The average officer worker now receives 121 emails a day. And your inbox, and mine, will only get more crowded in the coming years (it seems) making the need for your emails to stand out and get opened important. But that’s just the first step, what are you going to say, and how are you going to say it, if they do open?

Well, based on our research of 218 email experiments related to email messaging, here’s what you need to do:

Write your email like it is to a real person, from a real person.

It sounds simple, and at one level it is, but it’s a crucially important fundraising idea that can grow your online fundraising. For example, here’s an experiment from our research library where the control email was pretty good, informative, and used facts and figures to make their case to the reader:

Not bad right?

But for the treatment, they wanted to ‘close the distance’ between the sender and reader by making the copy, tone, and voice, in particular, more personal. More human.

Do you see the differences? They are pretty small but the end result here was that the one that was more personal, increased donations 328%. And revenue? It increased 716.3%!

Being more personal is the high level idea that you should be infusing all the elements of your email with because it speaks to donors — you, me, humans — the way we connect with people. The concept that we treat digital experiences as if they are with real people is called social presence and it’s the social presence that separates those two emails from one another and it’s using social presence that can help you engage donors and separate your emails from those 120 other emails people receive each day.

We created a free online training course on email fundraising optimization that covers all you need to know but in this post let’s simply look at how you can improve them by fostering a 1-1 communication style through these 5 components of an email body:

• Design and Format
• Salutation
• Body Copy
• Call-to-Action
• Tone/Voice

1. Design and Format

Stripping down the design and branding of an email appeal is one of the first experiments we run with clients, one of the easiest things you can test in your next appeal, and one of the most consistent ‘wins’ we see in our library.

If you don’t believe me, check out experiment #4174. The control was their usual email:

Pretty standard email with the logo, image header, copy making the case, big call-to-action button, personal signoff, and a PS.

This isn’t a ‘bad email’ – according to best practices you’ll find online and from other organizations – and in many ways a pretty good one but the intent of this email is pretty clear and quite early. It’s a marketing email.

So we wondered what would happen if we took out the branding and even the template itself to create a more personal feel using the same copy and call-to-action button to make it feel less templated and designed and here was the result:

The stripped down email increased clicks to the donation page by 80.3% and because of that led to more donations.

But could we simplify and strip down even further? Let’s test it! Here was that new ‘winning’ email (now the control):

And this time for the experiment, we wanted to get even simpler and clearer with the ask so moved the logo/branding down to the signature block and took away the big button and replaced it with a hyperlink and ended up with this:

In this case, the more personalized email increased donations 145.5%!

Looking for more evidence? Check out experiment #5824. Or #7524. Or #7466. Or #6429. Or #483. Or… I think you get the point. Our experiments show time and time again that for fundraising emails less design is better.

Why? Because real people don’t send emails with logos, beautiful header images, and well crafted footers. Think about what design elements you’d have in a personal email to a friend or family member and try to mimic that.

Do you use a header image? A logo at the top? A button in it? A signature? If you wouldn’t send it to a friend, take it out of your design and test it.

Key Tip: Choose an email design that mimics what you would send to a friend.

2. Salutation

This is one of the first things people see and it’s also often taken for granted. “Easy” things like using the person’s name can do wonders for email engagement.

Here’s an experiment with the National Breast Cancer Foundation where we had no first name vs. with first name:

The email with the first name increased clicks 270%.

When real people send emails to real people they use their name!

Hopefully that truly is an “easy” one for you (and you shouldn’t have to test that one) but you can also make your salutation more relevant to the receiver with internal factors like:

• Personal interests – How about those Ramblers?
• Personality – Wazzzzzup?
• Level of engagement – you’

Or external factors like:

• Environmental changes – I hope you didn’t get the snow like we did…
• Holidays – Happy Holidays!
• Recent events – What a Super Bowl!
• Recent actions – Thank you for signing our petition!

These salutations work because… that’s how real people start conversations. So give it a shot in your next email.

Key Tip: Start a salutation with their name and, if possible, a personally relevant introduction.

Body Copy

The question I get asked most often when it comes to emails is, “how long should our email be?” And in response I twist the classic consultant ‘it depends’ answer a bit to be, ‘however long you need it to be to effectively answer the main value proposition question’:

“If I am your ideal donor, why should I give to you, compared to some other organization, or not at all”

If you can answer that question in a sentence, then great. Your email could be a sentence. If you need 1,000 words, then so be it. Your email can be 1,000 words. But more often than not, your emails need to be a bit longer than you think and our research has shown that again and again.

Because you suffer from something called the curse of knowledge — a marketer’s fatal flaw where we assume the reader knows much of what we know — you end up writing fundraising appeals that quickly go through things like the need and solution — the value proposition — and get to the ask before the reader has have enough info to make a good decision. And since inertia or gravity is going against people giving their money away, they don’t.

Or even if you do spend time trying to answer the value proposition question and featuring something like a matching gift, you may answer it in your own words or language full of acronyms, technical speak, and insider terms that the reader may not even understand.

