“[MemberSuite] came into this space with the premise of providing software as a service to the member base organization space and provide new technology,” explained Natalie Cheney, CEO of MemberSuite. While association management software isn’t new (according to Cheney it’s been around since the 90s), MemberSuite is a fresh take on a relatively unchanged industry. MemberSuite was able to disrupt the space by providing cloud-based capabilities that their competition didn’t have.

In Use:

Association management softwares (AMS) are platforms that companies use to manage day-to-day business. Whether for-profit or nonprofit, AMS can benefit all organizations. MemberSuite offers tools and services to benefit all aspects of a nonprofit. Software consist of a robust CRM, an e-marketing tool where users can design and create a variety of emails; and services such as data migration.

Ease of Use:

MemberSuite offers customer service in the form of ready-to-help experts and webinars along with educational assets such as data sheets and infographics. These assets help users familiarize themselves with the products. While some reviews state MemberSuite software is easy to use and intuitive others have found it hard to use and confusing.

Technology Used:

One of the reasons that MemberSuite disrupted the industry is that their product was cloud-based from the beginning. Many of their competitors had to adapt to the cloud space which created numerous growing pains and networking issues. MemberSuite provides nonprofits with numerous capabilities. From donor portals to finance tools and analytics. On the donor-facing platform, donors can renew their membership, pay for a donation, or sign up for a fundraising event allowing members to self-service on everyday activities. “All of these actions are happening 24-7 by clicking on a few buttons, providing capabilities so staff can engage their members,” Cheney states. With these self-service tools, nonprofits can go back to helping their constituents and worry less on the day-to-day responsibilities of running a nonprofit. Cheney refers to industries such as e-commerce and airlines who adopted a similar self-service module. “Consumers are demanding it from nonprofits and it’s expensive. It is up to us to provide that technology,” Cheney said of MemberSuite.

Recap:

MemberSuite is an association management software platform with numerous capabilities to assist nonprofits to manage their business. In fact, CEO Natalie Cheney acknowledged that nonprofits need an AMS but often don’t have much money to spend on one. Most of the nonprofits that purchase MemberSuite are positioned in the middle and upper market with revenue of around $2 million. Cheney noted that other nonprofits that fall into the $1 million range take advantage of MemberSuite through a monthly solution.

Advantages:

• All-in-one software that includes finance, event registration, and donor management software
• Customer support and educational tools to help charities comprehend the software
• Monthly services and yearly subscriptions are available to meet nonprofits needs
• Dedicated in providing nonprofit with the technology they need to run their organization

Disadvantages:

• Too expensive for small nonprofits
• Users state that it’s not user friendly and the interface could use a facelift.
• Reporting capabilities could be more robust

My Opinion:

Often when I review a software that is used by both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, nonprofits are just an afterthought. That was not the case when I talked the CEO of MemberSuite, Natalie Cheney. She was dedicated in creating a software that had the capabilities that nonprofits need to run their organizations. While it may be too expensive for small nonprofits, medium to large charities can benefit immensely from the numerous different tools and products that MemberSuite offers.

Personify is a software suite that is compact with tools and products that enable nonprofits to manage their donors and grow their organization.  Through their various products, charities can connect with their donors and grow their reach. For This review will be focusing solely on Personify360- a robust constituent management software for nonprofits and charities.

In  Use:

With Personify360, charities can manage their constituents, drive revenue, and expand their reach.  With backend dashboards and reporting capabilities, nonprofits can track metrics that can help them with future campaigns.

Nonprofit organizations can take advantage of Personify360’s four key features.  Nonprofits can see their constituent information using the Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) tool; get strategic consulting services and support through eBusiness; browser-based client through PersonifyGO; and analyze statistics and map trends through their Analytics feature.

Ease of Use:

It does take some time to familiarize yourself with the software. It has been described by some users on Capterra as clunky and not so user-friendly. Other reviews have had no problem maneuvering around the platform. It may essentially come down to how techy savvy one is.

Technology Used:

Charities can roll their needs into one sophisticated platform. Need to get in touch with constituents? Need to analyze constituents’ wants and needs? Having trouble understanding how to manage your constituents effectively? Personify360 can get a nonprofit organization on the right track to solving issues that arise when managing a nonprofit.

