Nonprofit Cloud offers an enormous breadth and depth of specialized tools for nonprofits and grantmaking organizations. Built on Salesforce core, It leverages the power of Salesforce CRM to help nonprofits effectively manage and analyze data.

As Fíonta explains, Nonprofit Cloud is ideal for measuring your impact, tracking program progress, and generating reports and visuals communicating your success to key stakeholders. Its tools allow nonprofits to forecast trends and campaign performance, providing the insights needed to make data-driven decisions.

We’ll explore some of the top ways Nonprofit Cloud helps nonprofits track and analyze data effectively. Let’s begin.

Benefits of Using Nonprofit Cloud Tools

Double the Donation’s guide to data collection highlights some of the key benefits of leveraging donor and campaign data, such as:

• Providing an accurate impact measurement
• Helping organizations effectively allocate resources
• Promoting informed decision-making rather than guessing

Nonprofit Cloud empowers your organization to reap these benefits by managing each core part of your operations, including fundraising, program management, and case management.

Top Nonprofit Cloud Tools

The following tools and features are designed to help nonprofits easily and accurately track data, keep data clean and organized, and quickly gain useful insights that inspire wise decisions.

Fundraising Tools

The Nonprofit Cloud for Fundraising module unites fundraising teams on a single platform, offering purpose-built tools your team can use to strengthen donor relationships, improve efficiency, analyze data, and more. The module includes apps tailored to different roles, including fundraising strategy, donor engagement, philanthropy and partnerships, and general fundraising operations.

When it comes to fundraising data, these tools simplify and enhance tracking and analysis:

• Flexible gift entry: Nonprofit Cloud offers your organization the flexibility to accurately track various types of donations. Enter standard one-time gifts made by individuals or set up recurring gift tracking. Your team can also create a batch to enter a large number of gifts at once, saving time and reducing the chance of human error.
• Source codes: Source codes are unique codes included in specific links. The source code is activated when a supporter or participant clicks one of these links. Your team can then track campaign performance, understand donors’ communication preferences, calculate ROI, and personalize future communications. As a part of the Salesforce Summer ‘24 release, you can manage outreach source codes using the campaign flow in Marketing Cloud Growth Edition.
• Custom donor scores: Build custom scores for your donors based on recency, frequency, and monetary (RFM) values. These scores provide a cumulative, at-a-glance RFM score for each donor. Donor scores can be viewed on the donor’s profile along with demographic data and other key insights to quickly gauge the supporter’s affinity and responsiveness to a certain cause or campaign.

These flexible tools ensure that your data reflects your nonprofit’s unique needs and practices, enhancing your data’s accuracy and clarity.

Program Management Tools

Nonprofit Cloud for Programs helps nonprofits plan, deliver, and track their programs. This module improves participant experiences, streamlines staff workflows, and yields the insights needed to improve offerings.

Some of the tools that offer these insights are:

• Participant profiles: If your nonprofit works with individuals, you likely set goals for participants, assign them to programs, disburse benefits, and manage tasks related to that individual. These details and notes from your sessions are stored within a single participant profile. This gives anyone working with the participant a detailed overview of their history with your nonprofit, goals, and progress so your staff can make the best choices for that individual.
• Program Management Home Page: This out-of-the-box home page is another product of the recent Summer ‘24 release. It is designed to give your team a comprehensive overview of your nonprofit’s program delivery and allow staff to monitor the status of your programs closely. From this single page, you can quickly assess whether programs are on track to meet organizational goals, get a simple overview of your programs and benefits, and track new referrals.
• Cohort objects and fields: Group your program participants together using the new Program Cohort object. Then, move those participants through the program together and easily compare cohorts or measure an individual’s progress against their cohort. Nonprofit programs can vary widely and have unique needs, and this method of data collection helps your staff account for those needs and idiosyncrasies.

Managing programs is demanding and has many moving parts. Nonprofit Cloud’s unified platform provides comprehensive overviews of your programs’ health, promoting informed decision-making that drives long-term success.

Case Management Tools

Nonprofit Cloud for Case Management is housed within the Program Management module and emphasizes providing better participant outcomes. This solution remedies heavy case manager workloads, disjointed systems, and barriers to transparent communication and collaboration across your teams.