You have to make sure you have enough content, aka copy, to let the reader know and understand what you’re asking them to do which is often more info as opposed to less. And the only real way to know what your donors respond to or if they get your value proposition is to run tests and experiments.

Donors will tell you they want shorter emails, with less copy, and just the stats. But after looking through over 218 experiments, I can tell you that longer emails, with more copy, and emotive language raises more money.

Key Tip: Before you make a request, make sure there is enough body copy to answer the question why… both for the email and for the request.

Call-to-Action

Alright, you’ve done the hard work. Someone has opened your email. They’ve read through the main body. Now it’s time to present the call to action and move them on ‘down the funnel’ (or up the donor mountain as we like to say). Be clear. Be direct. Be simple.

Do you want people to learn more? Will they understand what it means to ‘stand with you’? No. You want people to give so make that clear in your call to action. Learn more or ‘soft’ calls to action like ‘stand with us’ language may get more clicks but they’ll often get less donations (here’s one example and here’s another one).

And what about the design of the call-to-action? We’ve already covered that the more designed an email is the more it can appear like marketing so why not use basic links or even raw links like this: https://www.nextafter.com/research/2016/09/how-a-raw-link-in-an-email-affects-donor-conversion/

Key Tip: When you make a call-to-action request, be clear about your desire and intentions.

Tone/Voice

Remember the very first example with the slight differences that led to a 328% increase in donations? It not only was more ‘you’ focused and personal, it also was full of social cues and emotive language that a real human would use. Check it out:

It is full of emotive words like ‘turn up the heat’,‘desperately’, ‘incredible’, and ‘the fight begins’ but also human terms like ‘I’d be honored’, ‘Would you be able to help’, and the opening ‘I wanted to get this news to you as soon as I could’.

The combination of personal terms and emotive language sets a tone and gives a voice to the email that can engage and entice readers so when they reach the call to action (notice the raw link) they are on board. They’re motivated. They’re ready to join the fight.

Or if you zoom in a bit closer to the CaringBridge example above you may have seen that, beyond the design, we made a few other minor changes around the tone as well. Take a look at the first few sentences of each email a bit closer:

Again, the first email isn’t bad. It starts out fine enough, tries to develop some connection, and gets into a story. Another ‘best practice’.

But in the treatment, we used ‘I’ and ‘you’ language to be more like a human sending an email to another human and create a sense of empathy before jumping into the campaign even without the story ‘hook’.

The tone you have and voice you use through your copy sets the stage not just to lead up to the call to action but helps people put down their ‘I’m getting marketing to’ guard to engage with the content on a more personal and human level.

Key Tip: Read the email out loud and add/adjust content to account for tone/voice so it sounds like it is from a human, and makes you feel something.

Remember…

People give to people. Not email marketing machines. So best way to optimize your email fundraising is craft your email — from the design and format to the call-to-action — as if you were just one person writing to another.

Take the time and copy length you need to simply describe the value you are offering, don’t let your design distract from your message and connection, infuse some social cues, and clearly ask for a donation if you are indeed asking for a donation.

And just in case you skimmed everything up until now here is the…

5 Ways to Humanize Your Emails Summary

• Choose an email design that mimics what you would send to a friend.
• Start a salutation with their name and, if possible, a personally relevant introduction.
• Before you make a request, make sure there is enough body copy to answer the question why… both for the email and for the request.
• When you make a call-to-action request, be clear about your desire and intentions.
• Finally, read the email out loud and add/adjust content to account for tone/voice so it sounds like it is from a human, and makes you feel something.

Good luck!

Author Bio

Brady Josephson is a charity nerd, entrepreneur, digital marketer, professor, and writer. He’s the Vice President of Innovation and Optimization at NextAfter — a fundraising research lab and consultancy on a mission to unleash the most generous generation in the history of the world. Brady lives just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his wife Liz, dog Melly, and cat Thor. You can follow him on Twitter @bradyjosephson.

Nonprofits all over the the world turn to industry leader Blackbaud for their data and donor management software needs. The entire suite of Blackbaud products spans a wide range of needs, offering appropriate tools for small local nonprofits up to huge enterprise-level organizations.

If your nonprofit has considered making the move to Blackbaud, chances are you’ve done a little research into Raiser’s Edge. This all-in-one fundraising and management platform is one of the most popular Blackbaud products, and for good reason. For context, here’s how the Blackbaud experts at TeamDNL rank Raiser’s Edge in comparison with other popular products in the suite:

The price point, comprehensive features, and target nonprofit size of Raiser’s Edge all make it an extremely useful platform for a wide cross-section of nonprofits.

However, it’s important to remember that any new software is an important investment for your organization and requires careful consideration. Before moving forward with Raiser’s Edge (or its newest iteration, Raiser’s Edge NXT), you’ll need to determine that it’s the right fit for your nonprofit.

To help you navigate all the product reviews out there and cut down on research time, we’ve compiled the most significant benefits and potential drawbacks you’ll need to consider.

