Volunteer Grant Best Practices to Raise More Funds

Volunteer Grant Best Practices to Raise More Funds

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Time is money. In the nonprofit sector, this old adage takes on a literal meaning through the power of volunteer grants. While you likely have strategies in place to cultivate individual donors and secure major gifts, you might be leaving a significant amount of funding on the table by ignoring the corporate philanthropy programs attached to your volunteers. Implementing volunteer grant best practices is the most effective way to unlock this hidden revenue stream and maximize the value of every hour donated to your cause.

Volunteer grants, also known as “Dollars for Doers,” are corporate giving programs where companies provide monetary donations to eligible nonprofits as a reward for the time employees spend volunteering. It is a win-win-win scenario: the company meets its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals, the volunteer feels deeper engagement with your mission, and your nonprofit receives unrestricted funding. Despite this potential, billions of dollars in corporate philanthropy go unclaimed every year simply because organizations and volunteers are unaware that these programs exist.

To bridge this gap, your organization needs a proactive strategy. You cannot rely on volunteers to navigate complex corporate portals on their own. You must guide them, educate them, and simplify the process.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

Let’s dive in and explore how you can transform your volunteer program into a revenue generating engine.

Understanding the Basics of Volunteer Grants

Before implementing a strategy, it is crucial to understand exactly what you are pursuing. Volunteer grants are a specific type of corporate giving program where companies donate money to nonprofits based on the number of hours their employees volunteer.

These programs typically function in two ways. First, there are threshold grants, where an employee must volunteer a minimum number of hours (e.g., 20 hours in a calendar year) to trigger a set donation amount (e.g., $500). Second, there are hourly grants, where the company pays a specific rate per hour volunteered (e.g., $25 per hour).

The funds received from these grants are almost always unrestricted. This is a massive advantage for nonprofits. Unlike program specific grants that must be spent on designated projects, volunteer grant revenue can be used to keep the lights on, pay staff salaries, or invest in new fundraising technology.

However, the existence of these programs does not guarantee revenue. The process requires the volunteer to submit a request to their employer, and the nonprofit to verify the hours served. This administrative hurdle is where most opportunities are lost. By understanding the mechanics of these programs, you can build a workflow that minimizes friction and maximizes submissions.

Did You Know?

40% of Fortune 500 companies offer volunteer grant programs. Furthermore, 80% of companies with these programs offer between $8 and $15 per hour volunteered. This means a single dedicated volunteer could easily generate over $1,000 annually for your organization just by doing what they already love—supporting your mission.

Identifying Eligible Volunteers

You cannot secure a grant if you do not know who is eligible. One of the most critical volunteer grant best practices is implementing a robust system for capturing employment data. Many nonprofits shy away from asking volunteers where they work, fearing it might seem intrusive. However, most supporters are happy to share this information if they know it will help the organization.

The best time to capture this data is during the registration process. When a new volunteer signs up for a shift, whether it is through a digital form on your website or a third-party platform, you have a golden opportunity to capture employment information. Many nonprofits ask for name, email, and phone number, but they fail to ask the million-dollar question: “Who is your employer?” By adding an optional field for employment information, you can immediately identify high-value volunteers.

If a volunteer indicates they work for a company known to have a generous grant program, you can tag them in your database for targeted follow-up later. Do not stop at new volunteers. You likely have a database full of existing supporters with missing employment information. Consider sending out a dedicated survey to your current volunteer base. Frame it as an “Update Your Profile” campaign. You can even incentivize participation by entering respondents into a raffle for a small prize or branded merchandise.

Once you have this data, you need to screen it. Look for employees of major corporations known for generous philanthropy, such as Microsoft, Verizon, Disney, and Starbucks. These companies have well established programs and user friendly portals, making them the “low hanging fruit” of volunteer grants.

Marketing Volunteer Grants to Your Supporters

Awareness is the biggest barrier to entry. A significant portion of your volunteers likely have no idea that their employer offers a volunteer grant program. It is your job to educate them. Your marketing strategy should be consistent, multi-channel, and integrated into your existing volunteer communications.

Website Integration

Your website is your 24/7 development officer. Ensure that volunteer grant information is prominent on your “Ways to Give” and “Volunteer” pages. Do not bury it in a footer or a dense block of text. Create a dedicated section or a standalone page that explains what volunteer grants are and how they work.

If possible, include a searchable database tool directly on your site. This allows visitors to type in their company name and instantly access their specific program guidelines, forms, and eligibility requirements. This self service model empowers volunteers to take action without needing to wait for a staff member to help them.

Email Campaigns

Email remains one of the most effective channels for nonprofit communication. You should incorporate volunteer grant messaging into every stage of the volunteer lifecycle.

Include a brief mention in your automated welcome emails. When a volunteer registers, they are at their peak level of enthusiasm. Catching them at this moment increases the likelihood that they will look into their benefits.

Send quarterly reminders to your active volunteer list. Remind them to log their hours and check their eligibility. As the end of the year approaches, send a specific “Don’t leave money on the table” campaign. Many corporate programs have submission deadlines tied to the calendar year, so a timely nudge in November or December can result in a flurry of last minute grant submissions.

Social Media Promotion

Social media is an excellent tool for social proof. Share stories of volunteers who have successfully secured grants for your organization. Post a photo of a volunteer with a caption like, “Thanks to Sarah’s 20 hours of service, her employer donated $500 to our food pantry! Does your company offer volunteer grants?”

This not only recognizes the individual volunteer (which aids in retention) but also signals to other followers that this is a norm within your community. It prompts them to ask their own HR departments about similar programs.

Quick Tip

Celebrate the Wins: When you receive a volunteer grant check, do not just deposit it quietly. Publicly thank the volunteer and the company in your newsletter or on social media (tagging the company). Corporations love positive PR, and public recognition strengthens your relationship with the corporate partner while reminding other volunteers to submit their own requests.

Simplifying the Submission Process

If the process is difficult, your volunteers will not do it. They are already donating their time and energy; asking them to navigate a complex bureaucratic process is a quick way to burn them out. One of the most important volunteer grant best practices is to make the submission process as effortless as possible.

Create a “How-To” guide for your volunteers. This can be a simple one page PDF or a section on your website. It should outline the general steps for submitting a request: log in to the employee portal, find the giving section, log hours, and submit.

For major employers in your area, consider creating company specific guides. If you know you have 50 volunteers from a local bank, take the time to find their specific submission link and instructions. Sending a volunteer an email that says, “Click this link to submit your hours” is far more effective than saying, “Check with your HR department.”

You must also ensure your internal processes are streamlined. When a volunteer submits a request, the company will typically reach out to your nonprofit to verify the hours. If this verification request sits in a general inbox for weeks, the grant may be denied. Designate a specific staff member to handle these verifications and ensure they check for them regularly.

Leveraging Technology and Automation

For small nonprofits, managing volunteer grants manually can be overwhelming. Tracking employment data, sending reminders, and verifying hours takes time. This is where technology becomes a game changer.

Invest in a volunteer management system that integrates with corporate giving databases. These tools can automatically identify eligible volunteers based on their email domains or registration data. For example, if a volunteer signs up with a “@homedepot.com” email address, the system can automatically flag them as eligible and trigger a personalized email with Home Depot’s specific grant guidelines.

Automation allows you to scale your efforts without increasing your headcount. You can set up automated triggers to send emails when a volunteer hits a specific hour milestone. If a company requires 20 hours to trigger a grant, your system can automatically email the volunteer the moment they log their 20th hour, congratulating them and providing the link to submit their grant request.

While there is a cost associated with these tools, the return on investment is often substantial. Securing just a few additional volunteer grants can pay for the software for the entire year.

Stewardship and Corporate Partnerships

Volunteer grants are not just a transaction; they are a doorway to deeper corporate partnerships. When a company sends you a check, they are signaling that they support your mission and that their employees are engaged with your work. This is a relationship you must cultivate.

Treat the company as a donor. Send a formal acknowledgment letter to the corporate office, but also look for ways to engage them further. If you notice a high volume of volunteers coming from a specific company, reach out to their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Community Relations department.

Propose a customized volunteer event for their team. Companies are constantly looking for team building opportunities that also fulfill their CSR goals. By offering to host a “Day of Service” for their employees, you strengthen the relationship, increase the number of volunteer hours (and potential grants), and position your nonprofit as a key partner in their community engagement strategy.

Additionally, do not forget to steward the individual volunteer. When their grant comes through, let them know. Send a personal note saying, “Your company just sent us $500 because of your hard work. Thank you for doubling your impact!” This validation is incredibly powerful and encourages them to continue volunteering and submitting requests in the future.

Quick Tip

The “Team Grant” Opportunity: Many companies offer specialized grants for groups of employees who volunteer together. These often have lower hour thresholds or higher payout caps. If you have a group from a local business coming in, explicitly ask them if they are eligible for a team grant. This can turn a single afternoon of service into a significant financial contribution.

Setting Goals and Measuring Success

You cannot improve what you do not measure. To truly optimize your volunteer grant revenue, you need to set clear goals and track your progress.

