Market Smart is best known for helping  not-for-profit institutions like colleges and universities engage with potential donors by generating quality leads. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Market Smart is also behind Fundraising Report Card – a reporting and analytics platform that help nonprofit organizations make sense out of their fundraising data. With multiple dashboards such as retention rate, growth, and key performance – nonprofit organizations can see an overall picture of who their donors are.

In Use:

Fundraising Report Card is a free tool that is meant to be simple yet impactful. When it comes to digesting data – visualization is important. When faced with thousands of numbers on an excel sheet it’s hard to make sense of the big picture. Visualization enables a company to tell a story that will come in handy when making decisions or sharing findings to key stakeholders.

As long as a nonprofit has a donor ID number, the date in which the donation occurred, and the amount of the donation – they can upload their information straight to the site. The most common method is using a csv file format but Fundraising Report Card also integrates with CRMs such as Kindful and Little Green Light.

One of the most interesting things about the Fundraising Report Card is their live benchmarks that gives a nonprofit real time data about the nonprofit community. As of January 15, 2020 Fundraising Report Card has analyzed 64 billion donations. Other interesting statistics show how donations are changing year over year, donor retention rate, and the average donation amount.

Ease of Use:

The platform located on the cloud is easy to use. A nonprofit can start uploading data instantly. I will say that there is a learning curve. When I tried to upload sample data I kept getting the same error message, “oh man! We ran into some issues” after I tried uploading a second set of data. If an error message does occur there is a help center located on the website as well a short form a user can fill out that will  connect them with a community consultant.

Technology Used:

The software is located on the cloud – and therefore a charity only needs an email address to get started.

Recap:

Fundraising Report Card is a free cloud-based platform created by Market Smart for nonprofit organizations. The tool enables charities to visualize their donor data. Visualizations that Fundraising Report Card offers include campaign effectiveness and donor retention rate.

Advantages:

• The platform is free to use
• Fundraising Report Card analyzed donor data to create benchmarks for the nonprofit community
• All donor activity is anonymous within the platform

Disadvantages:

• For the time being Market Smart has no plans to enhance or modify the platform

My Opinion:

Fundraising Report Card is a great platform for nonprofits to analyze their donor data. Reports include donor retention rates and average donor size. While the reports available don’t necessarily dig deep- they are a great indication of who a nonprofit’s donor base is which can help them secure more donations.

According to Nonprofit Source, in 2018 - 84% of millennials gave to charity, donating an annual average of $481 across 3.3 organizations. In addition, millennials were more likely to donate via their mobile devices and through websites than they were by email. These statistics have prompted charities to change the way they ask for donations. Momentum is hoping to appeal to millennials by making it easier than ever to donate to the charity of their choice by donating through a mobile app or through their website.

In Use:

Momentum recently launched on Giving Tuesday and their goal is simple. They want to make it easier for people to donate. Through researching how people give - chief executive Nick Fritz and co-founders Ari Kagan and Ivan Dimitrov realized that people wanted to give to charity but they cited lack of funds and limited time as reasons why they did not give more. Fritz explained,  "We found that most people would like to give 2.5 times as much as they do, and we wanted to do something to try to close that gap." According to their website Momentum is “creating an effortless way to live up to your values and make a real difference.”

By donating through Momentum’s app – Fritz hopes to engage millennials to donate more by making the experience fun and effortless. There are numerous ways to donate through Momentum. Donors can choose to donate $0.25 every time they purchase a coffee, $.50 every time their favorite celebrity tweets, or $.10 every time they run a mile. While these microdonations may not sound like a lot of money – it adds up making a substantial impact for the charities they donate to. While Momentum officially launched on Giving Tuesday of 2019, they have been beta testing the product for the majority of the year. In this time the 1,000 or so people that have been using the app have donated a combined $31 thousand dollars to charities across the country.

Technology Used:

Momentum’s app is currently only available for iPhones. The company has plans to create an Android app in the future. When it comes to privacy and security - Momentum partners with Plaid and Stripe to ensure that users' sensitive information is safe. According to Momentum’s website a donor’s sensitive information are encrypted and never touches their servers.