We’ll look at the following:

1. Pro: Nonprofits can use Raiser’s Edge for virtually all of their fundraising needs.
2. Con: Raiser’s Edge isn’t a quick solution for inexperienced nonprofits.
3. Pro: Raiser’s Edge is a highly customizable platform.
4. Con: Raiser’s Edge is a long-term investment that requires additional strategy.
5. Pro: Nonprofits can integrate matching gifts into their Raiser’s Edge platform.

Before diving into the details, we recommend bookmarking this more comprehensive before-you-buy Raiser’s Edge guide from DNL OmniMedia. Let’s get started:

1. Pro: Nonprofits can use Raiser’s Edge for virtually all of their fundraising needs.

If you need expansive fundraising software, Raiser’s Edge won’t disappoint.

With features designed to improve operational efficiency, enhance donor acquisition and engagement, and of course, boost fundraising revenue, Raiser’s Edge is truly comprehensive. 

While nonprofits of all sizes can use Raiser’s Edge, its broad functionality makes it an ideal fit for nonprofits who need to store a significant amount of data and implement more complex fundraising strategies.

For instance, Raiser’s Edge can play an instrumental role in streamlining all of the following processes:

• Data enrichment.
• Communications and marketing.
• Online payment processing.
• Event management.
• Wealth analytics and prospect research.
• Crowdfunding and social engagement.

Of course, this also means your team should be prepared to learn about as many of these tools as possible. Take some time beforehand to consider how each member of your team will need to use the platform and what features are immediately relevant to each role. This can greatly streamline the training process.

Having an overwhelming set of fundraising resources in front of you with no idea where to start is a position no nonprofit wants to be in. To avoid that situation, make sure you’ve done your research to find out exactly what kind of fundraising software you need.

Or, seek out the help of a nonprofit technology consultant who can guide you through the implementation process and ensure you’re on track for success!

2. Con: Raiser’s Edge isn’t a quick solution for inexperienced nonprofits.

Because Raiser’s Edge is so multifaceted, some nonprofits have a difficult time finding their way around the product. Specifically, smaller organizations might struggle to get up and running quickly with the Raiser’s Edge platform.

However, this isn’t due to any major flaws in the software’s user-friendliness or design. Rather, it’s because Raiser’s Edge is such a comprehensive and highly-customizable platform. This can make it a difficult adjustment for organizations that have never before used a dedicated, professional-grade data and campaign management system before.

Small, local organizations that might only have a few (or no) paid employees typically rely on a mixture of more informal tools, spreadsheets, general accounting software, and word processors. Upgrading an all-in-one system is an important step in nonprofit development, but merging all those historical processes can be a strain on small teams that aren’t used to such major changes.

Typically, small organizations struggle with a few important aspects of the Raiser’s Edge system:

• Implementation. For organizations that aren’t used to comprehensive database platforms, it can take a lot of trial and error, testing, and training to really learn the ins and outs. If your smaller nonprofits needs to get up and running with Raiser’s Edge quickly, expect at least a little frustration with the learning curve.
• Creating queries. Raiser’s Edge provides the ability to pull information on specific groups or segments of constituents using their query tool. However, organizations with smaller donor pools might find that this feature is difficult to understand and utilize. The tool’s value becomes much more apparent as nonprofits grow.
• Generating custom reports. While Raiser’s Edge allows organizations to run reports on virtually any metrics within their database, users at small or young organizations will likely be less familiar with the process and scope of analytics reporting.The platform offers preset reports that are certainly helpful, but small organizations will need to take the time and learn more and adjust them as needed.

Raiser’s Edge is an ideal fundraising and donor management platform for mid-sized organizations. That’s not to say that smaller nonprofits can’t find any value in it, but they are more likely to run into challenges along the way. This is especially true if they’ve never used a dedicated management system like Raiser’s Edge before.

Blackbaud has a highly competent support team who can walk you through these issues if you do encounter them. Or look for a third-party support team that specializes in Blackbaud’s suite of products. Not only can they walk you through the ins and outs of Raiser’s Edge, they can ensure all your essential integrations are up and running properly.

3. Pro: Raiser’s Edge is a highly customizable platform.

For organizations who like to get under the hood of their fundraising software and design a platform that’s fully unique, Raiser’s Edge may be a good fit.

With a multitude of configurable settings and customization options, Raiser’s Edge is most useful when organizations take advantage of the ability to adapt the platform to their needs.

Let’s look at just a sampling of what your team can configure:

• Role-based views and permissions.
• Donor profile settings, including addressees and salutations.
• Business rules and defaults.
• Tables.
• Constituent categories.
• Fields.
• Integrations and links to other platforms.

And that’s truly just a taste of what you can customize!

However, it’s important to understand that Raiser’s Edge configuration is not a task just anyone can try their hand at, particularly if they’ve never worked with a Blackbaud platform before.

To truly capitalize on the advantage of in-depth customization, your organization will need to work with an experienced professional. 

A web developer or nonprofit technology consultant with Blackbaud expertise can save you time, headaches, and potentially damaging mistakes. Plus, a nonprofit consultant can take the time to understand your fundraising strategy and then implement the customizations that are proven to put you on the path toward success.