Recap

According to Personify360, a nonprofit’s first focus should be on their constituents. With their products and solutions they hope to enable a charity by giving them access to technology that will help their organization thrive.

Advantages:

• Free demo to see if the platform is right for your organization
• All-in-one tool that lets your streamline your organization- you don’t have to constantly switch between software to manage donors, constituents, and run reports
• Analytics capability to track metrics and statistics

Disadvantages:

• Platform has been described as clunky and not user friendly

My Opinion:

I think nonprofits will like the fact that the software is all in one. It’s time consuming to have to constantly switch from one software to another. With Personify360 they can manage their constituents, track metrics, and get advice using the same software. Personify offers a free demo, so I would encourage any charity who is interested in growing their reach among their community to give the demo a try.  My only hesitation is that it’s been described as hard to use and clunky. It appears that it will take some time to get use to the software. A nonprofit has to make sure they have time set aside to learn the tool in order to get the most out of it.

“We make excel reporting fun!” Biznet’s website boasts. That’s a tall order considering a person only has to type the words, “hate excel” in any web browser to get a long list of articles and rants on why Excel is literally the worst. There’s even a book by Kelly Conaster and Patrick J. Burns entitled, I Hate Excel. So the real question is, does Biznet live up to their claim?

In Use:

Biznet software aims to help nonprofits save time on their monthly reporting. According to Sr. Global Alliance Manager Randy Smith, utilizing Biznet in lieu of Excel can save organizations 80% of time they would normally spend on these reports.

Biznet offers their customers three different products. Their main software, BizInsight helps nonprofits build reports more efficiently overall enhancing the experience. Once a report is built, a user can save the template and come back to it. If data changes, the whole report refreshes saving the user a significant amount of time. Their other two tools revolve around connecting data and sharing data. BizConnector allows users to get data from a dataset and filter it depending on what information is needed. With BizBroadcast, users can send the same report to multiple users in varying degrees. For instance a user can send one person a single sheet of data while sending others highly sensitive information from the same document that is also password protected. This saves the user time from having to send multiple versions.

While Biznet technologies are not solely for nonprofit organizations, Smith believes they offer a competitive price that organizations around the country can afford. The platform will cost users a minimum of $780 a year per user or $65 a month.

Technology Used:

Charities who wish to use Biznet software must download Excel. If an organization has Excel on-line, Biznet won’t work. This usually isn’t a problem as many organizations invest in Microsoft Office for day-to-day activities.

Biznet products directly integrate with over 35 different platforms such as Blackbaud, Epicore, and Microsoft Dynamics to make a seamless integration.

Ease of Use:

If a nonprofit has worked within Excel before, Biznet’s software is relatively easy to use. Smith stated that there was a minimal learning curve for those users who already have knowledge of Excel. For those who need a bit more help Biznet offers support, training and a video library that users can access.

Recap:

Biznet has found a way to not only make Excel fun but to save users time. Their tools enable nonprofits to analyze their data efficiently; connect datasets from outside of Excel; and distribute reports with ease.

Advantages:

* Saves users a significantly amount of time on monthly reports

* Excel users will find this software easy to use

* Multiple integrations including Blackbaud

Disadvantages

* While larger nonprofits may be able to afford $780 a year per user, small to medium organizations could not.

My Opinion:

Unlike the numerous users that loathe Excel, I actually really like it. I love to scrub my spreadsheet from unnecessary data. I love to filter data, sort it from A-Z…and don’t get me started on pivot tables. I could pivot for hours. One of the reasons I like Excel is because there’s a formula for everything. And if I don’t know a formula, a simple search can solve my problem.

I understand the lure of Biznet software, but I think $780 per user per year is pretty steep for many nonprofits. I would suggest investing in an Excel course and utilize one of the numerous Excel training videos on the internet.

For the past five years, Verified Volunteers has been the only volunteer management platform that exclusively serves the nonprofit community. This has enabled nonprofit organizations the ability to connect with volunteers in their area. With an easy-to-use dashboard and the ability to be notified if a volunteer’s status has changed, Verified Volunteers offers inexpensive, fast, and secure service to national and local charities around the country.