Ease of Use:

Momentum’s app walks a user through the steps they need to get started. The user decides how to donate, how much to donate, and where their donation should go to. A user can also set up multiple triggers that go to the same or different charity. Every week users receive an email regarding their impact.

Recap:

Momentum is a socially conscious app that allows donors to make automatic donations based on the foods they purchase, the activities they participate in, or when their favorite celebrities interact with social media. The possibilities are endless – users can get as creative as they want or stick with a common theme. By using Momentum, Fritz hopes to close the gap between how much users want to give and how much they do give.

Momentum is free to use. At the moment the business is working off of tips. 

Advantages:

• Easy way to donate effortlessly
• Possibilities are endless as to how, when, and who to donate to
• App is free to use

Disadvantages:

• Momentum is only available as an iPhone application for now

My Opinion:

Momentum is a fun and easy way to get people to think about how they can help their community by doing something simple as purchasing a cup of coffee or running a mile. It’s an effortless way for those who lack the time to get involved. While I do worry about security – Momentum does partner with Plaid to ensure that sensitive information is encrypted. Plaid also works with other applications such as Robinhood, Acorn, and Venmo. Overall, if this app was available on androids I would definitely try it out.  

What do you get when you combine a content management software, a website builder, and a fundraising platform? A website solution exclusively for nonprofit organizations powered by Morweb. The company boasts that their solution is “a ridiculously easy nonprofit CMS platform to manage and grow a website.” While that’s quite the hype to live up to – I decided to find out for myself if Morweb truly was ridiculously easy to use.

In Use:

With limited time and resources – nonprofits struggle to build a website that will articulate their story and catch the eyes of donors. Morweb’s goal is to help nonprofits create a beautiful website that has all of the features they need to be successful whether that includes a content management platform, analytics, or a fundraising page to grow their online presence.

The subscription based platform is fully responsive and includes built-in modules such as event pages, blogs, and private pages that a charity can chose from to make their webpage unique.

Technology Used:

Morweb is based exclusively on the cloud and integrates with CRM-giant Salesforce, Stripe – a payment processing platform and Fundly – a fundraising website. These integrations help Morweb become an all-in-one tool where the charity never leaves Morweb’s page. Ultimately this produces a smooth user experience.

Ease of Use:

Founder and CEO of Morweb Murad Bushnaq gave me a demo of the platform. We looked at a website that used Morweb but he also showed me the backend that nonprofits use to create their websites. In the backend a user can upload pictures, change fonts, add backgrounds, and change the flow of their website. Everything they do happens in real time so they can see what their changes will look like before committing to it. To be honest it was a lot of information that isn’t necessarily difficult – it just takes time to learn all of Morweb’s capabilities.

If a user did run into any problems Morweb does have a chat functionality as well as a support center for training material.

Recap:

Morweb is an all-in-one website solution for nonprofits. Charities use Morweb to create an aesthetically pleasing site that will attract donors and incorporate tools they need to succeed whether that’s an event page, a blog, or a donation page.

The cost of Morweb ranges from $99 to $199 per month and depends on the size of the nonprofit and what their needs are. The subscription comes with training, and an eventual upgrade to Morweb 3.0 before the end of the year. The new platform will include a smoother user experience and an upgrade in analytics.

Advantages:

• Geared exclusively towards nonprofits – the company knows the challenges that charities face and are better suited to help them reach their goals.
• Charities pays one monthly price and receive access to a website builder, CRM, and donation page.
• Customers can receive help by email, phone, chat or through their support center if they run into any issues
• Morweb 3.0 will have a better user experience for nonprofits – making it easier for them to create an impactful website.

Disadvantages:

• Lacking extensive analytics. While they do offer clients some analytics it could be more robust
• I would like to see them integrate with more platforms in the future

My opinion:

Morweb has helped over 1,500 nonprofits build meaningful websites with limited resources. Morweb has thought a lot about the needs of a nonprofit and it shows from all of the capabilities and modules the platform allows. For future releases I would love to see them integrate with more platforms as well as build out their analytics program to allow nonprofits to export data.

In today’s society businesses rely on data to help them drive sales and finances, among other departments within the organization. Unfortunately, non-profit organizations are at a disadvantage as many cannot afford to hire a data team let alone one data analyst.  Thankfully in North Texas – CNM-Pact hopes to change this by putting their efforts into helping nonprofits in the region succeed.

