designed for mobile browsing. Make sure the QR code is linked to the Donate Now or specific appeal page
  • donors can scan the QR Code from their smartphones. They will be directed to a mobile web browser to view the link in the QR code. Alternatively, they can be sent an SMS or a prompt to dial a number

QR codes can be used in a variety of creative ways. Do not use QR code technology just because it is the “in thing” to do. Ensure QR codes have a purpose within your organisation. More than anything, ensure QR codes have a real benefit to your donor.

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Cybersecurity – not just for our corporate counterparts

security logo

Cybersecurity is on the minds of Australians given the recent breaches of AHM, Medibank, and Optus data. In our sector, Blackbaud paid a ransom and faces lawsuits filed by multiple customers due to a data breach in May 2020.

According to a recent article published in UK Fundraising, 1 in 8 charities have been affected by cybercrime in the past 12 months.

How secure is your organisation? A UK Charity Commission survey suggested the most common types of attacks were phishing and impersonation, both of which can put personal data at risk.

The survey conducted by IFF Research in October 2022, showed 2,330 charities in England and Wales underreport incidents with only 34% of affected charities reporting breaches.

Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) White Paper

Every organisation has a duty to ensure cybersecurity. These and other actions can help ensure your organisation is as secure as possible. The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) published a white paper focused on cybersecurity, which suggests real potential issues for each of our organisations if we do not mitigate risk. Those issues include:

  • loss of crucial information
  • disruption to services
  • unauthorised changes to your charity’s information and systems
  • expensive costs to restore data and services
  • costs of notification and investigation (including legal costs)
  • costs arising from the attack itself (for example, extortion or ransomware)
  • regulatory action and penalties
  • loss of trust and reputation

According to the Identify Theft Resource Center, the information exposed in the Blackbaud breach included Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, personal health information (PHI), financial information, credit card information, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, mailing addresses, phone numbers, student I.D. numbers, biographical information, donation dates, donation amounts and other donor profile information. Blackbaud is calling this a security incident.

The Charities Commission in the UK has suggested a stronger use of two-factor authentication, which is something most CRM suppliers are requiring of their customers. Further, the Commission suggests:

  • updating training and policies
  • backing up data using cloud services
  • ensuring the latest version of antivirus and other software is used

The ACNC recommends four steps to prevent cybersecurity:

  • identify and assess the risks
  • prevent incidents and mitigate risks
  • engage people in the charity, and even third parties, to help manage risks
  • take action when concerns, suspicion or complaints arise
What is your organisation doing to mitigate the risks of a cyberattack? Are your suppliers mitigating similar risks? Your organisation and its suppliers have responsibilities to your supporters. Together you can create a ring around your data and your systems.

 

QR Codes seem to have nine lives

For nearly a year now, Australians have been conditioned to use QR codes to move about freely during the COVID-19 pandemic. We scan these codes when we enter or exit most establishments. QR codes are something that was once considered to be innovative and, then, left for dead. QR Codes seem to have nine lives. COVID-19 seems to have breathed new life into this tool.

QR codes are indeed everywhere. They’ve even started to re-appear on response devices for charity appeals, again! This week alone, I have received three appeals with QR codes prominently placed on the response devices.

Appeals received today from the North Foundation, Odyssey House, and The Wilderness Society all featured a QR code placed prominently on their respective response devices for their latest campaigns. Just last week I was at Monash Health Foundation where QR codes are in abundant use on promotions for their recent eating disorders appeal.

Now that Australians are used to using the QR code on a daily basis, is your organisation bringing back the QR code?

Steps to set up a QR code

  1. Visit a QR Code generator site, such as QR Code Generator (it’s free)
  2. Select URL and enter your donation page URL
  3. Save the QR Code to your desktop
  4. Insert the QR Code into the art for your response device and on any promotional material

Years ago, I wrote a blog post about the use of the QR code and why they were not more prevalent in the charity sector. These codes appear to have made a comeback in a big way. Perhaps they are here to stay. Equally, perhaps we can thank COVID-19 for conditioning people to accept them for a multitude of uses.

Consider ways in which your non-profit organsiation might deploy a QR code similar to the great non-profit organisations featured here.

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A video which says thank you – in style

Video

As a donor to a wide variety of charitable organisations across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States, I am fascinated by the ways in which these non-profit organisations, schools, and universities choose to say thank you (or not at all). Some use simple thank you messaging in a receipt or acknowledgement letter. Others, like St Vincent’s Hospital Foundation Melbourne, choose to deploy volunteers to call and offer a personal thank you. Now, others are utilising personalised video messaging in emails and other forums.

The University of Wisconsin Foundation sent me a personalised video in an email this past week. It was superbly done and hit all the right marks.