Start by establishing a baseline. How much revenue did you generate from volunteer grants last year? How many volunteers submitted requests? What was your “participation rate” (the percentage of eligible volunteers who actually submitted a request)?

Once you have your baseline, set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound). For example, you might aim to increase volunteer grant revenue by 20% in the next fiscal year, or to collect employment information for 80% of your active volunteers.

Track key metrics such as:

  • Number of volunteers identified as eligible
  • Number of grant requests submitted
  • Total revenue secured
  • Average value per volunteer hour
  • Number of corporate partners engaged

Review these metrics quarterly. If you notice that submissions spike after your newsletter goes out, you know that channel is effective. If you see that volunteers from a specific company never submit requests despite being eligible, you might need to adjust your messaging or provide more specific instructions for that group.

Wrapping Up & Next Steps

Volunteer grants represent one of the most efficient ways to grow your fundraising revenue. The work is already being done; the relationships are already established. The money is sitting there, waiting for your organization to claim it.

By implementing these volunteer grant best practices—capturing data, marketing the opportunity, simplifying the process, and leveraging technology—you can unlock a sustainable stream of unrestricted funding. You validate the hard work of your volunteers and build a bridge to the corporate sector that can lead to sponsorships, major gifts, and long term growth.

It does not require a massive budget or a large staff. It requires a shift in mindset. Start viewing your volunteers not just as a source of labor, but as partners in your fundraising strategy. Educate them, empower them, and celebrate them.

Ready to get started? Here is your checklist:

  1. Audit your intake forms: Add an “Employer” field to all volunteer registrations immediately.
  2. Update your website: Create a dedicated page explaining volunteer grants and how to access them.
  3. Survey your database: Send an email to current volunteers asking where they work.
  4. Set a goal: Decide how much volunteer grant revenue you want to raise this year and build a plan to reach it.

Your volunteers are your greatest asset. With the right strategy, they can be your greatest fundraisers too.

How Employment Data Enhances Volunteerism, Increases Revenue

How Employment Data Enhances Volunteerism, Increases Revenue

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Did you know that nonprofits using donor employment data see increased volunteer engagement and new revenue opportunities compared to those relying on traditional outreach? For organizations today, more is expected with fewer resources, and finding new ways to engage volunteers and raise funds is critical. However, the answer may be hidden in your own supporter records.

Many organizations work tirelessly to recruit volunteers, run campaigns, and forge partnerships. Still, they often miss opportunities to strategically leverage the professional connections, skills, and corporate partnerships already present within their own network. For nonprofit professionals responsible for volunteer programs, the challenge is not just recruiting more people; it’s finding those with the right skills, connecting with supportive employers, and creating sustainable revenue streams.

The solution? Using donor employment data to illuminate untapped resources and guide more innovative strategies.

In this post, we’ll show you how to:

Donor employment data is information about where your supporters work, what roles they hold, and the professional networks they bring. By integrating this into your volunteer and donor management, you can identify new recruitment opportunities, tailor messaging, approach employers for strategic partnerships, and maximize revenue from employer sponsorship and giving programs.

This approach isn’t theoretical; it’s a proven way to make your existing efforts more targeted and effective. Let’s dive in and see how you can put donor employment data to work for your mission.

Identify and Engage High-Value Volunteers Using Employment Data

When you know where your supporters work, you can transform your volunteer program from a numbers game into an innovative, skill-based network. After all, employment data helps you discover who in your community has expertise, connections, and potential for greater involvement.

1. Gather and Enrich Donor Employment Data

Start by assessing how much employment information you currently have. Check your CRM for fields such as employer and job title. If your records are incomplete, develop a plan to fill the gaps. This might include:

  • Updating Your Donor Forms: Add optional fields for “Employer” and “Occupation” in all donation and volunteer signup forms. Explain that this information helps connect volunteers to meaningful skill-based projects.
  • Running a Data Audit: Export your current records and identify missing information. Contact supporters with a brief, respectful survey to update their employment details.
  • Leveraging Technology: Use platforms like LinkedIn or specialized enrichment tools to supplement your records. Always ensure you follow data privacy best practices and explain how this data supports the organization’s mission.

2. Segment Supporters by Employer and Skill Set

Once you have reliable data, segment your database by employer and professional expertise. For example, you could:

  • Create Target Lists: Identify supporters working at organizations with a history of philanthropy or companies with existing volunteer grant programs. Then, group volunteers by industry or skill set for future outreach.
  • Map Skills to Your Needs: Cross-reference supporters’ backgrounds with your skill gaps. For example, if you need help with social media, identifying donors in communications or tech can go a long way.
  • Highlight High-Potential Employers: Prioritize outreach to supporters working at large companies or local businesses active in corporate volunteerism.

3. Engage with Personalization and Purpose

By leveraging employer information, you can connect with volunteers who have expertise in areas crucial to your organization’s needs, transforming their participation into lasting, high-value contributions. Here are a few ideas for getting started:

  • Tailored Invitations: Reach out with clear, personalized asks that fit each supporter’s background. For instance, “Your expertise in accounting could help us improve our budgeting for community programs.”
  • Co-create Projects: Involve key prospects in project planning. Their input increases buy-in and can lead to ongoing engagement.
  • Show Impact: Follow up to share the difference their volunteerism makes, using data and stories.

Real-World Example

The YMCA of Greater Cincinnati added an employer lookup feature to its volunteer registration forms using Double the Donation. This integration enabled them to see where volunteers worked, connect them to relevant employer grants, and create tailored opportunities. The result was not only a surge in volunteer grant applications but also improved staff efficiency and more personalized volunteer engagement.

Understanding where your supporters work is the foundation for all subsequent strategy. With the correct data in hand, you can take the next step: building relationships with those employers for maximum impact.

Build Strategic Corporate Volunteer Partnerships

Donor employment data opens the door to mutually beneficial partnerships with local and national businesses. Corporate volunteerism initiatives create new opportunities for skills-based volunteering, sponsorship, and ongoing engagement.

1. Identify Volunteer “Champions” and Target Employers

To effectively engage high-value volunteers, start by identifying clusters within your volunteer and donor data. Look for supporters who work at the same company, prioritizing employers with multiple engaged individuals. These clusters can help you pinpoint potential advocates for your cause.

From there, focus on donors who have shown strong enthusiasm, such as repeat volunteers, workplace campaign contributors, or frequent event attendees. Reach out to these individuals to see if they would be willing to champion your cause within their workplace. By creating internal partnerships with these “champions,” you can tap into a powerful network of influence.

Inviting them to join planning committees or help promote events internally can amplify your message, as their endorsement is often far more persuasive than external outreach.

2. Research and Understand Employer Priorities

Every company has its own approach to philanthropy and volunteering. To build meaningful partnerships, consider the following expert practices:

  • Research Company Programs: Review companies’ corporate social responsibility or community engagement pages. Gather details about their volunteer time off, matching gifts, or volunteer grant policies.
  • Investigate Grant Potential: Use a volunteer grant database to identify employers that offer financial support when their staff volunteers.
  • Align Missions: Craft your proposals around the employer’s philanthropic focus, such as education, community welfare, or sustainability.

3. Pitch and Launch Collaborative Projects

When pitching collaborative projects, it’s important to tailor your approach by leveraging the data you’ve gathered to demonstrate the impact of previous volunteer efforts. For example, you could highlight how “volunteers from your company contributed 100 hours last quarter,” making the case for future involvement.

Present clear and specific opportunities for skill-based group volunteering or project sponsorship, showing how these efforts align with both the company’s and your organization’s goals. Additionally, offer value to the company by bundling benefits such as public recognition, co-branded events, or the opportunity to share stories in the company’s internal communications.

It’s also wise to start small by proposing pilot projects or one-day events to establish a partnership, then build toward larger, ongoing collaborations once mutual value is proven.

4. Maintain and Deepen Partnerships

Once you have corporate relationships at your disposal, make sure you’re putting in the work to maintain and deepen those partnerships over time. This might include:

  • Reporting on Outcomes: Schedule regular feedback and impact reports on corporate volunteer efforts. Thank both the company and the internal champion.
  • Evolving Together: After each collaboration, discuss what worked and how you can grow together. Stay open to new event formats, challenges, or skills-based projects.

Here’s an Example: Imagine discovering that ten of your supporters work at a tech firm known for employee volunteerism. By connecting with these individuals, you set up a recurring “Tech for Good” day. Over three years, you double your volunteer hours and receive sponsorship for a youth STEM program.

The key was starting with data, then building genuine, mutually beneficial relationships.

Personalize Outreach for Greater Impact

Generic emails and mass appeals often go unnoticed. But with donor employment data, you can make every communication relevant, timely, and authentic, thereby building stronger relationships and increasing overall participation.