When Raiser’s Edge is already such an investment, you need to go the extra mile to make sure your configurations are in line with your goals and fundraising needs. A nonprofit technology consultant can be that missing link!

4. Con: Raiser’s Edge is a long-term investment that requires additional strategy.

Comprehensive fundraising and donor management platforms like Raiser’s Edge are major investments for nonprofits; when properly implemented and customized, this software can make a huge difference for their campaign results and donor retention as they collect and use data in smarter ways.

Without an initial gameplan, however, organizations of any size can easily be overwhelmed by all these capabilities. Those that are less experienced with platforms of this scale risk not making the most of their new investment, or worse, misusing it.

You’ll most likely need to seek out some form of training and strategy support for your team as you get started with Raiser’s Edge.

While there are plenty of online and in-person Raiser’s Edge training resources offered by Blackbaud, researching all of your options can be a challenge. If you’re new to Blackbaud products more generally, just determining what type of support you need can make the implementation process even more challenging.

This master list of Blackbaud training resources covers can help alleviate some of the time you spend on research, but it’s more important that you take the time to gauge your needs before purchasing Raiser’s Edge. Consider your organization’s current software habits and your team’s levels of experience with different types of systems.

Try to determine how much and what sorts of support you’ll need and plan accordingly. For instance, for a first-time transition to a professional-grade database and management system, budget for nonprofit strategy consulting.

An expert guide can offer a personalized training plan with role-based paths, in-person coaching, and general counsel regarding using Raiser’s Edge as part of your fundraising strategy.

5. Pro: Nonprofits can integrate matching gifts into their Raiser’s Edge platform.

Saving the best perk for last, we can’t forget that Raiser’s Edge makes it possible to seamlessly incorporate the oh-so-important matching gift process right into your fundraising software!

You already know how vital matching gifts can be to your fundraising strategy. Raiser’s Edge accounts for this by making it easy to store matching gift information within your database and use that intel to (literally) multiply your gifts. 

Within a Raiser’s Edge donor profile, you have the ability to view corporate giving data in a dedicated Matching Gifts section. All the relevant information, such as the company, match amount, and date, will be visible in one central location to make it easy to keep track of your matched funds over time.

Let’s look at a few ways you can take advantage of this pro:

• Store donors’ employer information. You’ll have a hard time securing matching gifts if you don’t have your supporters’ employer data on file. You can request this information through event registration or donation forms, or simply reach out to donors to ask.
• Create constituent profiles for employers. You should keep employers’ data on file in separate constituent profiles. That way, you can centralize important data such as matching gift ratios, deadlines, and eligibility requirements. Having their contact information on file also makes it easier to send them their own communications and thank-you notes for each matched gift.
• Integrate a matching gift tool into your donation process. If you’re using Blackbaud NetCommunity as part of your Raiser’s Edge system, don’t forget to integrate Double the Donation’s easy matching gift tool on your donation confirmation pages and acknowledgement emails! Read this simple integration guide to find out how.

And if you’re a larger organization interested in implementing matching gifts into your fundraising strategy, see how 360MatchPro can help you take your efficiency to the next level through a Raiser’s Edge integration!

Raiser’s Edge is a powerful campaign management and donor database platform, and it’s provided countless organizations with game-changing features and capabilities to support their growth. Ensuring that your organization is in a good position to adopt a new tool of this scale, however, is essential.

Carefully consider your size and level of experience, and weigh these elements against the huge potential benefits of implementing Raiser’s Edge into your nonprofit’s operations.

Learn more about fundraising software by checking out these additional resources:

• The Top Nonprofit CRMs. Read our reviews of the top constituent relationship management software on the market to find out which tools are best suited for your organization!
• Our Favorite Donor Management Solutions. Find out how to boost donor engagement (and retention!) by investing in the best donor management software you can find.
• DonorSearch’s Top Online Donation Tools. Discover the best online giving software available for nonprofits by reading this helpful DonorSearch post.

A popular solution for for-profit businesses, Salesforce has earned its place as one of the most comprehensive CRM software options on the market. With so many companies relying on it for sales, marketing, and more, you’re probably familiar with Salesforce to some extent—but did you know that your nonprofit can take advantage of the full range of Salesforce features too?

How is Salesforce used in a nonprofit?

Salesforce CRM can be a powerful tool in your constituent management and fundraising arsenal if you know how to maximize your use of this robust software.

Since nonprofits have such specific needs, you’ll have to know how to use Salesforce the right way to stay on top of your most important efforts, including:

1. Constituent management.
2. Event management.
3. Fundraising campaign management.
4. Marketing and communications.
5. Reports and dashboards.

Is Salesforce good for nonprofits?

Yes! In this post, we’ll walk through how you can use built-in Salesforce features as well as powerful Salesforce apps and integrations to manage all of your most vital nonprofit initiatives and actually enhance your strategies through your CRM’s innovative functionality.

Ready to learn how Salesforce for nonprofits can push your organization forward? Let’s get straight to it!