In Use:

CNM-Pact was developed four years ago after the organization went through a strategic planning process. “One of the things that struck us was how much issues had grown over the last ten years,” Weinfurther explained. She went on to explain that issues such as poverty, health care, education and teen pregnancy were getting worse in North Texas despite all sources of giving including government, foundations, and corporations. With these additional resources these issues that plagued North Texas should have improved but they weren’t. It was determined that if these charities had access to reliable data they could show where they were exceeding and where they needed to improve. What came out of that meeting was CNM-Pact.

The service helped charities report data and figures enabling non-profit organizations to report their findings. This in turned helped foundations and funders know where they should invest their money to get the highest social return on investment. Another aspect of CNM-Pact is to give non-profits that they work with with access to data through their SAS Office Analytics and SAS Visualization. This gives charities the ability to share and interpret their findings to stakeholders and investors. Today, CNM-Pact is working with 60 non-profits mainly in the North Texas area.

Technology Needed:

CNM Pact is cloud based, hosted by Amazon Web Services. SAS Office Analytics and Visual Analytics platform helps CNM-Pact uses these tools to assist their clients to help make sense out of their data. These applications save non-profits time and money – allowing them to focus on helping their constituents and less energy on paperwork.

Ease of Use:

With training, the applications are easy to use. How to use the technology is covered during the evaluation and consultation. The consultants – all of which hold a Master’s degree or PhD in data science or a related analytical field are able to advise non-profit organizations on what to data to collect, what their data is telling them  as well as the best way to report on their finds.

Recap:

CNM is a service that brings charities together with consultants to collect and analyse their data to develop data driven outcomes. This consulting project gives organizations clarity on where they need to focus their attention on – whether it’s a certain demographic or town to get the highest amount of social return on investment.

One of the organizations that CNM works with is an emergency homeless shelter called Austin Street Center. When they hired CNM, the shelter was helping 1600 people annually in their community. With CNM-Pact – Austin St. Center concluded that people who came through the program had varying needs. As a result, they tailored their program to fit these individual needs. With CNM-Pact, Austin Street Center is now able to reach 3,000 women with the same amount of funding.

Advantages:

• CNM offers a sliding scale based on a non-profit organization’s operating budget.
• CNM consulting and evaluation professionals help non-profits make the most out of their data
• CNM-Pact software enables charities to continue analysing data after the evaluation has been completed 

Disadvantages:

• The main disadvantage is that CNM itself is only available mainly to charities in the North Texas region (although they do have clients in Seattle and New Jersey). Because CNM is so unique, there really aren’t many (if any) non-profit organizations who offer data consulting and software at an affordable cost.

My Opinion:

I normally write about CRMs, donor management software, event management software- but I’m not sure I’ve ever written about a consulting organization equipped with technology to help non-profits make the most out of their data. I think what CNM is doing is really unique and will enable non-profit organizations to reach more people in their communities. While CNM is only making an impact in North Texas, they are planning on expanding in the future.

Like for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations also face many challenges, most of which are due to the overall trends in the industry.  These trends keep shifting the direction that nonprofits want to take as they continuously change. As the New Year begins, it is wise to expect, understand and prepare for how these changing trends might influence your nonprofit going forward.  Below are the industry trends that every nonprofit should keep an eye on in 2020.

1 - Networking platforms for nonprofits

It is expected that networking platforms that will make it easy for nonprofits to engage and interact with the donors, providers, and communities will become more prevalent this year. These platforms will be critical because they will foster innovation and give users the ability to create effective, far-reaching, and targeted services while at the same time mobilizing donors and investors to provide support.

2 - Growth of integrated giving

As technology keeps advancing, people are increasingly allowed to donate to their preferred cause in many ways than before. There are many technologies such as text-to-give, blockchain giving, traditional checks and online giving which are all used currently. With this however, there is an increasing need to integrate these methods. As we begin a new year, customer relationship management services (CRMs) are becoming crucial in nonprofits and platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 have the ability to collect information from different data centers into one. Many nonprofits will monitor this trend in the coming days.