Check out the following tips and tricks for doing so:

1. Customize Messaging by Employer and Role

  • Reference Specific Employers: Open invitations by naming the supporter’s workplace. For example, “As part of [Company], you have access to volunteering grants that can multiply your impact.”
  • Highlight Professional Expertise: Match volunteer openings to skills (“Our annual event team could benefit from your logistics experience”).
  • Call Out Employer Support: Mention if the company offers volunteer recognition or matches service hours with grants. (“If you volunteer 10 hours with our organization, your company will provide a $200 grant!”)

2. Segment Communication for Better Engagement

  • Create Segmented Lists: Use your CRM or workplace giving tool to send customized messages to supporters by employer, industry, or skill set.
  • Social Media Groups: Form LinkedIn or Facebook groups for volunteers from specific sectors, sharing opportunities that best fit their abilities.
  • Test Engagement Strategies: Try different email subject lines or calls to action to see what resonates, using data to improve results as you go along.

3. Recognize Individual and Employer Contributions

  • Spotlight Stories: Feature volunteer spotlights in newsletters, highlighting individuals from key employers. Include photos and testimonials, with permission, to demonstrate social proof.
  • Acknowledge Employer Participation: Use social media shout-outs and events to recognize companies that support your mission through volunteerism and beyond. Tag the company and encourage staff participation.
  • Follow Up With Results: After events, send impact recaps that show how their involvement contributed to your goals.

Unlock Revenue Through Employer Giving and Match Programs

Most nonprofits underutilize the full potential of employer giving programs. Knowing where your donors and volunteers work allows you to efficiently connect them to matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other corporate support opportunities.

1. Spot Matching Gift and Volunteer Grant Opportunities

  • Cross-Reference Your Data: Identify which supporters work at companies with established volunteer grant programs, as well as other giving initiatives like matching gifts, payroll giving, volunteer time off, and more.
  • Leverage Automation Tools: Implement volunteer grant automation tools like Double the Donation, which identify eligible companies and prompt supporters at the right time.
  • Maintain an Updated List: Regularly refresh your internal database and share current employer opportunities with your team.

2. Educate and Guide Supporters

Awareness remains a significant barrier. Most employees are unaware that their companies offer giving programs tied to volunteering. In order to combat this lack of knowledge, consider these expert-proven tips:

  • Promote Programs Early: Feature information about matching gifts on donation, registration, and thank-you pages.
  • Provide Step-by-Step Instructions: Guide supporters through the process of logging hours or submitting volunteer grant requests, ideally with direct links or screenshots.
  • Host Information Sessions: Organize occasional webinars or Q&A events to demystify employer giving for your community.

3. Automate and Remind

Automation ensures you never miss an opportunity.

  • Set Up Automated Nudges: Use your CRM to send emails after each donation or volunteer event, reminding supporters to check for employer matching or volunteer grants.
  • Integrate Search Tools: Add an easy-to-use volunteer grant database to your site so supporters can instantly see whether they’re eligible and even take next steps to participate.

4. Celebrate Employer Giving Success

Don’t let engagement drop off after the volunteer grant is received! Instead, be sure to maintain involvement by:

  • Sharing Results Publicly: Use newsletters and social media to thank companies and report total funds raised through employer programs, such as volunteer grants and more.
  • Acknowledging Both Volunteer and Employer: Personalized thank-yous are mighty for both individuals and their supporting companies.

Measure, Refine, and Scale Your Volunteer Impact

Sustainable success relies on continuous improvement. Tracking, analyzing, and acting on your donor employment data helps you identify what’s working while staying agile enough to pivot strategies as needs change.

1. Set and Track Measurable Metrics

  • Choose Your KPIs: Common benchmarks include the number of volunteers recruited via employment outreach, hours served by supporters from key employers, employer grants secured, and volunteer retention rates.
  • Build Robust Dashboards: Use your CRM, business intelligence tools, or workplace giving platform to create live dashboards that visualize progress, such as “Top Employers by Volunteer Grants” or “Year-over-Year Growth in Corporate Participation.”
  • Monitor Communication Effectiveness: Track email open rates, click-through rates, and engagement stats for segmented campaigns related to corporate volunteer opportunities.

2. Analyze Performance and Share Learnings

  • Schedule Quarterly Reviews: Hold regular meetings with staff to review data trends and adjust strategies for underperforming areas.
  • Align Teams: Share findings across fundraising, volunteer, and communications teams so everyone is working toward the same goals.
  • Spot Opportunities for Growth: If a particular company provides more grant funds or volunteers, explore ways to deepen or expand that partnership.

3. Refine and Expand Strategies

  • Test New Ideas: Experiment with new outreach tactics, like personalized annual impact reports for top companies or specialized volunteering events.
  • Iterate Quickly: If a campaign isn’t delivering results, tweak your messaging or switch focus to more productive employer partnerships.
  • Document Best Practices: As you refine your approach, codify successful tactics so new staff or volunteers can build on your progress.

For example, suppose your data reveals that targeted annual reports drive a 40% increase in volunteer grant applications from tech-sector staff. Rolling this tactic out more broadly could multiply your revenue and engagement. This ongoing, data-driven refinement helps maintain momentum and positions your organization as a leader in evidence-based volunteer management.

Now that you have a measurement framework in place, you’re prepared for lasting success and a continuous cycle of improvement.

Conclusion

Employment data is more than a field in your database. It’s a strategic asset that advances every part of your volunteer program, from targeted outreach and skill-based recruitment to building robust corporate partnerships and unlocking new revenue streams. By integrating employer information into every interaction, you create a data-driven flywheel: one that increases volunteer engagement, deepens relationships, and grows support for your mission.

Start by auditing your existing data and updating your forms to collect employment information. Next, take one strategy from this guide, whether it’s personalized outreach or exploring volunteer grant automation for nonprofits, and put it into action this quarter.

The power to transform your volunteer program and raise more revenue is already at your fingertips. All it takes is data-driven action.

Securing Challenge Matches + Grants with Employment Data

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In nonprofit fundraising, securing challenge matches presents one of the most powerful ways to multiply donations and engage your community. But securing the right donors who have the capacity to help unlock a challenge match often requires more than just an appeal for support. It requires you to do research and have the right data so you know who to ask. That’s where employment data becomes a valuable tool.

By appending employment data to donor profiles, nonprofits can identify individuals with the financial means and professional ties to contribute significantly to challenge matches and grants. This data helps streamline donor engagement, ensuring your organization targets the right supporters at the right time.

In this post, we’ll explore how nonprofit organizations can leverage employment data to discover potential major donors, maximize challenge match funding, and build long-term relationships that benefit both the donor and your organization. Specifically, we’ll cover:

Employment data can be a game-changer when it comes to securing challenge matches and corporate grants. By understanding where your donors work and whether their companies offer matching gifts, you can strategically target your fundraising efforts and encourage greater contributions. Let’s explore how you can leverage this valuable data to optimize your challenge match campaigns and corporate fundraising.

Why Employment Data is Key for Challenge Match Campaigns

When it comes to challenge matches, the ultimate goal is to encourage donors to give at a level that helps meet or exceed the match commitment. But not all donors are equipped to give the kind of gift that unlocks a challenge match. The good news is, employment data helps identify those who might.

By understanding where your donors work, you can unlock numerous opportunities for engagement. Employment information doesn’t just reveal the organization a donor works for; it also provides insights into their professional role, potential income level, and connection to causes aligned with your nonprofit’s mission. These insights allow you to target donors who may have both the capacity and the interest to contribute at higher levels. These are going to be the individuals ideal for challenge match scenarios, so collecting the data now will streamline your search and make your ask more effective.

Here’s why employment data is especially crucial for your fundraising efforts:

  • Targeted Donor Engagement: Knowing where your donors are employed gives you critical information about their professional background, income, and the likelihood that they have the capacity to initiate a challenge match. With this knowledge, you can create targeted, personalized outreach that resonates with these potential fits.
  • Identify High-Capacity Givers: Employment data reveals donors working in high-income industries or holding senior roles that increase their giving capacity. You can spot individuals who may have the means to offer challenge matches and engage them with tailored messaging.
  • Streamline Your Efforts: Rather than sending blanket appeals for donations, employment data allows you to focus your outreach on individuals who have the potential to offer challenge matches, ensuring your team’s efforts are as efficient as possible.

Leveraging Employment Data to Identify Potential Challenge Match Donors

Donor profiles enriched with employment data provide a more comprehensive view of each supporter’s potential. This insight allows you to move beyond the basics—like previous donations or general demographic data—and instead focus on more strategic information that can reveal someone’s giving capacity and philanthropic inclination.

Here’s how you can use employment data to uncover major donors for your challenge match campaign:

1. Add and Maintain Employment Information in Donor Profiles

The first step in leveraging employment data for challenge matches is ensuring that your donor profiles are accurately enriched with up-to-date employment information. This gives you a complete view of your donors’ professional background, enabling you to identify potential challenge match opportunities.