In Use:

On the surface, one can assume that Verified Volunteers well…verifies volunteers. But the management system does much more than vet volunteers. The idea for the software was born after extensive research and consultations with the nonprofit community. The question became, “How can we build a portal background check that can be shared and save communities some money?” During the early planning stages, Verified Volunteers realized that many businesses would conduct an initial background check and then be finished. What they discovered was that nonprofits needed to make sure that their volunteers were in good standing during the entire time they volunteered with the organization whether that spanned a single day, three years, or a decade. According to Executive Director, Katie Zwetzig; Verified Volunteers conduct monthly screenings for all volunteers in their system. If something changes, both nonprofit and volunteer are notified.

Another dilemma that Verified Volunteers solved was the cost associated with screenings. A background check can cost anywhere between $7 and $40 dollars depending on how in-depth the screening has to be. Zwetzig mentioned that many of the 400 nonprofits they initially consulted with noted these costs weren’t feasible. To solve this issue, Verified Volunteers created unique payment options where nonprofit organizations could have the volunteers pay for their background check themselves. For those organizations that didn’t feel comfortable asking their volunteers to purchase a screening, they could ask for a contribution from the volunteer. According to Zwetzig, when asked for a contribution, about 30% of volunteers donated.

Ease of Use:

In order to be vetted by the management company, a volunteer follows a link to Verified Volunteers’ website. There, they follow a four-step process that takes between 3-5 minutes to complete. The volunteer enters in their personal information in the first section, followed by their address, their consent, and the payment option. The process is secure and all background checks comply with state-by-state regulations. This is especially key for national organizations that have volunteers around the country.

Pertaining to the dashboard that nonprofits use to review the results, it integrates with numerous systems such as event management company VolunteerHub or management tool Better Impact.

Technology Used:

Verified Volunteers is based in the cloud and anyone can access the platform with internet access. The software offers a toll-free number if users run into an issue on the backend. Verified Volunteers also recently enabled a chat box for easier service.

Recap:

Verified Volunteers is a volunteer management software that enables nonprofits to vet their incoming volunteers while connecting those same organizations with volunteers who have already gone through the vetting process. The software is exclusive for nonprofits all over the country and is available to all local and national nonprofits regardless of size.

Verified Volunteers’ platform utilizes many tools such as their ability to do monthly checks for volunteers, the ability for volunteers to pay for their background check as well as purchase a “Fast Pass” which gives volunteers the ability to share their background check with numerous nonprofit organizations over the course of the year saving time and money. Whenever the Fast Pass is utilized, the person who paid for the initial screening (whether the volunteer or nonprofit receive a rebate). “In the last 15 months between contributions and rebates and shared checks we’ve saved the sector $1.8 million dollars,” Zwetzig stated.

Advantages:

* Verified Volunteers conducts monthly background checks to ensure volunteers are in good standing

* Volunteers can monetarily contribute to their background check or pay for the whole amount

* Volunteers can purchase a “Fast Pass” for $3.99 that allows them to share their background checks with nonprofit organizations. When used, the nonprofit or volunteer that initially paid for the screening earns a rebate.

Disadvantages:

* Verified Volunteers integrates with a limited number of SaaS solutions.

My Opinion

When looking at Verified Volunteers as a volunteer management software I think it checks off all of the boxes. It’s inexpensive, it’s secure, and it’s comes with a dashboard that enables nonprofits to manage their volunteers. But what stood out to me the most, is how Verified Volunteers is how its changing the way organizations can access volunteers. During our conversation, Zwetzig spoke about the time Volunteer Florida, a nonprofit organization was able to track down volunteers during 2017’s Hurricane Irma by using Verified Volunteers’ network of vetted volunteers. Zwetzig emphasized that the software wasn’t just a software. In her opinion, “background screening is a vehicle to help create safer communities.” She shared that when the disaster hit, Volunteer Florida was in desperate need of volunteers. Utilizing Verified Volunteers’ network, they were able to reach out to over 80 thousand already-vetted volunteers.