3 - Artificial intelligence

As artificial intelligence makes way into almost every industry, nonprofits seem to be looking for ways they can capitalize on it to increase their rate of success. 2020 will be a defining year for the nonprofits’ use of artificial intelligence to improve how donors contribute to charities. Virtual assistants, chatbots, and other artificial intelligence applications will make giving a lot easier than before and the number of contributions will without a doubt increase. The availability of Alexa and Siri will ease how donors contribute through speech recognition and will, therefore, be a definite game-changer for charitable organizations.

4 - More nonprofits will adopt automation

Nonprofits have for many years remained behind in adopting new technologies. However, this trend has changed significantly in the past few years. As we move towards a new decade, automation has become a number one change that is slowly allowing businesses to achieve their mission, optimize their operations, and improve efficiency. The year 2020 will see many nonprofits venturing into automation in things such as communication with donors, accounting, security checks and maintenance of data. This will free up resources and reduce operational costs which are often associated with a large number of employees.

5 - Data security will be a top priority

As new data security challenges emerge, many laws and regulations keep coming up. Data security measures are now being introduced more than ever to meet the demands in a current highly connected world. Without the trust of donors due to data security issues, fundraising would not occur and the missions will not be accomplished. This decade will see organizations trying their best to improve their cybersecurity assessment approaches and data security mechanisms to avoid damages to their systems and theft of personal information. Aspects such as verification will become talking points as people donating will need to be always protected.

6 - Personalized giving

For decades, organizations have been adjusting to the movement of donors from offline towards online giving. The trend has however seen donors moving to mobile devices and has again altered the security landscape of philanthropy. With the rise of the age of text-to-give technologies and mobile applications as well as remote work, nonprofits are working towards mobile giving. This can be seen from the increased adoption of technologies such as Apple Pay and Google Pay among others. As these technologies continue expanding, nonprofits will grow with it starting this year

The beginning of a new year (and new decade) is a time for us all to evaluate our habits, whether good or bad, especially in the workplace. As we leave behind the holiday season and approach tax season, we can’t let good cyber hygiene become an afterthought. Cybercriminals know most organizations cannot afford disruption during the year’s peak donating season, and their targeting of organizations at this time is a deliberate ploy to extort as much as they can.

Cyber Monday 2019, for example, saw a 58% increase in encrypted attacks on the previous year alone, according to SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers. Their team further recorded a double-digit malware spike (63%) in the U.S. between the eight-day holiday shopping window from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2. As the numbers show, access to data is a valuable bargaining chip for extortion — one cybercriminals use with abandon.

When attacks like these happen to household brand names like Adidas, or national institutions like the NHS, smaller businesses fall into the trap of thinking that cyberattackers exclusively target large organizations.

But small- to medium-size businesses (SMBs) and smaller philanthropic organizations are not immune. In fact, cyberattackers often focus their attention on smaller businesses because they are more likely to have low levels of sophistication in network security and even smaller IT budgets dedicated to cybersecurity. Case in point: in the past 12 months, 66% of SMBs experienced some kind of cyberattack resulting in average net losses of up to $2.5 million because of disruption to normal services.

That’s why it is imperative for nonprofits to ensure their security posture is as robust as possible from the outset. Here are some easy-to-implement and cost-effective practices that all organizations should consider for their cybersecurity strategies in 2020.

What can nonprofits and philanthropic organizations do?

Make sure the websites you use are using SSL or TLS encryption

SSL and TLS encryption protects organizations’ and donors’ data as it is transmitted online. A site is encrypted if the URL begins with “https:” instead of “http:”, and your browser displays a padlock icon. Encryption is the absolute minimum of security for online businesses, but a critical added layer for businesses that can budget for more sophisticated security measures.

Beware of email links & attachments

Phishing schemes tend to rise dramatically during the last quarter of the year. In addition to email, cybercriminals may try to phish businesses through banking websites. Phishing messages may ask you to “confirm” your account or purchase information by clicking on a link, or they may send “receipts,” “shipping notices,” or “coupons” as attachments.

Your best defense is to never click on any unsolicited links or attachments. Instead, type the URL into your browser manually and log in that way. A cost-effective way to ensure employees and volunteers are updated on the latest security best practices is to have a security expert conduct an afternoon training at your offices or simply print and laminate a list of key tips.