Here’s how you should manage this crucial data:

  • Enrich Donor Profiles: Start by appending employment data to your donor profiles. Many nonprofit organizations use employer append services to gather this information. These services can provide details like the donor’s employer, job title, industry, and even their seniority level. With this enriched data, you gain a clearer picture of your donor’s potential for larger contributions, particularly for challenge matches.
  • Regularly Update Employment Data: People change jobs, move up the career ladder, or shift industries, so keeping this data current is critical for ongoing success. Regularly updating your donor profiles with fresh employment information ensures you’re not working with outdated assumptions. You can do this by integrating data management best practices, periodically checking in with supporters for any updates, or utilizing services that automatically refresh your donor profiles.
  • Combine with Workplace Giving Insights: As donors change roles or industries, their capacity to give may increase. Keeping a consistent eye on this data helps ensure you are reaching out to donors at the right time in their careers. For example, a donor recently promoted to a director-level position in a high-income sector may now be in a better financial position to contribute to a challenge match. By tracking these changes, you can be sure that you’re not missing out on workplace giving opportunities.

By appending and maintaining accurate employment information, you can strategically identify major donors who are in a position to offer challenge matches. This data serves as the key to unlocking substantial contributions.

2. Identify Donors with the Potential to Offer Challenge Matches

Once your donor profiles are enriched with employment data, the next step is to use that information to identify individuals who are best positioned to support a challenge match. Donors with significant financial resources are more likely to be able to support challenge matches.

Here are a few key factors that can help you discern that potential:

  • Industry: Donors who work in industries with higher earning potential, such as finance, law, or technology, are often well-positioned to make significant contributions. By recognizing the sectors your donors work in, you can spot individuals who may have the financial means to support a challenge match.
  • Job Title: Job titles can provide insight into a donor’s capacity to give. Senior-level roles like CEO, CFO, or vice president often correlate with greater financial stability and a higher likelihood of being able to support major gift requests. Donors in leadership positions or with significant decision-making power may also be more inclined to offer a challenge match because of their experience with corporate sponsorship and philanthropy.
  • Company Affiliation: In addition to industry and job title, knowing where a donor works helps you determine if they might be in a position to offer a challenge match. Some companies have a culture of philanthropy and support employee-driven giving, while others may have a budget set aside for charitable giving or community initiatives. If you know where your donor works, you can start a conversation about potential challenge match opportunities at their organization, capitalizing on their company’s giving culture.

3. Target Campaigns for High-Capacity Donors

Once you’ve identified high-potential donors, it’s time to target them with personalized campaigns designed to maximize their involvement in your challenge match campaign. Rather than using a broad, one-size-fits-all approach, you can use the insights gained from employment data to craft highly targeted outreach that speaks to their specific motivations and capacities.

For example, you can:

  • Craft Tailored Messaging: Your communications should emphasize the unique role each donor can play in your challenge match. For example, if a donor works in a high-net-worth sector like finance, their financial background might make them more receptive to a message about how a larger donation can substantially impact your fundraising efforts. Highlight how their contribution would unlock a matching gift and amplify the campaign’s success.
  • Demonstrate Alignment Between Donor and Cause: Use the donor’s professional background to demonstrate the alignment between their career and your nonprofit’s mission. If they work in education and your nonprofit runs educational programs, highlight how their expertise or their company’s focus aligns with your work. By showing this connection, you help the donor see how their support is a natural extension of their professional values.
  • Highlight the Impact: When reaching out to high-potential donors, emphasize how their larger donation will directly impact the challenge match. Be specific: explain the total match goal and how their contribution can set the stage for unlocking the full potential of the match. Share examples of past success stories where high-value donors played a pivotal role in meeting or exceeding match goals.

By targeting personalized, professional messages that demonstrate the impact a high-value donor’s contribution can have, you increase the chances of securing a substantial donation that helps unlock your challenge match.

Conclusion: Unlocking New Opportunities with Employment Data

Incorporating employment data into your donor outreach strategy is a powerful way to identify high-potential supporters who can make a significant impact on your challenge match campaigns. By appending this data to donor profiles, you gain a deeper understanding of each individual’s professional background, financial capacity, and potential alignment with your nonprofit’s mission.

By leveraging employment information strategically, you can target the right donors, create personalized campaigns, and increase the likelihood of securing substantial contributions. In doing so, you not only unlock new sources of funding but also build stronger, long-term relationships with key supporters who are invested in your mission.

Raise Even More Support With Employer Matching Gifts

If you’re looking to boost your fundraising even further, consider incorporating employee matching gift programs into your strategy. Explore how Double the Donation can help you identify, track, and maximize matching gift opportunities by requesting a demo today.

Title of the post, "Data-driven talent recruitment strategies for nonprofits"

3 Data-Driven Talent Recruitment Strategies for Nonprofits

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Nonprofits like yours are experiencing a declining market share of talent compared to businesses in most industries. So, your team needs to make up lost ground in your hiring to continue providing the best services for your community. However, if your nonprofit is like most, hiring is on the back burner—meaning you might not even have a dedicated recruitment strategy.

Spending the time to cultivate a recruitment strategy is well worth it, though—you’re more likely to attract the candidates that best suit your mission if you know exactly what kind of addition your team needs.

In this guide, we’ll review how to kick off your recruitment strategy with the most objective resource at your disposal—recruitment data—to fuel your long-term growth.

1. Define Key Performance Indicators

Launching a data-driven recruitment strategy can quickly become complex. However, you can proactively beat information fatigue by selecting key performance indicators (KPIs) at the beginning of your planning process.

Incorporating hiring-based KPIs into your workflow doesn’t have to be complicated! After all, you likely already use KPI methodology to benchmark success for your fundraising campaigns, volunteer engagement initiatives, and more. All you need to do is understand what different hiring metrics mean and how they fit into your nonprofit’s overarching strategy. 

To get started, JazzHR’s guide to data-driven recruitment suggests focusing on the following metrics and associated goals:

  • Improving long-term hiring quality:
    • Quality of hire: The ratings of new candidates by their managers during their time with the nonprofit (usually assessed one or two months after they’ve been hired).
    • Employee retention rate: The percentage of employees who stay on with your nonprofit after a certain amount of time (usually one year).
    • Sourcing channel effectiveness: The measures of which recruiting channels yield the most and best hires.
    • Hiring manager satisfaction: The measure of how satisfied hiring managers are with the recruitment process and chosen candidates (usually assessed once per year).
  • Boosting short-term recruitment efficiency:
    • Offer acceptance rate: The percentage of applicants accepting hiring offers out of the total number of extended offers.
    • Average cost of hire: The measure of how much money your nonprofit spends on recruiting each new hire.
    • Recruiting and hiring speed: The average amount of time it takes to move candidates through your hiring funnel.
  • Making your recruitment program more engaging:
    • Qualitative candidate feedback score: The average numerical rating your candidates have for the different parts of your hiring process.
    • Nurture engagement levels: Your candidate-facing recruitment materials’ open, click-through, and response rates.
    • Funnel conversion rates: The measure of how far prospects advance through your recruitment funnel on average.

It’s important to note that some of this data comes from quantitative data tracking, and some comes from asking for qualitative feedback from candidates and hiring staff. Be sure your strategy includes both of these types of data to access the most holistic insights.

2. Use an Applicant Tracking System

Now that you know which hiring KPIs to look for, track and analyze these metrics to pull actionable insights from them. Nonprofits with more straightforward hiring needs usually rely on spreadsheets to track hiring KPIs. While this is a budget-friendly solution, it can’t easily scale with your nonprofit as you grow over time.

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is the best choice for nonprofit teams looking to supercharge their approach. These systems are built to streamline nonprofit recruiting processes from the initial planning stage to onboarding. Specifically, the best hiring software solutions on the market can:

  • Automate routine, mundane tasks
  • Facilitate collaboration across your organization 
  • Engage candidates
  • Collect and report on custom KPIs visually
  • Track candidate information in profiles
  • Segment candidates into active and passive talent pools
  • Manage recruitment marketing campaigns
  • Scale with your hiring needs

Leveraging these tools gives your organization a unique edge over others in your field. However, if your nonprofit doesn’t have the budget or capacity to adopt a full-scale hiring solution, don’t worry—you can start small with point solutions. For instance, if you mainly struggle with scheduling interviews, you might use a standalone scheduling tool to start and gradually add to your hiring stack when you have the resources.

3. Optimize Job Descriptions and Postings

Studies show that while 72% of hiring managers believe they provide accurate job descriptions, only 36% of job-seekers agree. As the first touchpoint candidates have with your organization, the quality of job descriptions or postings can make or break their decision to actually apply to your nonprofit. 

By actively paying attention to and improving your job descriptions, you can spot gaps in your strategy and make great first impressions on future team members. Kickstart your efforts by:

  • Analyzing KPIs related to online job postings. These might be anything from click-through rate to time spent on the page to the total number of users your postings get served. Some job board sites, like Indeed, offer employers custom insights based on their collected data. Or, if you host your job postings on your site, you could monitor website metrics through your web design platform.
  • Surveying candidates and current employees. Various individuals involved in hiring can pick up on opportunities for improvement based on their unique perspectives. Collect feedback from current candidates, recent hires, and even seasoned team members to pinpoint gaps in your job descriptions.
  • Researching what other organizations are doing. Comparative research is always helpful in determining how to better compete with other hiring organizations. Look into job postings for your vertical and for companies that have notable recruiting success—just  keep in mind that those companies have big-brand name recognition on their side!