Nonprofit and faith-based giving is set to explode thanks to the rapid adoption of digital payment technology. Driven by the need to meet donors wherever they are, omnichannel donations--those derived from a multitude of online, mobile and social media platforms--are becoming increasingly important to the success of any organization’s giving strategy.

According to the Blackbaud Institute’s 2018 Charitable Giving Report, online giving has grown 17 percent since 2016. Nonprofits raised $2.7 billion through online fundraising in 2018, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the $31.9 billion raised. Faith-based organizations, in particular, saw the highest rate of growth in online giving in 2018.

Looking ahead in 2019, a few things are clear: a strategy that allows online giving will help nonprofit and charitable organizations meet their goals, the ability to meet donors anywhere they prefer to give will be critical in driving donations and activating new donors, and faith-based organizations will continue to increase their technology adoption to support tech-savvy members.

A rise in mobile donations from social platforms

In the last year, mobile giving grew by 24 percent. To welcome younger, digitally native members, nonprofit and faith-based organizations are meeting their new members where they’re most comfortable -- on their phones.

Mobile devices comprise the bulk of Internet traffic and as social platforms like Instagram experiment with new features to make charitable giving easier, building a mobile-first donation strategy that takes advantage of trends in social media will become integral to the success of an organization’s mission. Whether you’re looking to engage with new donors who are passionate about the environment or expanding your congregation to attract millennials, the common thread is the ubiquity of mobile and social media use.

Omnichannel donation capabilities will carry the day

Today, your local scouting troop can process credit card transactions on the spot. It’s just as easy for houses of worship and other nonprofit organizations to streamline their giving processes, too.

Putting in place the technology to accept donations through many channels--text-to-give, Instagram Stories, mobile payment tools and more--will certainly be one of the top technology priorities for nonprofit and faith-based organizations this year. When you’re able to reach your community and enable giving at any time and place, and even enable community members to set up easy recurring payments, that’s when you’re going to see real changes to your giving platform and experience growth.

The challenge to date has been that most organizations have needed to cobble together payments capabilities from different vendors because employees often lacked the technical skills needed to deal with each payment platform: online giving here, mobile donations there, text-to-pay from somewhere else entirely. Now, newer integrated payment capabilities have made it easier for employees who don’t have a technology background to work with it, lower the barrier to entry.

Faith-based giving will explode

Faith-based organizations are still a few years behind most other nonprofits in terms of enabling digital giving, but we’re seeing that begin to change. Newer congregation members and preachers and staff who are comfortable with technology basics are helping the sector rapidly catch up to its peers.

As noted, last year faith-based organizations saw the greatest increase in online giving compared to other nonprofit organizations and charities. As these organizations begin to use more mobile- and social-first strategies, more members will be able to tithe and donate with the click of a button.

By focusing on making giving as easy as possible and connecting with new donors wherever they are, nonprofit organizations can use technology to increase charitable giving and maximize their missions’ impact.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Chicago Benchmarking Collaborative (CBC), a partnership of seven well-established education and human services agencies that have committed to working together to implement data-informed program improvements. In honor of this milestone, the CBC has published a how-to guide to help other nonprofits increase their mission impact through collaboration.  

Over the last decade, foundations, government organizations, and sophisticated donors have demanded increased accountability for dollars invested in programs. Those of us doing the work have also learned that data-driven program evaluation produces greater impact. The CBC’s newly published guide, which is titled Increasing Mission Impact through Collaborative Learning, offers advice on how to leverage collaborative effort to increase the impact of evaluation. It is also intended to be useful to funders aiming to standardize data collection from grantees or convene grantees to share data in peer learning forums.  

While the CBC continues to refine its practices, the experiences and successes over the last 10 years have illustrated that effective collaboration is dependent on a few key factors. Among the most important is strong leadership committed to nurturing trust and data-driven work culture. A strong, consistent project facilitator ensures communication, workflow, and the productivity of the partnership. And it’s paramount to build a staff with the technical knowledge and skills to use available technology and reporting systems.  

The CBC guide breaks down the collaborative process into four crucial stages:  

1. Establish Shared Visions and Goals: Collaboration is time intensive. To make sure all partners get out what they put in, it is important to create shared goals and language. Not every potential partner we invited into the CBC decidedto join and that was okay. We carefully selected partners with shared visions and goals to keep the CBC moving forward, and it was equally imperative that they could fully commit to collaboration.  