Additionally, Nonprofit Cloud’s case management tools offer the following features for enhanced data collection and management:

• Easy, streamlined note-taking: Allow staff to quickly capture detailed notes from sessions with participants. Populate notes with additional information like attendance records, timestamps, and supporting documents for the most comprehensive records possible. These notes can be shared with other case managers, making participant transition simple and keeping data consolidated.
• Dynamic assessments: Use these assessments during intake to ensure staff ask new participants the most relevant questions. Additionally, staff can easily add necessary documents to the assessment and allow participants to navigate the process at their own pace. This ensures the participant’s intake is efficient and pleasant and organizes all necessary information in a single location.
• Adaptable data tracking: Your staff will use the Case object to plan care for the participant. Cases can span across multiple programs, and staff can loop in multiple individuals, such as caretakers or other team members at your organization. This flexible tool can conform to any program structure, making it easy to record and report your progress.

Accurate data collection is critical for case management. It influences quality of care, resource allocation, and long-term planning for your programs. In the context of fields like healthcare, your data collection methods must be secure and ethical to comply with regulations.

Other Salesforce Tools and Features

Remember to stay cognizant of and try out other options within Salesforce. With Nonprofit Cloud, your organization can access common features for Industries, apps from the AppExchange, and tools belonging to other Industry Clouds. These solutions can extend Nonprofit Cloud’s capabilities to assist with data hygiene, security, and efficiency.

Consider looking beyond Salesforce for additional assistance for larger organizations or those with very complex needs. Working with a Salesforce tech consultant can help you implement the solution, clean up and migrate data, and maximize your investment in this powerful CRM. If needed, research other services that can enhance your data quality to drive more accurate insights, like appending missing information or enriching your first-party data with third-party, market-level insights.

Collecting, managing, and cleaning your nonprofit’s data is key. After all, if your database is flawed or biased, the insights you glean from it will be, too. Nonprofit Cloud offers powerful, flexible tools that revolutionize how your nonprofit records and analyzes data about your donors, campaigns, and programs.

As a school, charitable gifts from parents, students’ families, and other members of the community are what help you offer the best, most enriching educational experiences possible. This funding helps make things like fun field trips and school-wide events and celebrations possible.

But, are you doing all you can to secure as much funding as possible? In addition to choosing fundraising ideas that align with your audience’s preferences and promoting your campaigns, accurately tracking data can help make your fundraisers successful.

In this guide, we’ll explore a few tips your school can use to accurately track donations and gain insights to boost revenue.

Use the right fundraising software.

A key part of fundraising is accepting as many payment methods as possible, giving your supporters the flexibility and convenience to choose what works best for them. However, this can quickly become complicated from a financial and data-tracking standpoint.

For example, how can you consolidate data from multiple sources like the donation form embedded on your school website, third-party payment apps, and more? The answer is to select specialized school fundraising software that will track and aggregate your donation data. 

Solutions like 99Pledges offer reports that reveal highlights like total donations and number of participants as well as more granular, line-by-line details about individual donors. In addition to these reports, 99Pledges’ guide to kids’ fundraising ideas recommends using this fundraising tool because it:

• Leverages digital fundraising, helping organizations offer more flexibility to how donors give.
• Can expand your school’s fundraising potential by reaching geographically remote donors.
• Allows for a lot of flexibility and creativity when choosing a fundraising idea.

Combined, these benefits mean that your school can launch creative, successful campaigns all while keeping a handle on its fundraising data.

Consider data appends.

Once you have the right solution in place and start seeing your donor data roll in, you might notice some gaps in the information. While you’ll be able to see basic details about donors, like their name and preferred giving method, you may not be privy to other information without performing a data append.

Data appending simply adds new information to your database, either by correcting and updating your existing file or supplementing it with information from external sources. Some of the most common types of data appends include:

• Contact information appends: Collect donors’ contact information, including phone numbers, email addresses, and home addresses.
• Employer appends: Learn who your donors’ employers are. This can be particularly helpful for securing matching gifts and other corporate gifts from their employers.
• Demographic information appends: Append information like donors’ age, gender, income, marital status, and more to build more targeted communication strategies.
• Social media appends: Update and add information about donors’ social media usage. Then, you can use this information to learn more about them through their profiles, engage them via their preferred platform, and invite them to follow you.

So, what would using data appends look like for your school? Let’s say your school’s baseball team needs to fundraise to travel to an out-of-state baseball camp, and you decide to perform demographic and employer data appends. The former helps you choose the perfect baseball fundraising idea to excite and engage your target audience. The latter identifies donors who work for companies with matching gift programs so you can remind them to apply for a matched gift.