1. How to Use Salesforce for Constituent Management

Potentially the most important task for any nonprofit is staying on top of all the supporter information you have access to and then using that data to drive more effective fundraising and engagement strategies.

Without your constituents, your organization wouldn’t be able to move your mission forward through fundraising campaigns, volunteer work, or advocacy initiatives. That’s why it’s imperative that you know who your supporters are and how to properly connect with them!

As a CRM, Salesforce should be your first resource for managing constituent data. Let’s lay out a few of our favorite strategies for using Salesforce for better donor, volunteer, and other types of constituent management:

• Consider Salesforce’s nonprofit products. Did you know Salesforce offers “re-imaginations” of their core products built expressly for nonprofits? With the Nonprofit Success Pack, you’ll gain access to all the features of standard Salesforce CRM pre-configured to better meet nonprofit donor management and fundraising needs.
• Build out your supporter profiles using custom fields and relationships. Anyone can add custom fields, objects, relationships, and other elements to their CRM without being an IT expert. By creating unique data sets, you’ll see a more intentional view of your constituents, which can then inform all of your strategies.
• Use Salesforce’s web-to-lead feature to capture information online. Salesforce’s web-to-lead feature automatically converts online forms into lead profiles in your CRM. That way, anyone who signs up for more information online (e.g., signing up for your mailing list or requesting a volunteer schedule) will instantly be logged in Salesforce.

Proper constituent management can also inform your fundraising strategies, specifically how you incorporate important elements such as corporate giving!

When you have complete, manageable data sets, you’ll be able to better target matching gift prospects and communicate opportunities for corporate philanthropy to the right supporters.

An integration with 360MatchPro by Double the Donation can help large nonprofits use their Salesforce data to power more effective matching gift strategies. 360MatchPro breaks down the constituent data you’re already storing in your CRM by matching gift eligibility and status. This powerful matching gifts software can put your constituent information to good use with actionable matching gift reports:

The more you lean on Salesforce for nonprofits to manage your constituent data, the more time you’ll have to focus on other things—like actually using that data to drive your fundraising tactics!

Next Steps for Using This Salesforce Feature

Interested in learning more about how your CRM can (and should) help you improve donor management? Check out our thorough guide to nonprofit constituent relationship management software to learn everything you need to know.

2. How to Use Salesforce for Event Management

For many nonprofits, fundraising events are the cornerstone of their fundraising efforts. Whether you’re planning a variety of small-scale events or one extensive annual fundraiser, you’ll need a way to manage your event logistics, guests, marketing, and more.

While you can look to a third-party solution to plan your event, having access to all of your event management features within your Salesforce system will provide a more holistic view of your efforts and allow you to streamline many of your event-related tasks.

While you can use some of Salesforce’s built-in features to plan your event, to truly maximize your event management experience, we recommend finding a native Salesforce app to extend your CRM’s functionality to include dedicated event tools.

With the help of the right Salesforce event management application or integration, you can tackle all of the following vital event elements without ever leaving your CRM:

• Event registration. Set up a fully customized event microsite with an intuitive registration process. Set up multiple ticket types, build out tracks with unique sessions, and even offer merchandise as an add-on to registration using an interactive eStore interface.
• Total logistics management. Track speakers, sponsors, venue arrangements, and other necessities within your CRM. Since no two events are alike, make sure that your app can accommodate whatever you’re planning, from golf tournaments to mega-conferences to stakeholder meetings and more.
• Guest experience. Empower guests to build and manage their own event agendas, share your event with friends via social media integrations, and complete pre- and post-event surveys to provide invaluable feedback to your event team.

With the power of Salesforce for nonprofits and the right event management app, you can centralize your event planning efforts and design a more productive (profitable!) event for your donors.

Next Steps for Using This Salesforce Feature

Find the right Salesforce partner for your next event by reading our reviews of the best event solutions on the AppExchange. Each of these tools can help your nonprofit’s next event thrive in a unique way, so all types of nonprofits can benefit from integrating these helpful solutions.

3. How to Use Salesforce for Fundraising Campaign Management

It goes without saying that in order to keep your organization’s mission moving forward, you need to find creative ways to bring in money for your cause.

Those efforts typically combine a lot of different fundraising techniques and strategies, from hosting fundraising events to cultivating long-term major donor relationships to simply setting up an online donation form.

Thankfully, your Salesforce CRM can help you balance all of your fundraising efforts in a way that drives your campaigns forward (and hopefully, above and beyond expectations). 

By using Salesforce’s features and a few well-placed integrations, you can manage a multitude of fundraising tactics, such as:

• Online fundraising. Being able to accept gifts on your website is essential! You can customize your web-to-lead capture so that online donation form data appropriately transfers to any field in your database, or work with an online giving tool that offers a custom Salesforce integration.
• Matching gifts. A vital part of many nonprofits’ fundraising strategies, matching gifts can have a place in your Salesforce system, too! You can manually track employer information on your donor profiles, but for best results, you’ll likely need to implement a custom integration.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising. By integrating a peer-to-peer fundraising platform with your CRM, you’ll be able to seamlessly transfer all of your fundraiser and donor information into Salesforce. Because peer-to-peer fundraising is so unique, it’s important to find an app that can map your data to Salesforce in a streamlined way.

