Technology Trends for Nonprofits

As income disparity has increased in America, the need for nonprofits has grown. At the same time, managing resources to reduce administration costs and deliver higher ROI on marketing has become increasingly crucial as donors have increasingly scrutinized nonprofits’ financials when making donations. Fortunately, in 2014 nonprofits can use maturing technologies to drive down expenses and employ smarter, more effective donor outreach.

Use of mobile devices continues to grow. 63% of American adults access the mobile web
daily, through apps or mobile web browsing. Mobile web is expected to surpass desktop in 2014, making responsive design a critical element for nonprofit websites. Making websites more accessible on mobile devices helps retain donors–a 2012 study found a 21% loss in online donations via email from donate pages not being mobile compatible. There has also been a maturation in mobile fundraising apps such as Google’s One Today or Microsoft’s HelpBridge which help personalize the donor experience.

Cloud technology is a good way for nonprofits to lower infrastructure costs while heightening security. As more and more nonprofits’ employees use mobile devices to communicate and perform job tasks, integrating cloud functionality will make collaboration safer, smoother and more effective.

Digital wallets are quickly being integrated into social media platforms like Facebook and
Twitter, enabling donors to make a one-click donation. It’s still uncertain which digital wallet
service will be adopted by social media, but Google Wallet is predicted by many to be widely employed, given Google’s current breadth and pool of 425 million+ monthly account holders. Google Wallet is also currently employed for one-click donations to participating nonprofits on YouTube.

Interpretation of in-depth analytics will help nonprofits better understand donors, enabling them to maximize outreach efforts. Understanding how donors are responding to communication, how donors are responding to different marketing channels, how to increase recurring donations, and how to tailor fundraising efforts around a donor’s propensity and ability to give will aid in making fundraising campaigns more effective.

Smart deployment of social media is essential for a nonprofit’s online presence. A 2013 study found that nonprofits averaged 149 Facebook fans and 53 Twitter followers for every 1,000 email subscribers, with both groups growing over the past year. An example is the use of images for marketing: among Facebook users, though photo posts generate the most virality, they are actually less effective than video, link, or share in driving site traffic. The impact of social media shouldn’t be underestimated, and requires an attentive, agile, presence.

No single approach will offer turnkey benefits for any nonprofit, but new technologies offer nonprofits a healthy mixture of strategies to smarten and streamline for 2014.