In the video, using ThankView technology, a student, Kim, offered thanks to me for my financial support of the University of Wisconsin. The email and the video contained my name. The UW Foundation used this treatment as a “check in” with alumni, as well as an opportunity to inform us of the transition to online learning during these unprecedented times. Further, the student suggested it was the support of people like me that made this transition possible.

The video was, simply put, informative and well received by this alumnus.

How does this technology work?

  • A list of donor’s names is provided to people like Kim to record the personalised videos.
  • Kim records the videos mentioning the first name of donors. In my case, the video was recorded for all Stephen’s/Steven’s on their file.
  • The video is uploaded and sent to all Stephen’s/Steven’s in the intended list.
  • The results are tracked in ThankView and recorded back to the University of Wisconsin CRM.
    • What is tracked? Open rates, viewings of the video, shares of the video, and other important metrics.

Purposes of videos

We think this technology is fantastic. It allows organisations to record videos for:

  • Birthday greetings.
  • Anniversary dates of giving.
  • Consecutive years of giving.
  • Milestones of giving.
  • Building and room reveals.
  • Program and service introductions.
  • Annual reports and stewardship reporting.
  • Other stewardship purposes.

Investing in this level of technology will not break the organisation’s budget and will likely pay multiple dividends to your organisation through supporter retention and other good will. This technology will also make your organisation stand above others in the market.

if you want to learn more about ThankView technology, contact ThankView here.

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Thank you – an easy thing to say

Thank yiouIt is the easiest task to do, yet it is often times overlooked in our day-to-day responsibilities. In the rush to get stuff done, including finding new donors, asking for that next big gift, we are overlooking the most important task. I am talking about saying thank you to donors, volunteers, and staff.

We all need to take the pledge – one thank you call, email, or handwritten note a week.

We have more tools to actually say thank you today than ever before. It is often times the “old fashioned” way to do it – the handwritten note – that stands out in donors, volunteers, and staff minds.

We receive most of our communications today via electronic format. Communications flow in via email, voice mail, SMS, or via social media channels like Facebook, Facebook messenger, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Yet, what do we actually receive that is highly personalised and handwritten besides a birthday card or an occasional invite to a formal event like a wedding? Even those communications are moving more and more electronic.

This leaves me to argue, as fundraisers, we need to communicate more in handwriting. Thank you notes are a perfect place to start.

Reasons to send a handwritten thank you

There are a variety of reasons and ways to thank individuals for the fantastic support they offer your non-profit organisation. Reasons for handwritten communications may include:

  • A birthday.
  • An anniversary.
  • Honouring someone for achievements in your community.
  • A significant donation.
  • A donor’s giving milestone
    • A ten-year giving anniversary.
  • Volunteer service milestones.
  • A note to recognise a staff person who has gone above and beyond.

Think about who you will write a personal thank you to this week. Think about who you will call to thank. Try to say thank you via the most personal channel as possible.

 

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A CRM is is a relational solution, not a transactional database

CRMThink about your non-profit organisation’s Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) solution for a moment. Is it configured and designed so you are you able to fully record a constituent and their contact details? Tick. Are you able to record a donation and associated details? Tick. Does it end there? Issue. A CRM needs to be relational in focus because a CRM is not simply a transactional database.

If you are not maximising your CRM to fully manage constituents, their internal and external relationships, and if you are unable to manage business processes, workflows, and pipelines, it is time to think about transforming the CRM to be relational in focus rather than simply focused on transactions.

Relational CRM

A relational CRM, simply put, connects the data elements stored to relate constituents with their opportunities, donations, activities, interactions, engagement, and most importantly, with other constituents. Most of this happens “out of the box”. But, it is the design of the CRM that actually really matters. Maximising the CRM data to be able to track critical workflows and processes and to be able to manage pipelines, moves management, and other critical activities make the relational CRM pay dividends. It is, after all, called a Constituent Relationship Management solution.

Workflows

Ensuring your CRM allows for workflows means you will save the staff of your non-profit organisation time, allowing them to focus on critical tasks.  The CRM should be able to deliver automated processes resulting in efficiency gains. Workflows can help you to maximise levels of engagement with your constituents, alumni and members.

The “buttonology” or functionality in a CRM is half the battle. It is typically how you configure that functionality and the user experience you offer which really matters. Staff should enjoy utilising the CRM and see it as a time saver rather than an administrative burden.

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Do we really need a new CRM?

ChangeSearching for a new CRM is a complicated process. But, when done right, landing the perfect CRM is a great feeling and a wonderful accomplishment. Change is nice. But, remember the new car smell only lasts so long. Ask your organisation, do we really need a new CRM?

It is typical for organisation leaders to be convinced a new CRM is essential.  “If we only had Salesforce, The Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft Dynamics, Blackbaud CRM, or product X, we could…”. Staff leap to this conclusion without first analysing the current CRM and their functional requirements in order to first determine the existing CRM is incapable of meeting business requirements.