You’ll be able to track all of these campaigns within Salesforce so that you have a real-time snapshot of who is donating, how you’re collecting donations, and how you’re measuring up to your short- and long-term fundraising goals.

Next Steps for Using This Salesforce Feature

Fundraising campaigns are the backbone of nonprofit organizations. Get started building out a Salesforce system that can cater to your fundraising campaign management needs (and other vital nonprofit efforts) by checking out these top nonprofit Salesforce apps.

4. How to Use Salesforce for Marketing and Communications

Whether you’re getting the word out about fundraising projects or inspiring supporters to make a donation, your marketing and communications initiatives can have a huge impact on your overall fundraising and donor engagement strategies.

However, with so many channels through which you can communicate, it’s difficult to nail down how you’ll connect with your supporters and how you’ll track those efforts within your CRM. Luckily (you guessed it), Salesforce for nonprofits can help!

Within Salesforce, your nonprofit should be able to manage your marketing and communications in a comprehensive way, taking advantage of all the most relevant, engaging channels, such as:

• Email marketing. Perhaps the most universal communication channel around, email can be your go-to for newsletters, donation solicitation, acknowledgments, event marketing, and virtually anything else. Design branded email templates and build out custom automations based on content or recipient list.
• Social media. Whether your supporters are using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or all of the above, your nonprofit’s web presence relies on active social media profiles. Store your constituents’ profile information within your CRM so that you can keep track of their interactions and manage your own posts effectively.
• Direct mail. If you think direct mail is out-of-date, think again! Still a powerhouse marketing means for many organizations, direct mail appeals to individuals of all demographics. Streamline your snail mail efforts by creating unique direct mail workflows and tracking responses in Salesforce.

No matter what type of communication you choose to employ, Salesforce for nonprofits should make it easy to organize and segment your recipient list, design professional materials, and track responses and interactions intuitively.

Next Steps for Using This Salesforce Feature

To actually follow through with these efforts, you can take advantage of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which offers all-in-one marketing solutions, or look to third-party integrations or Salesforce apps. If you’re interested in exploring your options, take a look at our list of the top nonprofit marketing software.

5. How to use Salesforce for Reports and Dashboards

With all of the data you’re compiling in Salesforce (not to mention any apps or integrations you’ve paired with your CRM), you’ll need a way to make all the information you’ve stored meaningful and useful.

Salesforce for nonprofits has a wide range of built-in reporting tools to help you make sense of your different data sets. With Salesforce, you’ll be able to pose questions in order to generate custom reports. Then, you can display those reports visually using dashboards.

What kind of questions might you ask in Salesforce? Here are just a few examples of how Salesforce reports can help you break down data:

• Donor acquisition. Measure how many new donors you engaged during your last fundraising campaign or at your last event by running reports on new leads generated or contacts added during a set time frame; you can even automate these to run on a schedule that keeps you updated regularly with no extra effort on your end.
• Fundraising progress. Discover how your organization is tracking against your goals by building a dashboard to show a real-time picture of the revenue you’ve earned toward your end goal. Don’t forget to display this dashboard on your Salesforce home page so it’s always at front of mind!
• Survey responses. A great way to measure engagement, surveys can provide you with a large amount of data at once. After building a custom object for your survey in Salesforce and the mapping that data so it flows into your CRM in a meaningful way, you can then run reports and generate dashboards for all of the information you collect or break down the answers into smaller reports.

You might also view dashboards related to donors’ matching gift eligibility, as shown with 360MatchPro:

When you have a clear view of how your nonprofit is performing in all the most important areas, you’ll be able to move forward with a stronger vision than ever.

Next Steps for Using This Salesforce Feature

Salesforce’s analytics features can help you determine a more strategic plan forward in terms of fundraising, donor engagement, and other vital areas. For more help putting together your nonprofit strategy, check out this post!

Now that you know how useful Salesforce can be, it’s time to start making the most of this impressive CRM!

But before you dive into your Salesforce strategy, check out these additional resources too:

• Top 10 Salesforce Apps for Nonprofits. Learn how to take your Salesforce system from adequate to out-of-this-world by implementing these amazing Salesforce apps, all designed for nonprofits!
• Salesforce Event Management: The Ultimate Guide. If event management is your Salesforce goal, you’ll need to know the best ways to go about it. Fonteva’s got you covered with this thorough guide!
• Top Nonprofit CRMs. If Salesforce isn’t quite your speed, you’ve got plenty of other nonprofit constituent relationship management software options. Check out our favorites!

Thinking about using Luminate CRM to manage your donor data? Moving to new constituent relationship management software is a big decision, especially for large nonprofits with so much data to keep track of.

Blackbaud’s Luminate CRM is a powerful tool, but it’s not the right CRM for every nonprofit. And while there are a number of resources online to help you learn about Luminate CRM’s features and benefits, it can be difficult to discern whether or not the investment is a smart choice for your organization.