2. Build Capacity for Data Use and Collaborative Learning: This stage is about making sure all the right systems and staff are in place to ensure that the shared goals and visions established in stage one areFor the CBC, this stage included identifying a project facilitator and a project team with defined roles. We also utilized external consultants to help identify what to measure, how to measure it, and how to finance collaborative program evaluation.  

3. Use Data and Improve Collaborative Practice:If you’ve worked in a nonprofit, you’ve probably been required to load tons of data into systems, but how often was that data made to work for you? The goal here is to make data a tool rather than a weight. In addition to improving reporting systems at individual organizations, staff began meeting across sites to review regular data reports, identify practices that were improving student outcomes, and create professional development strategies for target growth areas. 

4. Sustain and Institutionalize Systems: At this stage, the collaborative is up and running, your systems are in place, and you want to keep them alive and fresh to create sustained impact. This includes continuing to build trust among partners, developing strategic goals for the future, and creating training systems to onboard new staff. It may also mean developing processes to onboard new partners.
    

The publication of the how-to guide was made possible by a grant from Boeing Global Engagement, which recognized the CBC’s effective approach to collaborative learning and funded the guide to help other organizations replicate this successful model to increase their own impact. For more information on the stages outlined above including practical examples and key questions to ask, please visit www.christopherhouse.org/cbc/. 

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Traci Stanley ensures that Christopher House continues to increase its capacity to have a positive impact on low-income children and their families. Traci currently oversees Christopher House’s evaluation efforts including implementation and maintenance of an agency-wide database system to track outcome information for all programs to help ensure participants receive the highest quality services. Traci is also leading a collaboration of six social service agencies engaged in a project to improve measured evaluation and program quality. 

Prior to her current role, Ms. Stanley previously served as Associate Director and, earlier, Director of Youth Development Services at Christopher House. Through her leadership, tutoring and adult literacy programs expanded to other sites and new program initiatives were launched including mentoring, family literacy, an apprenticeship program, and a college and career preparation program for youth. She increased quality of services by developing evaluation tools and systems to measure and monitor service delivery and improvements in participant status. Ms. Stanley has been with Christopher House since 2000. She is a graduate of DePaul University. 

For decades, nonprofit organizations have offered solutions to many problems that exist in our society. From disasters which have affected the living conditions of people in different areas to attempting to raise the living standards in the community, the donations made by nonprofits have made a huge impact on society. Nonpartisanship has become a cornerstone of nonprofits that has strengthened the trust of these organizations by the public allowing charitable and philanthropic communities to continue to grow. Federal tax law has protected charitable organizations, foundations, and religious congregations from political interference, political consultants, and operatives who may use them for financial gain and other activities.

Despite the importance of nonprofits to society, they appear to be facing headwinds from all directions. The major challenge now is from the threats that the constitutional provision specifically the Johnson Amendment, is facing from legislation and bills that are aimed at weakening the protection of nonprofits in law. From President Trump himself alongside other leaders such as the Chairman of the House Ways Committee and the House Majority Whip, it has become clear that Johnson Amendment may be dented significantly in the near future.  While politicians believe that repealing this legislation is for the purpose of enhancing tax compliance, it may introduce partisanship to nonprofits, therefore, damaging the credibility of these organizations and donations they receive. 

If the Johnson Amendment repeal succeeds, nonprofits may qualify for tax-deductible donations so that they can participate in electoral processes while donors will be protected from disclosure. Such an action will not only hinder transparency in these institutions which is a key element for nonprofits but will also create room for politicians while the executives of these foundations such as the board members, CEOs and even the employees may be pressurized by politicians to endorse specific political parties or even support them financially. This means that resources which could be used for good cause may be channeled to political activities. Furthermore, the successful amendment of the existing legislation may lead to the creation of fictitious and sham organizations which can be used by politicians to divert charity money to political activities.

While it may appear that political players are interested in increasing tax bracket to fund government projects, the reality is that it may open up room for nonprofits which include religious institutions, charity organizations, and foundations to engage in election-related activities such as endorsing candidates at state or federal level. Nonpartisanship is the only principle which ensures accountability of the nonprofits and strengthens the trust that the public and charitable community has had for a long time. In the end, this will trickle down to the community in general who will benefit from the donations as it has before.