On that note, it’s crucial to feature your employer brand in your job descriptions. Make sure you use recognizable branded elements, such as your logo and slogan, across your job descriptions to maintain consistency across multiple job platforms.

When managing a large data pool, becoming flooded by facts and figures can make the process much more challenging for your team. However, you can avoid this common pitfall by adhering to data hygiene standards—conducting regular audits, removing duplicate data, and appendig missing data.

Remember that you have experience collecting data for fundraising campaigns, and as long as you apply the same general principles to managing your hiring data, you’ll have actionable insights in no time.

Use these expert tips to drive more conversions on your nonprofit’s website.

3 Tips to Improve Your Nonprofit Website’s Conversion Rate

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Picture this: a new site visitor lands on your nonprofit’s homepage. They scan through your homepage and, after reading about your mission and values, feel inspired to give. But after they click your Donate button, they’re brought to a lengthy donation form that looks cluttered and complicated to fill out. As a result, they decide against donating and click away from your organization’s site.

If this sounds like something that could happen on your website, it’s time to update your web design strategy to drive more conversions. Your website’s conversion rate refers to the number of users who take certain actions, like donating to your cause, signing up to volunteer, or registering for your next event. To improve your conversion rate, you’ll need an engaging and user-friendly design that points people to their next steps, inspires them to complete them, and makes it simple to do so.

Use these top tips to improve your conversion rate:

By tracking your conversion rate, you can create a data-driven strategy and make informed decisions when it comes to improving your website. Let’s begin.

Review your current performance

Using data and analytics generated by your nonprofit website builder, evaluate how your website is currently performing so you can break down your strengths and weaknesses. For example, you’ll want to look at:

  • Current conversion rate: Your conversion rate is measured by the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors, multiplied by one hundred. A high conversion rate indicates that your website content resonates with supporters and successfully moves them along their user journey to completing an action. A low conversion rate indicates that there is an issue with your website’s copy, design, or functionality that is stopping users from taking action. Measure the conversion rate for each desired action, like signing up for your newsletter or completing your donation form, to assess where your website is most in need of improvements.
  • Sources of traffic: Take a look at how people are reaching the forms and pages where they can complete conversions. For example, supporters might navigate to your donation form by clicking the Donate button on your homepage, following an inbound link on a blog article, or clicking a link in your social media bio. Consider the rate at which these different sources drive conversions. For instance, if your blog articles have a low conversion rate, you may need to better contextualize your calls to action and adjust your copy so it meets users’ interests. Even traffic sources that are doing well can be further optimized to drive even more conversions.
  • Fundraising metrics: One of the most important conversions on your website is submitting a donation. To better understand how you can motivate your target audience to donate, take a look at donor analytics like your supporters’ giving behaviors, including how often they give and their interest in your cause. These insights will help you generate content that is tailored to your donors’ preferences.

Metrics tell an important story about how your website is performing, so it’s important to dig into these numbers and find out the core causes behind low or high conversion rates.

Create compelling calls to action

According to Morweb’s roundup of the best nonprofit websites, incorporating thoughtful and direct calls to action throughout your content can motivate users to complete a given action. A call to action (CTA) is a brief word or phrase, often visually represented as a button, that draws your readers in with compelling copy and takes them to the relevant resource once clicked.

If your content lacks persuasive CTAs, or your CTAs aren’t strategically placed in areas that will drive conversions, it’ll be much more difficult to encourage users to take action. To perfect your CTA strategy, keep these tips in mind:

  • Keep calls to action brief: Get to the point quickly and clearly so supporters understand what you’re asking of them. For example, “Donate to End Childhood Cancer” or “Volunteer to Save Injured Wildlife” are effective CTAs that are concise yet persuasive.
  • Make buttons stand out: To bring attention to your CTA buttons, consider using bold lettering or incorporating a brand color that is different from nearby on-page elements. You might also add a shadow or border to make your call-to-action buttons stand out.
  • Link to intuitive landing pages: Your CTA buttons should take users immediately to the relevant resource or form once clicked. However, if these pages aren’t in good shape, you’ll struggle to drive conversions when users arrive. Update these pages so they have inspiring copy and contribute to a positive user experience.
  • Prominently position CTAs: Feature your CTA buttons in obvious places on your website to catch your users’ eye. For example, you might position your Donate button in the top left or right corner of your navigation bar on your homepage to draw supporters to click.

It’s also important to ensure that your copy contextualizes your CTAs well. For example, let’s say one of your volunteers authors a blog article on your website about their experiences. Before your CTA, you could write “Interested in playing a rewarding role in our nonprofit like [Volunteer’s Name]? Sign up for our volunteer newsletter today to learn more about opportunities to get involved.” This way, supporters understand the value of clicking your CTA button, which will take them to an email sign-up form.

Streamline your donation page

Your website can be a powerful asset for your fundraising strategy. To drive donations and improve conversion rates on your donation page, update your web design and create a seamless user experience.

Use these tips to improve your donation page and step up your fundraising efforts:

  • Limit your number of prompts: If your donation page is lengthy and takes more than five minutes to complete, prospective supporters will likely click away before even beginning to enter their information. Only ask your supporters for the most essential information, like their contact information, donation amount, and billing details. You can always ask donors for more information later as part of your donor stewardship plan.
  • Use ample spacing: Avoid clutter on your donation page by reasonably spacing apart each prompt and using ample white space. This can help to create a minimalistic feel, making your donation page more approachable.
  • Suggest donation amounts: Take the guesswork out of how much supporters should give by providing suggested donation amounts with checkboxes. For example, you might include options to give $10, $25, $50, or $100. This not only streamlines the donation process, but can also encourage donors to give more than they originally intended to. However, you should still provide a write-in box to provide flexibility.
  • Add a recurring giving option: Bloomerang’s guide to donation page best practices recommends including a checkbox that says “Make my gift monthly” so supporters can easily sign up for recurring giving. This way, frequent donors won’t have to resubmit their name and payment information every time they want to donate.

To revamp your donation page with ease, leverage a website builder with built-in website templates. Your website builder will take care of making your donation form accessible, mobile-optimized, and user-friendly; you just have to add your unique content to tie the donation process to your nonprofit’s cause.

Wrapping Up

Collecting conversion rate data can help you shape your website into an effective tool for meeting your goals. Keep in mind that a low conversion rate could be attributed to a variety of factors, so it’s important to dive deep into your web design and find out where you can easily make improvements. If low conversion rates are attributed to issues with the technical design of your website, do your research to invest in a website builder that can correct these issues.

Learn more about the future of Salesforce NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud and what the recent changes mean for your organization in this guide.

The Future of Salesforce: Nonprofit Cloud and NPSP

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If your nonprofit currently uses Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), you might feel uncertain about the future of this tool. In the spring of 2023, Salesforce announced it would switch focus to supporting Nonprofit Cloud, a nonprofit-focused Industry Cloud solution, as their primary platform for nonprofits.

This announcement is exciting news, as Nonprofit Cloud is a core product that offers nonprofits access to exciting features, from AI data analytics to easy-to-use online experience builders. Additionally, Nonprofit Cloud and its data model will receive investments and innovation from Salesforce over the coming years. 

Currently, Salesforce has no plans to stop supporting NPSP, but it could still be in your nonprofit’s best interest to shift over to Nonprofit Cloud. In this guide, we’ll provide an overview of this change and what it means for nonprofits using NPSP:

  • What is the difference between NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud?
  • Why release Nonprofit Cloud?
  • What do these changes mean for your nonprofit?

Understanding the differences between NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud enables nonprofits to make an informed decision about which tool they should use. To get started, we’ll break down these differences.

What is the difference between NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud?

Salesforce NPSP and Nonprofit Cloud are solutions designed by Salesforce for nonprofits that provide nonprofits with various management tools for charitable organizations. Both rely on Salesforce’s core CRM platform to function, but each solution’s level of interoperability, features, and cost differ. 

Here are the key differences in more detail:

NPSP

NPSP is a set of managed packages developed by Salesforce. This package’s main objective is to provide nonprofits with the tools to manage essential operational processes like case and project management, fundraising, and donor management. 

Here are some NPSP basics:

  • Interoperability: NPSP is an app built atop Salesforce Enterprise Edition. Through NPSP, your nonprofit can use other Salesforce-native apps and integrate third-party solutions as needed.
  • Features: NPSP provides nonprofits with a set of managed packages such as Recurring Donations, Relationships, Affiliations, Contacts & Organizations, and Households. NPSP features are designed to help your nonprofit manage contacts and households, donation payments, grants, relationships between contacts, and more.
  • Cost: Nonprofit organizations receive their first ten subscriptions to NPSP for free. 

NPSP offers an industry-standard data model that organizations can use to manage anything from donor relationships to recurring donations to fundraising events. Keep in mind that for larger organizations, various projects or specific needs may require investing in other Salesforce apps or third-party tools.