That’s why we’ve come up with 5 exceptionally important considerations for you to keep in mind as you move into the Luminate CRM buying process. We’ll walk through each of the following points: 

1. Luminate CRM was built for Salesforce users.
2. Luminate CRM can meet multifaceted constituent management needs.
3. Luminate CRM thrives on custom configuration.
4. Luminate CRM is different than Luminate Online (but they can work together!).
5. Luminate CRM requires training.

Bonus: If Luminate CRM isn’t quite your speed, consider checking out Luminate Online Marketing, a suite of online fundraising and digital marketing tools also from Blackbaud. We’ve broken down the buying process for Luminate Online in this helpful post!

1. Luminate CRM was built for Salesforce users.

The first thing you need to know about Luminate CRM is that, unlike other Blackbaud products, this software was designed to work with Salesforce.

Because Luminate CRM sits on top of Salesforce, only nonprofits who are already using Salesforce as their primary CRM should consider purchasing it. You won’t be able to use Luminate CRM outside of Salesforce; instead, you can use Luminate to expand your current Salesforce functionality and gain access to rich, nonprofit-specific constituent management tools.

The fact that Luminate CRM was built for Salesforce has a few important repercussions:

• Luminate CRM works best for large organizations. As you’re likely aware, Salesforce is a huge product with highly expansive functionality. Since Luminate CRM works hand-in-hand with Salesforce, it’s not an investment that many smaller nonprofits can afford to make, nor is it one that’s beneficial to them.
• Luminate CRM is part of the Salesforce ecosystem. Not only will you be able to use Luminate in conjunction with built-in Salesforce features, but you’ll be able to integrate it with any other app on the Salesforce AppExchange. Luminate CRM blends seamlessly into your Salesforce infrastructure, so all of your tools can work together holistically.
• Luminate CRM is cloud-based. Like Salesforce, Luminate CRM is completely cloud-based. That means you can access your data anywhere, anytime (as long as you’re connected to the internet). Even better? Luminate CRM also has a mobile app that enables you to more easily connect to your CRM on your smartphone!

If your nonprofit doesn’t use Salesforce, Blackbaud offers a host of other constituent management solutions that work independently.

If your organization is on the smaller side, you may need a more lightweight solution than Blackbaud or Salesforce can offer; in that case, we recommend finding a cost-effective alternative that can help you manage donor data as you grow. Sound like you? Check out @Pay’s guide to low-cost or free nonprofit CRM software to get started!

The last word: Luminate CRM was built for Salesforce and works as a part of Salesforce. Your nonprofit should only consider implementing Luminate CRM if you’re already using Salesforce (or are prepared to make that purchase as well).

2. Luminate CRM can meet multifaceted constituent management needs.

Because Luminate CRM was designed for larger organizations, it’s fully prepared to support a variety of data management needs for all of the constituents your nonprofit interacts with.

Like most CRM or donor management solutions, Luminate CRM offers nonprofits the ability to store and track valuable constituent data. Luminate’s data management features include:

• Custom constituent profiles. Build dynamic portraits of each supporter based on the information that’s most important to your cause. Store contact information, engagement history, interests, wealth information, and more; you can customize the fields to meet your data needs.
• Constituent classification. Group your constituents into specific segments based on involvement, such as major donors, volunteers, board members, or recurring givers. Then, easily use their classification to inform your engagement strategy.
• Constituent task management. Add notes and assign tasks to specific supporter profiles or entire segments. That way, your team is always on track of important actions and project management needs. You can even upload documents that relate to individual tasks or constituents.

In addition to these vital donor management tools, Luminate CRM also equips your nonprofit with tools to tackle donation management, direct marketing, reporting and analytics, event management, and volunteer management.

And it doesn’t stop there! On top of Luminate CRM’s built-in features, your organization has the opportunity to integrate your CRM system with a variety of other platforms, including the thousands of apps on the Salesforce AppExchange, the Blackbaud Luminate Online suite, and third-party software via custom integrations.

The last word: Luminate CRM is one of the most comprehensive constituent management solutions available. By adding it to your Salesforce platform, you’ll be able to use a comprehensive view of your data to inform your overall nonprofit strategy.

3. Luminate CRM thrives on custom configuration.

Like many Blackbaud products, Luminate CRM is a broad platform with a number of capabilities. However, in order to maximize the software’s myriad possibilities, you’ll need to customize Luminate CRM to fit your nonprofit’s unique needs.

With Luminate CRM, your organization can accomplish virtually anything, but designing and implementing the tools to get you there takes an in-depth development knowledge that many nonprofits don’t have. Unless your team is equipped with a considerable IT department, you’ll want to call in reinforcements to set up Luminate CRM.

What does that translate to? In short, your nonprofit should seek the help of a nonprofit technology consultant to help you configure your Luminate CRM platform. 