Why

FundraisingForce receives one new lead for a CRM search every 7 business days. Step one for FundraisingForce is to explore with the non-profit organisation the why. Why is there a need to change? Are you seeking to use your CRM organisation-wide and your organisation adopted a fundraising CRM years ago? Have your fundraising requirements outgrown the existing CRM? Can you demonstrate the investment in a change will return dramatic financial results through increased revenue and improved efficiencies/time savings?

Perhaps staff require leadership to invest in training on the existing CRM. Maybe there are add on features your organisation needs to acquire in order to meet new business requirements which did not exist when you adopted the existing CRM 7-10 years ago.

Investment

Searching for and implementing a new CRM is an investment. The investment is not simply what you will pay in licensing and implementation/services costs to a supplier(s), but also the cost to engage your staff in the implementation. Additionally, there will be some loss of productivity as you ramp up the use of the new CRM and staff become used to new processes. The cost is never the cost presented when you sign the agreement to purchase. Study the true cost of ownership, which includes staffing resources and other costs.

The new car smell is gone in a month or two. Ensure the decision to leap to a CRM search is the right decision before you leap to a CRM search. Make sure you have done the analysis so you do not have buyers remorse after driving the car off the lot.

 

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Is our non-profit organisation ready for a new CRM?

Searching for a new constituent relationship management (CRM) solution is no easy task. The process, as I outlined in a recent Fundraising & Philanthropy Magazine article, requires 10 steps to do it right. There is an important process prior to those 10 steps and that process involves asking the question is our non-profit organisation ready for a new CRM?

Ensuring organisation readiness for a CRM is an important step, which involves people at multiple layers of your organisation. Unless your organisation determines readiness, there is no point to move to a CRM search. In fact, your organisation should not commence a CRM search until leadership has signed off on the organsiation’s readiness to adopt a new CRM.

Who to involve in a CRM readiness assessment

Individuals from various teams at various levels across the organisation ought to participate to determine and sign off on readiness. Those parties include:

  1. Business owners – those end users who will adopt the new CRM.
  2. Information Services – those who will need to support the infrastructure.
  3. Senior Management Team – those who are ultimately responsible for sponsoring the project, including approving budget for the project.

What determines readiness?

There are just two key steps in the process to determine CRM adoption readiness. Those steps involve critical information gathering and assessment and analysis of that information. A gut feel is not good enough. Your organisation needs to determine CRM adoption readiness through objective information and analysis.

Information Gathering

The types of information you ought to gather and assess, includes the following:

  • Data integrity – review the data in your existing CRM and determine if it is in the condition you would want to see it in your new CRM. Think of this as similar to moving houses. Would you want to open the door of the new house and find the new house in the same condition as your present home?
    • Additionally, remember the condition may get messier through a data migration.
      • There will always be data clean-up which needs to occur during Go Live of the new CRM.
    • Document the last time your organisation conducted any sort of data hygiene exercise.
  • Resourcing – the work during a CRM adoption falls to your team as much as it does to the supplier you engage. Do not expect the CRM supplier to do more than 50% of the work. A CRM adoption is a team effort. Document who you have available for the design of the CRM, as well as user acceptance testing and go live activity.
    • Think about whether staff can dedicate 100% of their time during peak periods of the project.
    • Document holiday periods and other key projects, which will compete for your team’s attention.
      • Remember to document public holidays in addition to paid time off.
  • Senior management engagement – determine the level of engagement of your senior management team. Change starts at the top and your project must have the endorsement and the engagement of CEO and his/her management colleagues.
  • Strategic alignment with the organisation – does the CRM transformation support strategic goals of the organisation?
    • Will the CRM assist you to raise more money and to engage more constituents?
  • Budget – indicative pricing for a project needs to be planned for and tentatively approved. There is no point in gathering requirements and going “shopping” for a new CRM if your organisation cannot afford the CRM and implementation services at the outset.
    • Create a contingency budget for those items which are not planned for, but which are common during a project.
    • Budget for a project manager to guide you through the project.
      • A project manager does not have to be a full-time position.
    • Training and ongoing support of CRM – will your organisation train the staff who will use the CRM and will your organisation make ongoing investments in the CRM once the solution is live?

Information Analysis

Create a scoring tool and score the information gathered in order to objectively determine your level of readiness. If your score is not 75% of the possible perfect score, your organisation is not ready for a CRM transition. If you do not achieve a 75% readiness score, spend time to correct the matters. Re-evaluate in 6 months and see if your score improves.

Too many organisations jump to a CRM search and move into a CRM implementation without first asking is our non-profit organisation ready for a new CRM? Spend a month pre-CRM search to evaluate your non-profit organisation’s readiness. You will not regret taking this time to determine readiness. Your CRM adoption project will be more successful as a result.

 

 

 

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