Nonprofit Cloud

Nonprofit Cloud is now part of the Industries vertical and is a core product rooted in cloud-based Salesforce solutions like Service Cloud and Sales Cloud. Core products are foundational to the Salesforce platform, while managed packages tend to be extensions of these core products that are adapted for specific industries.

Other details about Nonprofit Cloud include:

  • Interoperability: With Nonprofit Cloud, your nonprofit can access the Industry Cloud Common Components (tools available for use in multiple Industry Clouds), other Salesforce products, apps listed in the AppExchange, and more. Additionally, you can build custom integrations with the help of a Salesforce partner.
  • Features: The Nonprofit Cloud data model includes solutions that aid constituent management, program management, case management, and more. Salesforce is also building other tools and features to assist in grantmaking.
  • Cost: To use Nonprofit Cloud, organizations need to pay licensing fees. These fees range from $60 to $100 per month as of 2023.

Overall, Nonprofit Cloud is a more robust, flexible tool than NPSP. Essentially, nonprofits using Nonprofit Cloud will be able to more easily scale their software and customize it as their needs change.

Why release Nonprofit Cloud?

Because thousands of nonprofits use and find success through NPSP, many wonder why Salesforce released Nonprofit Cloud. Here are a few reasons Salesforce may have come to this decision:

  • It makes nonprofit work easier. Nonprofit Cloud makes it easier to keep your data tidy and complete the tasks you need to further your mission. Since this solution is an Industry Cloud product and uses the Industry Data Model, it will continue to be improved by Salesforce.
  • It’s easier to connect with donors. Features like the Actionable Relationship Center (ARC) and OmniStudio allow you to accurately track critical moments in donor relationships and craft positive online experiences.
  • It is suited to large and/or growing organizations. As a core product that easily integrates with other Industry Cloud solutions, Nonprofit Cloud has a more stable infrastructure suited to large organizations with complex needs.

These large-scale improvements benefit different organizations depending on how they leverage the tool. Remember that working with a consultant can help you implement and adapt to the changes associated with switching to Nonprofit Cloud.

What do these changes mean for your nonprofit?

It can be difficult to conceptualize what switching to Nonprofit Cloud means within the context of your organization. Here are some of the benefits you can expect and examples of how those changes could impact your nonprofit:

  • Improved scalability. Nonprofit Cloud can accommodate your organization’s growth in multiple areas. Leverage improved connections with other Salesforce Clouds to customize your software. For example, you might use Marketing Cloud to launch an in-depth donor communication strategy or leverage an industry-specific cloud with compliance reporting tools for your field.

  • Access to new features. Through Nonprofit Cloud, you’ll have access to more than 40 Common Components, such as OmniStudio (for NPSP users, this is similar to Flow or Apex). According to Fíonta’s guide to Nonprofit Cloud, OmniStudio is a digital engagement suite with drag-and-drop capabilities that make creating prebuilt guided experiences quick and straightforward. You might use this feature to create a seamless, user-friendly volunteer onboarding experience or a donor portal where supporters can track their past involvement.

  • Improved fundraising and community building. While yet to be offered, Salesforce is set to roll out robust fundraising tools for Nonprofit Cloud. These features will help you align with the best practices in NXUnite’s guide to donor relations like researching prospects, communicating during important events, and inviting donors to opportunities and events that align with their interests. For instance, life events and milestone tracking features allow you to record these crucial occurrences to visualize the donor’s journey with your nonprofit. 

Remember that one of the most essential benefits of Nonprofit Cloud is its ability to adapt alongside your organization. If you find your organization outgrowing NPSP, attempting to navigate complicated integrations, or strongly considering a shift to Nonprofit Cloud, reach out to a Salesforce partner to review your options and next steps.

The decision to continue using NPSP or switch to Nonprofit Cloud lies with your organization, and it depends on your nonprofit’s unique needs, existing resources, and goals. Your tool should have the technology needed to manage operations in a scalable, sustainable way.

This guide will cover how you can use data to track your recreation program’s effectiveness.

Using Data to Track Your Recreation Program’s Effectiveness

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For programs that rely on municipal or grant funding, like parks and recreation departments and school districts, it’s essential to track data and create reports that accurately prove your impact. To advocate for your department or district and secure the necessary funds and resources, you’ll need to consistently track data and perform analyses to demonstrate the positive effects of your programs on your community.

But, tracking this data can be a pain point. Outdated methods can cause attendance tracking slowdowns and inaccurate records for parks and recreation departments. Similarly, schools using disorganized methods like spreadsheet reporting can find it challenging to stay on top of tracking information like participation in clubs, sports, and other extracurricular programs.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the most important data you need to collect and how you can use software to demonstrate your program’s positive effect on your students or community. Let’s get started!

Why track your program’s effectiveness?

As a professional in a school district or recreation department, you know the value of your institution and the programs you offer well. However, it’s important to relay these positive impacts to those who don’t see them each day by using concrete numbers. Just as you would communicate the success of a fundraising event by reporting the amount of money raised, you need to use quantifiable data to prove your efficacy.

As a public program, monitoring and reporting performance metrics is vital to understanding your program’s operational health. Using these metrics, your district or department can identify areas that need improvement and seek additional support for programs or initiatives that are performing well. With data, you can make informed decisions that help you increase funding to boost your department’s budget. This allows you to improve facilities and programming, start new initiatives, and enhance participant outcomes.

With this concrete information, you can feel more confident when submitting requests for support from funders. This can directly impact visitor and student experiences, helping facilitate sustainable growth for your organization.

Which data points are important to track?

Because you’ll need to collect data over months or years to demonstrate growth and prove strong performance, it’s key to know which metrics to record. For example, if your school is hoping to secure additional support for its after-school program, you’ll need to carefully track and analyze enrollment and attendance in the program.

Here are some of the essential metrics to track with your school or parks and recreation software solution:

  • Registration and attendance. Record how many visitors register for and attend your department’s events to measure event success. Schools can also track attendance to estimate the number of students on campus at any given time, ensuring that they provide the right number of staff members for a safe student experience.
  • Donations. Public programs often hold fundraisers to support specific initiatives or causes. According to CommunityPass, the right school software will empower you to accurately report the donations you receive and provide tax write-off information to donors. And, when it’s time for your school or recreation department to break down its performance metrics, you can make a case for additional funding by showing off how you used the donations to make improvements.
  • Memberships. For recreation departments, it’s common to offer membership packages as well as seasonal or day passes to visitors. Offer memberships online and facilitate recurring charges, autorenewal, and expiration reminders for membership packages through a robust software solution. Using this data, you can see your total number of memberships sold, how many visitors choose to renew, and any impactful changes over time.
  • Facility rentals. Many parks and schools have facilities your visitors may want to rent out for events, parties, and athletic use. Track this data to identify how often you rent facilities, when most visitors rent, why visitors need the facilities, and how much revenue these rentals supply. Using these reports, you could illustrate how many people use your park’s facilities and advocate for additional funding to improve them.

In addition to these metrics, make sure to carefully track your school or department’s finances. Make sure to create a detailed budget, record any costs you incur, and carefully note all sources of revenue. You should also keep records of how you allocated funds from specific funders to clearly show the impact of their support later on.

How can your program simplify the process?

To collect and report this crucial data, it’s key to invest in school or recreation management software that will streamline data into one easy-to-use platform. When researching solutions, check for features that facilitate data collection and analysis, including the following:

  • Pre-built reports. Software solutions make data analysis simple by providing pre-made reports. Using these reports, you can select the best template for your program, load data in, and start analyzing. These reports span a variety of categories, from website interaction data to attendance to revenue.
  • Custom report designer. If your school district or recreation department needs a report that is tailored to its specific needs, some software solutions offer report designers, where you can build reports customized to your needs. This can be helpful if you want to compile data from various sources and timelines into a single report.
  • Formatting options. Choose a software solution that offers flexible formatting for reports so you can present them to funders, share them over email, and choose files that fit into your office suite software. You can choose between formats like on-screen renders, Excel sheets, and PDF files.
  • Compliance reporting. Compliance reports demonstrate that your department or district is following the set of rules and standards set by the government. Whether the report is for a specific compliance initiative or just an overview, the right software solution can save you time and effort when creating the report.

In addition, be sure to invest in a software solution that keeps your school or recreation department’s data clean. According to AccuData, data hygiene refers to keeping your data error-free, which is important for all organizations. “Dirty” data contains errors, whether it’s outdated, incomplete, duplicated, or incorrect. As you decide on which software solution to use to track your program’s effectiveness, ensure that you pick a tool that makes maintaining data hygiene easy.

Tracking the impact your programs have helps you prove your program’s worth and champion more support. A comprehensive report with data-backed performance tracking can make the difference between receiving the same amount of funding and getting a meaningful increase. Recreational programs and school districts can greatly benefit from investing in a solution that empowers them to collect data that helps them make better decisions.