Use a password manager for your organization

Your organization’s passwords are what stand between you and cybercriminals accessing your (and your loyal donors’) information. Don’t depend on spreadsheets or sticky notes, and never use the same password for all of your logins. A robust password manager allows you to secure all of your accounts with strong, unique passwords and reminds you when you need to update them

Don’t let cyber criminals get the most out of the season of giving. Follow these basic guidelines throughout the year to prevent unauthorized access to your organization’s most valuable asset:  your data.

Bill Conner, CEO, SonicWall

Digital marketing is a fantastic way for many industries, and nonprofits to expand into this sphere. However, many charities have failed to make use of this method of marketing as many of them still rely on offline-based marketing methods such as the use of flyers and marketing emails. Although it is undeniable that these offline tactics are essential in maintaining a balanced marketing plan, organizations that are rigid in adopting modern methods of marketing such as social media are missing out on opportunities of increased reach and donations that they could have obtained from social media users. This is however changing fast.

Concerning marketing, Facebook is the biggest change that nonprofits have ever witnessed. It has become a leading engagement tool that is a lifeline for many businesses. It gives nonprofits access to new revenue streams. Research points out that social media has changed how many nonprofits think about the role of technology in fundraising. An organization with a vast social media reach has an obvious advantage over the others when it comes to fundraising. Research by Diarmuid McDonnell found out that using digital platforms affect fundraising positively.

For instance, the study discovered that an increase in the number of likes on a nonprofit organization’s Facebook page leads to a rise in the number of donations.  Also, the increase in the number of Facebook posts made raises the amount of money received by a nonprofit. Social media gives an opportunity to both small and big nonprofits to reach their audiences. Unlike traditional offline means that require significant capital investments for an organization to reach potential donors, social media gives small nonprofits an ability to punch way above their weight and raise more money through their campaigns.  

Effectively using social media allows nonprofits to tell the world about their charitable works. It enables companies to engage those that support and appreciate their work and reach those who have access to the internet but have not heard about their charitable activities. By engaging social media users, you can set your organization up for success by taking advantage of the massive opportunities of the highly connected social media world characterized by people who share stories.

Unlike television and billboards, that are expensive, access to social media allows smaller nonprofits to reach large audiences that TV adverts cannot reach easily. Although online marketing campaigns still require some form of financing that the larger organizations have, they are cheaper compared to the offline ones. The trends in social media platforms such as Giving Tuesday hashtags helps people donate to a nonprofit of their choice. Therefore, smaller nonprofits can take advantage of this to improve their revenue. Through social media, apps and websites that let users create content and share them, organizations that run on small budgets can achieve their marketing goals faster and effectively. If done well, social media messages can help nonprofits to engage supporters, capture them and retain their donation. These platforms can enhance a nonprofit or brand and may substantially support fundraising.

For social media marketing to work as desired however, social media campaigns should never be left to an intern or treated as a side venture. Instead, it should be integrated into the organization’s overall marketing strategy. It should also be aligned to the nonprofit's goals to suit the purpose and should be dedicated to specific, qualified staff members. Additionally, frequent posts and interactions with the potential donors are encouraged to increase visibility and engagement.

Since cryptocurrency came into existence, many industries have entered the race as either investors, users or have accepted it as a form of payment by their customers. Owing to the reception of cryptocurrency as a method of payment by many industries and individuals, more nonprofits are now exploring the possibility of using this method in their strategies. UNICEF is one of the nonprofits that can now receive, keep and disburse digital currency through its UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund which was launched a few months ago. With a vast knowledge in blockchain, UNICEF will also adopt other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether in funding its activities to benefit children and young people.

Other nonprofit organizations are also following suit by accepting donations in cryptocurrencies. Although many people in this space are wary of digital currencies, the technology has proven its worth already. Since it is still in its initial stages, many nonprofit organizations are staying away. However, the ones that have an active strategy to engage professionals and the cryptocurrency community are succeeding in the adoption phase. Some of the organizations that already accept crypto donations include Lupus Foundation of America, United Way, Mercy for Animals and Human Rights foundation among others. Others are still fearful of this currency and convert it into dollars or euros as soon as they receive donations in the form of cryptos.