Ensuring nonpartisanship, however, requires a collective effort between different players in the nonprofits as well as political and civil society. All these players should oppose any amendment of the existing laws to open a floodgate for politicians to use charities for their personal gain. If anything, the Johnson Amendment should be made stronger to lock out any attempt of interference by political class while transparency should be enhanced. This will protect the integrity and independence of nonprofits and foundations as it will shield the community from partisan politicking. As such, the charitable organizations can be a safe haven where people who have the intention of helping others can come together and provide solutions to challenges which are encountered at a community level without bias or partisanship.

There is a common thread in what makes great companies and great communities: people!  Both are at the heart of strengthening goals and outcomes in tangible ways. For companies, community involvement can help align employees around a common cause that helps to strengthen a brand, build customer and employee loyalty, and has the power to ultimately attract new hires and new customers. Individuals can learn new skills, expand their network and, according to multiple studies, improve their happiness and health.

We’re blessed to live in a country where people love to volunteer. Over a quarter of Americans volunteer, helping to build nonprofit capacity, positively impacting communities, building skills and strengthening relationships.  In our 2019 report “The Volunteer Perspective – Industry Insights 2019,” in which over 7,000 volunteers responded—over 65% of the respondents said they volunteer to improve their communities. And, our research also indicates that volunteers want to make a difference across multiple organizations.  Over 75% of survey participants volunteer for more than one organization. If you are a nonprofit, imagine harnessing the value of those volunteers. If you are a business, imaging harnessing that passion to help build your brand and improve employee loyalty!  Talk about a win-win!

Most nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers to fulfill their mission. In fact, in our 2018 Volunteer Trends and Best Practices Annual Research report, 56% of responding nonprofit organizations indicated that unpaid volunteers make up 75% or more of their staff! So, the need for volunteers is great and the impact can be even greater!

Aligning the mission of the volunteer and organization is important for both the nonprofit and individual. Individuals want to volunteer for a cause they care about and where they can make an impact.  Organizations ideally want to build a long-term relationship with volunteers.  

Finding the right cause to share your talents can seem daunting but with today’s tools, it is quite easy. There are plenty of websites that highlight volunteer opportunities and match opportunities to skills and interests of the volunteer. VolunteerMatch, the HandsOn Network, Points of Light’s All for Good, and other Verified Volunteers partners list needs for millions of volunteers that could be fulfilled corporately or individually.   

With so many opportunities, the key for nonprofits, corporations and individuals is to find a good fit.  Like dating, this may take a little time to find that perfect match. A local volunteer center through the United Way or the HandsOn Network may be able to provide more personalized matching.  If your time is limited, starting as an event volunteer is a great way to learn about an organization and make a positive impact in a short amount of time. Catchafire lists thousands of opportunities for skill-based volunteers, many of which can be done remotely! Take some time to list out your passions and interests and then dive in!

I believe that volunteering is a significant economic driver for our nation. But there is so much more! When people volunteer together, they build social connections based on shared values which ultimately lead to a stronger, more connected community—whether a true geographical community or a workplace community.

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Katie Zwetzig, Verified Volunteers Executive Director

Katie is excited to be leading the revolutionary change Verified Volunteers, the dedicated service sector unit of Sterling—the world’s leader in background and identity services—is bringing to the nonprofit and volunteer industry. Katie holds an MA in Marketing from Colorado State University and a BA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Colorado. Katie feels strongly that nonprofits and volunteerism are at the heart of a strong community.

Small nonprofits usually have a smaller budget to spend on technology. So what are the ‘must have’ items?

The first is a good computer (or computers). Whether it is a laptop or a desktop, the computer is the heart of your organization.

Is your staff going to be working in the field or telecommuting? Then laptops are the way to go. If a majority of your work is done in the office then a standard desktop will suit all your needs.

Consider the size of the memory. If your organization does a lot of graphics work or needs to store a large amount of data locally you will need to invest in a computer with a large amount of memory.