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Finding Major Donors with Data: 3 Markers to Look For

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Major donors are crucial for your organization’s success—according to 360MatchPro, donations over $1,000 account for 85% of the average nonprofit’s revenue. However, finding supporters who are willing and able to make major monetary contributions can be a challenge for any nonprofit.

To find the best prospects and use your team’s time effectively, take a data-informed approach by conducting prospect research. This process involves taking an in-depth look at your donor data to find those most likely to make a major gift. Specifically, prospect research searches for individuals who have each of these three types of markers:

  1. Capacity (Wealth)
  2. Affinity (Warmth)
  3. Propensity (Habit)

As you dive into prospect research, focus on potential major donors that your organization already has some kind of connection with. Whether they’ve donated smaller amounts, attended events, or they’re friends with one of your board members, starting from a place of connection will save you time and increase your chances of success. Now, let’s explore each of these key markers in more detail.

1. Capacity (Wealth)

Start by looking for capacity, or wealth, markers. Capacity markers are data points that indicate a prospect may have the financial means to give a major gift. 

Formerly, nonprofits would only use financial capacity to determine if donors were good prospects for major giving. Thorough prospect research now takes more than wealth into consideration, including the affinity and propensity markers which we’ll discuss below. However, it’s still important that all of your prospects have some capacity markers so you know you’re appealing to those who have the means to give the sizable gift your organization needs.

Before you begin looking for wealth makers, take time to establish your nonprofit’s major gift threshold. Major gifts are different for every nonprofit, depending on factors like average donation size and fundraising goals. To find out what size gift your nonprofit should consider a major donation, identify the range of the largest individual gifts you received in the past year. If the range is $7,000 – $10,000, for example, you could set your major gift threshold at $8,500.

Once you’ve established your threshold, look for the following indicators that prospects could have a high enough capacity to give a gift of that size:

  • Real estate ownership
  • Business ownership
  • Stock holdings
  • High-income careers

While you may have supporters’ career information in your donor database, you’ll likely have to use additional resources like wealth screening tools to find more accurate data on individuals’ financial capacity. 

2. Affinity (Warmth)

Along with financial capacity, prospects also need to have sufficient warmth for your cause to be willing to give a major gift. Affinity markers indicate that a prospect has a personal investment in your cause, that your work aligns with their values, and that they may be interested in making a major contribution to further your mission. 

Donorly’s prospect research guide explains that affinity markers include:

  • Donation and engagement history with your nonprofit. If a prospect has already donated to your cause, volunteered, or attended your nonprofit’s events, it’s safe to assume that they have a personal interest in your mission.
  • Involvement with similar organizations. Any engagement with or donations to nonprofits with similar missions demonstrates cause alignment, even if they haven’t donated to your organization before. 
  • Political affiliations that align with your nonprofit. Donors who are active in politics are more likely to take an interest in your charitable work, especially if they support political groups whose beliefs align with yours.
  • Personal or professional connections to other supporters. Any connection to your nonprofit can indicate an interest in your mission, including having strong relationships with existing major donors or board members.

Your nonprofit’s donor database will be a valuable resource for finding these indicators. Look through the data you’ve collected about your supporters to uncover their previous donations, involvement history, and any relationships you’ve documented. Then, explore other nonprofits’ and political campaigns’ donor lists to find additional affinity markers. 

3. Propensity (Habit)

Even if your prospect has the means to give a major gift and a personal interest in your cause, they may not be in the habit of donating to nonprofits. To make sure they are, look for data that demonstrates that your prospect has a history of charitable activity, known as propensity markers. 

Data that indicates a habit of charitable giving includes:

  • Past donations to your nonprofit
  • Frequent donations to other organizations
  • Board service
  • Consistent fundraising event attendance 

To gather this information, you can use the same resources you used to find affinity markers. Start with your own donor database, then look at other nonprofits’ websites and annual reports to find their donor lists and board members. 43% of wealthy donors give to at least five different nonprofits, so it’s likely that you’ll find a good prospect’s name on several different donor lists.

How to Get Started with Prospect Research

Although prospect research can feel overwhelming for beginners, there are plenty of resources you can use to make the process easier! 

Start with the information already in your database, then turn to Google to do more initial research on individual prospects. Beyond a standard Google search, you can use these free resources to find more data on prospective major donors:

  • Government filings: There are a variety of public government filings that can give you information on prospects’ donations to other nonprofits, political contributions, and nonprofit board service. Search for FEC individual contributions, other nonprofits’ Form 990s, and SEC filings for business information. 
  • Property records: Use real estate search tools like Zillow to find a property’s purchase history and estimated current value. This information helps you determine a prospect’s financial capacity to give.  
  • LinkedIn: Go to LinkedIn and other social media sites to find prospects’ employment information and any listed volunteer activities. If a prospect is active on LinkedIn, they may also post about causes and political groups they’re interested in. 

These free resources are great places to start, but for best results, consider working with a nonprofit consultant. They’ll have more robust prospect research tools at their disposal and the expertise to use them. This will save your team time and give you access to more accurate information about your prospects, faster.  

If you want to learn more before diving in, read up on prospect research best practices. Or, learn the latest strategies for prospect research and major donor fundraising by attending free educational webinars, panels, and conferences for nonprofits.

Once you’ve identified several prospects with all of these markers, you can begin the major donor cultivation process to start developing relationships. Be sure to craft a thorough cultivation strategy and give yourself enough time to strengthen these relationships before making any asks. And once you’ve received your donations, don’t forget to prioritize donor recognition. 

This guide explores how nonprofits can create corporate partnerships to help boost their fundraising success.

Creating Corporate Partnerships to Boost Fundraising Success

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Your nonprofit is no stranger to the stress that comes with putting together a strong fundraising event. On top of brainstorming the perfect idea, assembling your fundraising team, and setting actionable goals, you also have to consider your overall budget and how much you can spend on your event.

Spend too much, and you risk missing out on a profit. Spend too little, and your event might not reach its full potential. What if there was a way to receive free fundraising dollars and support to bring your events to life?

Fortunately, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs continue to grow in popularity, giving your nonprofit a prime opportunity to partner with a business and benefit from their philanthropic initiatives. A corporate partnership can earn your nonprofit much-needed resources to lead engaging fundraisers and build lasting relationships with donors in the process; in turn, your corporate partner will receive a boost in their reputation as a community-minded business.

To create a successful corporate partnership for your next fundraising event, leverage these top tips:

  • Find the right corporate partner
  • Create a compelling corporate sponsorship proposal
  • Highlight key fundraising metrics
  • Express appreciation

Businesses across the country are eager to support important causes, from funding charity galas to providing in-kind donations for food drives. You just need to demonstrate that your nonprofit is worthy of their support. Let’s get started!

Find the right corporate partner

Not every business will be a perfect fit for your nonprofit, so it’s important to do your research and find a company who will help you see your goals through. Consider the following questions in your search for the ideal corporate partner:

  • What companies in our community have similar values or purposes and would complement our mission well?
  • What companies have a similar audience base and would be a natural extension of our target audience? What companies have a mission-minded audience who would care about our cause?
  • What companies already have a philanthropy program and would be interested in expanding their efforts to a nonprofit like ours? What kind of support did these companies provide and what impact have they had on their communities?

Keep in mind that the most successful corporate partnerships should benefit both parties, so it’s not only important to consider what your corporate partner can do for your nonprofit, but also what your nonprofit can do for your partner.

For example, if a prospective corporate partner is selling a product or service that would be of interest to your target audience, you can help promote it on your marketing materials in exchange for corporate sponsorships, volunteer grants, in-kind donations, or another form of critical corporate support.

Note that this kind of arrangement, often called a commercial co-venture, needs to be backed up with regulatory research and compliance as well as be registered in advance and audited. Do your research to learn more about this partnership possibility and determine if it makes sense for your nonprofit and its audience.

To kickstart your research into prospective corporate partners, ask your board members and well-connected supporters (like your major donors) for references. They may work for companies that have philanthropy programs in place and would be interested in partnering with an important cause like yours. Plus, they can help facilitate introductions with the company’s staff so you can get to know the business and their values better.

Create a compelling corporate partnership proposal

Once you’ve brainstormed a list of prospective partners, it’s time to formally reach out to them with a partnership proposal. This is your opportunity to pitch your nonprofit and show why it’s worth a company’s time and resources to back your nonprofit and its fundraising campaign or event.