The best way to safely enrich your data—and keep it clean and organized—is to work with a professional service. Research and meet with candidates before selecting one to ensure you choose the right option for your school.

Keep data clean and organized.

“Garbage in, garbage out,” is a commonly used phrase in the computer science world that sums up the impact of using low-quality data. In other words, if your data is flawed, outdated, or poor quality, any insights or output from that data will be too. 

Proper data management and data hygiene practices can keep the garbage out of your database. Frequently audit your donation data to resolve issues like:

• Duplicated entries for the same donor or donation
• Incomplete information about donations
• Outdated information (e.g., a donor moves and their address has changed)
• Data formats not being standardized

Once you’ve corrected these issues, you can use your clean, accurate donation data in many ways. For example, use your average daily donation amount to make accurate predictions about whether you’ll reach your fundraising goal—and, if you’re not on track, make an effort to course correct. Or, follow Double the Donation’s advice and gamify the process by using a fundraising thermometer to publicly track your progress toward the goal.

Set up automated processes.

Finally, use your fundraising software and donation data to take some of the repetitive fundraising tasks off your plate. Automation can streamline repetitive, rote tasks like sending:

• Donation receipts: These receipts are legally required for any cash gifts over $250, making them a pain point for many schools. However, automation ensures that donors receive accurate receipts immediately following their donation. Make sure the receipts include key information such as the donor’s name, the amount they donated, and whether the donor received anything in return for their gift.
• Reminders to pay pledged donations: With pledged donations, donors pledge to give a certain amount at a later date. For example, you might hold a walk-a-thon and collect pledges based on how far participants walk. Automated reminders can prompt donors to donate the pledged amount or simply remind them that you’ll be billing the donation to them.
• Thank-you messages: Cultivate long-term relationships with donors by sending them heartfelt thank-you messages. Choose an action, in this case donating, that will trigger a thank-you message within 24 to 72 hours. Don’t forget to make these messages genuine, personalized, and authentic. Greet the donor by name, mention their specific gift, and tell them how their individual donation will make a difference at your school.

When using automation, always remember to balance efficiency and convenience for your fundraising team with personalization. The last thing you want is for your school’s communications to feel cold or robotic.

While tracking your donations may seem like a minor step you could skip over, it’s critical to successful fundraising. To truly understand and efficiently engage with your supporters, make sure to choose a tool that will do the heavy lifting for you. Then, you’ll have easy access to data that reveals who your school’s supporters are, their giving habits and motivations, and ways to inspire them to give again and again.

Staying on top of the latest and greatest in fundraising is essential for improving your nonprofit’s strategy and continuing to raise enough money to support your cause. In today’s fundraising climate, many of the hottest trends have one thing in common: data.

When you put data at the forefront of your strategy, you can dive deeper into your donor base’s specific preferences to create fundraising campaigns they’re likely to engage with. Check out some of the current data-driven fundraising trends and tips for how your nonprofit can stay ahead.

1. Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics refers to the use of algorithms and machine learning to analyze data and make predictions based on that information. In the context of fundraising, predictive analytics can help you transform donor data into important insights that guide your fundraising decisions.

According to BWF’s guide to AI fundraising, there are three main types of predictive models nonprofits can use:

• Giving behavior models. These models can predict factors like individual donors’ preferred giving channels, likelihood of renewal, and likely next gift amounts.
• Predictive scoring. You may use predictive analytics to assign your donors engagement scores and categorize them based on recency, frequency, and monetary (RFM) value.
• Giving program success models. Predictive analytics can also help you determine how successful different giving programs could be, such as annual giving, major giving, and planned giving.

Perhaps one of the most common use cases of predictive analytics for fundraising is donor prospecting. You can use predictive analytics tools to streamline the wealth screening process, identify potential major donors, find which donors are most likely to upgrade their giving, and more.

To successfully incorporate predictive analytics into your fundraising strategy, follow these tips:

• Determine your goals. Before you dive into predictive analytics, choose fundraising goals to guide how you’ll use this technology. For example, the model you create will look very different based on whether you’re focusing on donor retention, prospecting, or planned giving.
• Clean your data. The more accurate your data is, the better your predictions will be. Follow data hygiene best practices, such as auditing your database, appending missing data, and standardizing data entry, to prepare it for predictive analytics.
• Choose the right tools. To implement predictive analytics, you’ll need to rely on the appropriate tools and technology to get the job done. Research your options, or outsource the process to an AI fundraising consultant for help.