If your organization has an exceptionally tight budget you can consider investing in refurbished computers. TechSoup is one source for refurbished computer equipment.

Next is a printer. Even if your organization is striving to be paperless there will always be certain items that must be printed.

Take a moment to consider exactly what you will be printing. A small desktop unit that prints both color and black and white is perfect for printing acknowledgement letters and other small print jobs, but if you are doing in house brochures or other marketing materials consider a larger unit.

It is no longer necessary to have a stand alone fax machine as most small desktop printers come equipped with scanner and fax capabilities.

Another hardware consideration is cellphones, your organization might choose to provide smartphones to your employees if they are out in the field or if they will be expected to deal with confidential information regularly via their smartphone.

Eleo is an online donor management program. It helps nonprofits track all aspects of their interactions with their donors.

First and foremost, Eleo makes it easy to enter donor information. Once the donor is in the database it is easy to search for a specific person or create lists of donors by segmentation.

Donor individual records let you track interactions, giving history, pledge history, giving statistics and volunteer hours.

The program also lets you create fully customizable lists. You can search by a variety of criteria and you can save the lists for future use.

Eleo also includes a communication center where you can create mass mailings, newsletters, receipts, and acknowledgement letters. You can create templates, and track what acknowledgements or receipts still need to be sent.

The program includes a calendar function so your organization can stay on track for fundraising events and mailers.

You can use the reporting feature to analyze a plethora of data. You can use the standard reports or use the report writer to create your own reports.

Pricing for Eleo is tiered depending on the number of donor records you have. The lowest tier is $39/mo for 2,500 donor records.

Your number one goal on social media is to engage current followers and attract new ones (and you might dare hope to one day go “viral”). However, to do that, and do it correctly takes a lot of time and effort.

One way to make it easier is to use a social media management tool, such as Sprout Social.  Sprout Social can help your organization manage all your social media accounts from Twitter to LinkedIn.

Use Sprout’s social inbox to manage all your social media accounts from one dashboard.

With Sprout you can create a publishing calendar. If your social media campaigns are run by different teams, you can have the teams collaborate via the platform, but you also have the ability to grant permission based access.

Sprout lets you create campaigns, edit photos, track tags and respond to messages you’ve received on your social media accounts.

It also has a variety of analytical reports that gives you insight into the effectiveness of  your campaigns.

Buffer can be used on desktop or on mobile devices. And, you can have multiple people creating the content, you can limit the permission of various users. Buffer also includes analytics so you can see how your posts are performing.

Sprout Social offers several tiers of pricing. You can inquire about special discounts for nonprofit organizations. The standard plan is $99/per month per user. This includes up to 5 social media accounts.

If it is time for your organization to update its website, and you are looking for a complete rebuild Firespring can help your organization create the perfect website.

Firespring, which is a certified B corporation, has several website structures available. Once you select your desired theme Firespring brands it with your logo and color palette.  If there pre-existing website structures don’t fit your needs they will work to build a completely custom website for your organization.

Once your website is ready to launch, you won’t need to worry about finding a webhost, because Firespring offers that as part of their package.

Firspring makes it easy for you to keep your website looking fresh. They have an easy to navigate content management system along with a large photo gallery. Use keywords, meta tags and other SEO tools to help your website get found.

Firespring offers several pricing options. Your organization can choose from a basic plan or a premium plan. Both offer flat fee rates or monthly subscriptions.

In addition to the basic design service, the basic plan includes access to phone support, ssl encryption and analytics. The premium plan includes everything from the basic plan and event registration, email marketing and group management.

There are also several ala carte options available such as landing page development, search engine marketing, and social media facelift.

Nonprofit New Story will start using 3D technology to bring shelter to the homeless population in Latin America, reports Fast Company.

Read the article on Fast Company

The Trevor Project has been awarded a $1.5 million dollar Google Impact grant to add artificial intelligence to its suicide prevention program.

Read the article on NBC News

According to Venture Beat, online board management platform Boardable ha secured $1 million dollars in funding from High Alpha Capital.

Read the article on Venture Beat

The Central Carolina Community Foundation is sponsoring an 18 hour online giving challenge, reports the Sumter Item.

Read the article on Sumter Item