In your proposal, make sure to:

  • Introduce your organization and its mission: Your prospective partner might not be familiar with your mission, so sum up who your nonprofit is, the history of your founding, and your vision for the future. Use statistics to convey the impact your nonprofit has had on its community so far to legitimize your cause.
  • Explain the type of support you’re seeking: Explain the type of fundraising event or campaign you’ll be hosting, your goals for this event, and what support you’re hoping to receive from a corporate partner. For example, the OneCause guide to online fundraising suggests asking businesses to lead corporate fundraising challenges and involve their employees in peer-to-peer fundraising. Or, you might ask your prospective partner for a certain amount of revenue upfront to cover the cost of reserving an event venue. Regardless of the type of support you’re seeking, be specific about your ask so your corporate partner knows exactly what they’d need to provide and can determine if it’s within their capabilities.
  • Explain how this support will advance your mission: Connect the type of support you’re requesting to the impact this will have on your community. For example, let’s say your nonprofit is hosting a silent auction and needs financial support to procure items that will appeal to your audience. You can explain how the right items and packages will help your nonprofit drive a higher return on investment which will all go back toward your programs and initiatives to power good. Where possible, use statistics to help illustrate your projected impact.
  • Demonstrate how this will benefit your corporate partner: After reading through your proposal, your prospective partner might be wondering “This all sounds good, but what’s in it for me?” Explain what kind of support your nonprofit can offer the company, such as including them in your marketing plan before, during, and after your event. If your nonprofit and the company have the same target audience, you can share your audience demographics and highlight how this is a prime opportunity for your company to expand its reach and earn new customers.

Along with writing a formal proposal letter, set up a meeting with a point of contact from the company to discuss this partnership in greater detail. Here, you can come to a mutually beneficial agreement and work out the specifics of your partnership.

Highlight key fundraising metrics

Once you’ve secured a corporate partner’s support, it’s important to keep them in the loop and let them know how their efforts are making a difference. Create a standard communication cadence, such as updating your corporate partner when you’ve hit the halfway point to your fundraising goal or letting them know how many attendees have registered for your event.

After your event concludes, let your corporate partner know how your fundraiser performed by sharing key data metrics, such as:

  • Total donations raised (including whether or not you met your goal)
  • Return on investment
  • Total number of donors
  • Average gift size

This will help to illustrate the impact of their support and show the tangible connection between their involvement and the difference it makes in your community. If you included your corporate partner in your marketing materials, it can also be valuable to share marketing metrics around how these materials performed.

For example, if you included a section about your corporate partner on your event landing page with a call-to-action button that takes supporters to their online store, you can highlight data points like:

  • Total page views
  • Time spent on page
  • Click-through rate

These data points can demonstrate the marketing value in partnering with your nonprofit, allowing your corporate partner to effectively expand their reach.

Express appreciation

Along with sharing metrics, you’ll also want to take the time to express appreciation to your corporate partner for playing such a pivotal role in your fundraiser’s success. For instance, you might:

  • Write handwritten thank-you letters: A handwritten note adds a personal touch to your thank-yous and can help your corporate partner feel recognized for their efforts. For example, if several of your corporate partner’s employees participated in peer-to-peer fundraising, Fundraising Letters’ guide to volunteer thank-you letters recommends writing personalized notes that reference how much they raised and how this made an impact on your mission.
  • Shout-out your corporate partner during your event: Marketing doesn’t just take place before your fundraiser! Give a shout-out to your corporate partner during your event for everyone to hear; this will automatically increase your partner’s brand visibility and connect their business with your cause, boosting their philanthropic reputation. As a result, they’ll be more likely to secure new customers.
  • Share a video about your corporate partner on social media: Film a short sit-down interview with your corporate partner’s founder and shine a light on how they’ve played an important role in your nonprofit’s success. Make sure to tag their social media account in the caption or share a link to their website to expand their reach.

A strong recognition strategy can help you retain your corporate partner’s support for the future, empowering you to meet and exceed your fundraising goals for future campaigns and events. After your fundraiser concludes and you’ve expressed heartfelt gratitude, give your corporate partner a heads-up about the next fundraiser you’re planning to host and see if they’d be interested in extending their support again.

The right corporate partner can help you take your fundraising strategy to the next level and secure meaningful support to power change. Make sure to evaluate the success of your corporate partnership by tracking fundraising metrics with the help of a comprehensive fundraising solution. This way, you can ensure you’re deriving as much value as possible from this partnership or make adjustments as needed to optimize your agreement.

This is an image of a person analyzing data.

What to Look for in a Data Analytics Company: Top Must-Haves

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Regardless of your industry, accurate data is the most powerful tool for effective decision-making. According to a PwC survey, highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report improvements in decision-making compared to those that rely on minimal data.

However, it takes proper collection, management, and analysis to tap into the power of these rich datasets. Many organizations struggle to make the most of their data, resulting in uninformed, costly decisions.

To avoid this pitfall, partner with an analytics provider and uncover key insights that revolutionize your strategy. Look for these four non-negotiables when researching analytics companies so you can choose one that complements your goals.

1. Expertise and experience

When looking for an analytics provider, prioritize one with a proven track record of experience. Specifically, they should have extensive knowledge of the nuances related to your industry.

For example, healthcare analytics providers need to be well-versed in EHRs, claims management, and population health management data. Additionally, they should be up-to-date on emerging technologies in the field, like predictive analytics and the growing importance of AI.

In general, there are a few key indicators you can rely on to assess a company’s expertise. These include:

  • Impartial third-party reviews: Get professional perspectives on similar providers by exploring sites like softwareadvice.com and G2. These informative resources provide a quick summary highlighting recommendations, awards, and pricing. Software users often leave reviews that can give you a more in-depth look at pros and cons for each provider.
  • Use cases: Dive into specific use cases or testimonials mentioned on a provider’s website. Look for organizations that mirror your cause, size, or vision. How did the provider meet or exceed their needs? If you have additional questions, reach out to current customers and ask for their opinion — are they satisfied with the provider? Would they recommend a different option?
  • Software demos: Once you’ve narrowed down your list, consider requesting a software demo to see a provider’s offerings in action. These can be especially useful to visualize complex functionalities and decide if a solution will be user-friendly for your nonprofit.

Though not as essential, thought leadership can be another telling indicator of a provider’s expertise. If they keep their blog roll updated, provide a video series, or host a podcast, these are signs that they stay on top of your industry’s shifting environment. Therefore, they might be more reliable when it comes to keeping your database updated with the newest technologies.

2. Strong data protections

Various industries collect sensitive data, such as constituent contact details and financial information. While emerging technologies in your industry may broaden the use cases of this data, they also expose your data to risks like leaks and hackers.

Safeguarding against these outcomes begins with selecting a provider with strong protections. As 360MatchPro explains, ethical guidelines governing data collection, handling, analysis, and use are critical for managing data responsibly and maintaining public trust.

Ask these questions to ensure your provider practices the necessary precautions:

  • What data security measures do they use? No organization is immune to cyberattacks. Encryption, user authentication, and intrusion detection systems protect against hackers and other cybersecurity threats.
  • Have they had any significant breaches? Any provider can boast strong data security, but their track record will indicate whether their technology is vulnerable or not.

It’s better to determine a provider’s security measures beforehand than risk partnering with a company with weak protections. Choose a company with secure data handling capabilities to maintain and cultivate your community’s trust.

3. Relevant tools and technologies

Effective data analysis requires relevant and intuitive analytics tools. Look for a provider that can sufficiently organize and compare large data sets with user-friendly applications. Then, compare their capabilities to your organization’s needs.

As a starting point, identify analytics providers with the following capabilities:

  • Customization. Assess their ability to cater to your organization’s individual growth needs. Avoid choosing a provider with a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, look for a provider that allows flexibility in marketing communication, team coordination, and fundraising analysis.
  • Integration. Analytics tools need to be able to integrate with additional solutions, including databases, spreadsheets, cloud services, and external sources. Look for a provider that can reduce manual data handling for faster analysis. Additionally, identify providers that offer data enrichment capabilities such as contact information appends to support your outreach efforts.
  • Reporting. Reporting integrations can help you access key insights. Consider providers with extensive reporting capabilities, such as interactive dashboards or speedy ad hoc reporting. For example, Arcadia’s healthcare dashboards illustrate how providers can visualize data to empower decision-makers.
  • Collaboration. Make sure to choose a company that promotes seamless collaboration between teams with a user-friendly interface. This includes data sharing and export, access controls, and real-time notifications to foster a culture of data-driven decision-making.

Consider fleshing out each of these capabilities in more detail to align with what your organization wants to achieve. That way, you’ll find a provider who can offer the best ROI to support your long-term growth. Their infrastructure should be able to handle increasing data volumes and quickly resolve any future bottlenecks you may encounter.

4. Support and maintenance

From fundraising consultants to external marketing teams to industry experts, like care management software providers, you want to enlist the help of a company with specialized knowledge about your data analytics goals. However, instead of completely taking over the process on your behalf, a data analytics company should guide you in extracting meaningful insights on your own.

Choose a provider that offers support you can rely on throughout the implementation process and beyond, answering any questions you have along the way. See if they offer:

  • Training videos with step-by-step guidance for users at all skill levels
  • Help hubs with detailed FAQs where you can solve problems on your own
  • Online communities of users who can walk you through implementation speed bumps with helpful tips
  • eTraining options and libraries to fill in knowledge gaps or explain new features

These online resources can help you get the most out of your data analytics and make changes to set you up for future success.

Data analytics providers can help your team gain a better understanding of its data, assess data trends, and make strategic decisions that benefit your operational health. Choose a provider that not only has a great reputation but also meets your organization’s unique data management needs. This means prioritizing features that further meaningful collaboration and profitable analysis.