2. Segmentation and Personalization

Donors crave personalized experiences. They want to feel special and know that your organization values their individual contributions to your cause and community.

The best way to personalize your communications is through segmentation. Segmentation is the process of grouping donors based on similar characteristics to better personalize your messaging to them. Nonprofits may segment their donors based on:

• Average donation amount
• Donation frequency
• Donation recency
• Donor lifecycle stage
• Demographics
• Communication preferences
• Engagement level
• Interests related to your cause

When segmenting your donors, it’s important that your nonprofit:

• Defines its segmentation criteria. As you can see above, there are so many different ways you can segment your donors. Determine which segmentation criteria make the most sense based on your current goals, campaigns, and data.
• Tailors its campaigns. Once you’ve successfully grouped your supporters, put your segments to use. Let’s say you’re running a discount card fundraiser. ABC Fundraising recommends this type of campaign because it allows you to gather support for local businesses and raise money for your cause. To maximize the success of your discount card fundraiser, you can use your donor demographic segments to help you choose businesses to partner with that reflect your target audience’s preferences. For instance, you could add a toy store to your discount cards if many of your supporters have children.
• Updates its segments over time. As your donor base grows and changes, so should your segments. Reassess your segmentation strategy regularly to ensure it still reflects your supporters and their needs, and make adjustments where necessary.

3. Automation and Artificial Intelligence

AI can be a controversial topic, but when used correctly, it can help automate nonprofit fundraising processes and allow you to focus on more mission-critical tasks.

In addition to predictive analytics, your nonprofit can use AI for:

• Donor segmentation. To more efficiently segment your donors, you can use AI to identify patterns in your donor base and group your donors accordingly.
• Donor stewardship. Let’s say you’ve just wrapped up your school fundraiser and have a ton of tasks still on your plate but want to ensure you thank donors as soon as possible. You can use AI to automate thank-you messages to your donors before sending them more heartfelt notes once you have the time.
• Donor support. If your inbox is full of donor questions, you may benefit from embedding an AI-powered chatbot on your website. This tool can help provide donor support by answering simple questions, guiding donors through the donation process, or giving them information about upcoming programs or events.

Using AI carefully and ethically is key. Follow these tips for responsible AI use:

• Protect data privacy. You should store any donor data you’re collecting and using to power your AI fundraising efforts in a secure database or constituent relationship management (CRM) system. Make sure your platform has features like two-factor authentication, access controls, and SOC 2 Type II compliance.
• Be transparent. Donors may be wary when they hear you’re using AI to process their data. Make it clear how exactly you’re leveraging their data to maintain donor trust, and let donors opt out of having their data used in your AI tools if they wish.
• Hold your organization accountable. To keep your nonprofit accountable for responsible AI use, develop internal AI policies and guidelines for your team to follow. You should also have procedures for addressing any donor concerns about your AI use.

4. Impact Reporting

Donors want to know that you’re using their gifts responsibly. Many donors are happy to continue supporting your cause—under the unspoken caveat that you’re using their hard-earned funds to help those in need and drive your mission forward.

Keep donors updated on the facts and figures that demonstrate the outcomes of your fundraising efforts by:

• Creating and sharing an annual report. An annual report is a document that summarizes your nonprofit’s activities for the past year. Include all important data points that illustrate the impact of donors’ contributions, and share the report with all stakeholders.
• Using visualizations. Make the data in your annual report easy to digest by developing accompanying visualizations. Use a variety of charts and graphs to accurately depict your fundraising results and impact.
• Incorporating storytelling. In addition to data, feature stories in your report that demonstrate exactly how your donors have allowed you to assist your beneficiaries. For example, an environmental conservation organization may explain that their flower fundraiser allowed them to move forward with their efforts to rescue endangered species like the Sumatran orangutan. They may highlight that one of the orangutans they rescued named Rue is now being rehabilitated at a local zoo thanks to donors’ generosity.

At the end of the day, your nonprofit aims to make a difference and help its beneficiaries as best it can. When you implement the most current data-driven fundraising trends, you can optimize your fundraising operations and maximize the support you gather for your mission.