Among their many benefits, a web consultant can help you:

• Map out your strategy for using Luminate CRM.
• Determine which reconfigurations you need.
• Create custom solutions tailored to your fundraising strategy.
• Migrate data from your existing platform(s) to Luminate.
• Integrate third-party platforms.
• Develop a long-term plan for maintaining and cleaning data.
• Train your staff on using Luminate CRM.

The best part of using a consultant is that they can understand your nonprofit’s needs and give you expert counsel on how Luminate CRM fits in. Specialized developers understand the Luminate and Salesforce API and can adjust the standard features and configurations to give you the best CRM experience possible.

For example, if your organization takes advantage of matching gifts as part of your fundraising strategy (and why wouldn’t you?), you can integrate Luminate CRM with high-powered matching gift tools such as 360MatchPro.

When you integrate 360MatchPro with your Luminate system, you’ll have access to both sets of tools and data within one end-to-end system. That way, you can stay on top of your matching gift automation in the most effective way!

And if you’re not using 360MatchPro to manage the matching gift process at your organization, now’s the perfect time to pair this product with your Luminate platform. Click here to find out more!

Don’t forget: while a consultant or outside developer on-hand is vital, it’s not free. As you’re budgeting, consider their cost as part of the implementation price for Luminate CRM. Don’t be too frugal here; the up-front investment will pay off when you have a completely personalized system that helps you manage donor data and raise funds effectively!

The last word: To really see the benefits of Luminate CRM, you’ll need to devise a plan for customization. Work with a nonprofit web consultant and a developer to make sure your CRM is configured to your specific needs.

4. Luminate CRM is different than Luminate Online (but they can work together!).

Another key product in the Blackbaud Luminate family is Luminate Online Marketing, a set of tools designed to streamline and enhance nonprofit fundraising and marketing strategies.

Luminate CRM is not a part of Luminate Online, and there are some key distinctions between the two solutions that you should be aware of. Chiefly, Luminate Online operates independently, so you don’t need to be a Salesforce user to utilize it.

That said, Salesforce users who want to extend their Luminate CRM product to include Luminate Online’s features can do so by integrating the two platforms. 

By integrating Luminate Online into your Luminate CRM and Salesforce system, you’ll have access to greater fundraising and constituent engagement abilities, from email marketing tools to donation form builders and more.

Not only will you be able to implement Luminate Online’s core features; you’ll also have access to their add-ons, including:

• TeamRaiser, Luminate’s customizable peer-to-peer fundraising platform.
• Luminate Advocacy, designed for grassroots fundraising initiatives and policy campaigns.
• Luminate CMS, a content management platform to help nonprofits manage web content.

While not included in the base price, these add-ons can help nonprofits with specific needs take their efforts to the next level.

Did you know that Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro can be integrated into Luminate Online? Check out the integration guide! If you need help configuring Luminate Online, DNL OmniMedia’s guide to TeamRaiser configurations can put you on the right path!

The last word: Luminate CRM and Luminate Online Marketing are separate Blackbaud products. Depending on your nonprofit’s needs, you can integrate the two for the most effective fundraising and constituent management.

5. Luminate CRM requires training.

Unlike many lightweight alternatives, Luminate CRM takes time and understanding in order to start using the platform.

You can find a number of helpful resources online, including Blackbaud forums, helpful how-to’s, and even instruction manuals for specific topics like data migration or software integration.

However, these support options aren’t comprehensive or personalized enough to be your primary form of training. Instead, you should seek out dedicated training courses or consultation from one of two sources: 

• Blackbaud’s training team.
• A third-party nonprofit web consultant.

Either service should help you develop a plan for using Luminate CRM and consider how your staff will make the most of the CRM long-term.

If you choose to work with a nonprofit software consultant, you can take advantage of their expertise in developing custom solutions and have them train you on implementing those customizations in your fundraising strategy. They’ll work with you to establish how Luminate fits into your overall goals and teach you how to maximize your CRM’s capabilities.

A consulting firm can also tailor your training experience in a way that ensures your staff is well-versed on the most pertinent aspects of your CRM within a time frame that fits your organizational goals.

The last word: You can work with Blackbaud specialists or a nonprofit technology consultant to get your whole nonprofit team on the same page when it comes to using Luminate CRM to reach your goals.

Now that you know if Luminate CRM is the best choice for you, it’s time to start using it to manage your constituent data!

Check out these resources for more on maximizing your Luminate and Salesforce system:

• Luminate Online Marketing: The Nonprofit’s Guide. Get up to speed on all the essential Luminate knowledge by reading DNL OmniMedia’s guide to Luminate Online. As top-notch web consultants, they know what’s what when it comes to Blackbaud, so you can trust their insight is all you need for successful Luminate fundraising.
• Top Salesforce Partners for Successful Events. Planning an event in Salesforce? You’ll need a high-quality event management app to help streamline the process, and there’s no shortage of software on the market! Read our reviews of the top Salesforce partners for event planning.
• Luminate Online Migrations: 5 Tips for a Painless Process. Before you can get started with any Luminate product, you’ll need to transfer your existing donor data. Read these top strategies for conducting an effective (headache-free!) data migration.