As cryptocurrency users cross the 50 million mark, some users are finding it easy to use this currency as it eliminates taxation issues, meaning that their contribution will now make more impact in society. The Giving Block, an organization which helps nonprofits adopt digital currency, states that this is the case mainly for early adopters that have highly appreciated assets. The adoption of digital currency by some organizations such as UNICEF has altered the view of other NGOs most of which are now working on strategies to incorporate it. They are now learning the type of currencies to adopt and whether they should hold it in digital form or convert their donations to standard currencies.

Only 2% of Nonprofit organizations in the US, Europe and Canada now accept crypto donations. However, Africa and Asia are leading with 5% and 4% respectively according to a 2018 report by Global Trends in Giving. The main problem that many nonprofits specifically, in the US, Europe and Canada face are regulations. Although some organizations may want to exploit this new source of donations mainly from young donors, most of them are affected by existing laws. According to The Giving Block, accepting digital currencies is difficult for many companies despite the market cap for cryptos rising. First, many nonprofits do not know where to begin. Secondly, majority of the nonprofits do not recognize the potential that digital currencies offer. Thirdly, they fear the risks associated with cryptocurrencies that can either be real or perceived.

Regardless of the fears that many nonprofits have in accepting donations in digital currencies, it is worth considering as a source of money to finance operations. Like any other digital innovation, however, nonprofits should start accepting donations with caution. When selecting your wallet for donations, you must carefully consider the fees, operating system compatibility, privacy rules and control over your donations. Nonprofits should also look into the tax implications, financial effects and potential reputation risks associated with accepting cryptocurrency. This type of currency is volatile and so it can change quickly. Nonprofits should, therefore, treat digital currencies as donations and not investments. They should therefore convert it as soon as they receive to avoid risks.

You can now say “Alexa make a donation to_____” and have Alexa use your Amazon pay account to make a donation up to $5,000.  Currently, this program is only available to select charities that have been invited by Amazon. However, it is likely that this program will be a hit with both donors and nonprofits, so it is something that you should have on your radar for the upcoming year. 

Another high tech trend to watch for 2020 is the rise in giving via a blockchain platform. A blockchain platform is  a public ledger relying on globally distributed historical transactions to prevent tampering and fraud. 

Blockchain was designed to offer a higher level of transparency for transactions. Many donors wish to know that their donations are going directly to the charity that they have selected for the express purpose of funding a certain project. A blockchain giving platform can give them that piece of mind. 

BitGive’s GiveTrack is an example of one such platform. BitGive shares detailed real time information about the financial and project status of the charities that they work with that are accepting donations via GiveTrack.

Global Giving is a crowdfunding platform designed to help small nonprofits raise awareness and money. Global Giving is also a nonprofit, which means it understands what nonprofits need to run a successful fundraising campaign. 

Global Giving also understands that small nonprofits don’t have a large budget, so there is no application fee to join the  Global Giving platform. There is no monthly subscription fee, however Global Givings has a 3% transaction fee along with a sliding scale support fee of 5-12% of collected donations. 

The site offers a host of training and support options for nonprofits that join the platform. There are webinars, training libraries, workshops, one on one phone consultations or site visits.  The platform has tools like gamification and incentives to increase donations. 

The platform offers all the standard fundraising campaign tools, including metrics, donor engagement, social media integration. What it also offers is opportunities to partner with large companies for matching grants, or specific giving programs with the company.

know your audience in order to determine if live streaming is right for your nonprofit. The people you want to engage through a live stream have to be savvy enough to access your video feed so that they aren’t overwhelmed or frustrated by the experience. Beyond this point, your decision should come down to value—both to the viewer and to your organization.

If your organization is exploring adding a livestream to your next event there are a few things that you should consider. First, is your event the type of event that makes for a good livestream. 

The purpose of the livestream is to generate enthusiasm and excitement from those who are unable to attend in person. The event you are live streaming has to be visually interesting enough to keep your online viewer engaged. The most successful live streams are based on events that have an element of excitement to them. Is your event a fashion show? Will there be cute animals?--you can never go wrong livestreaming cute animals.  Also, if your event includes a celebrity guest that you know people who were unable to attend in person would love to see, 

After determining if your event is right for a livestream, it’s time to consider if your intended audience is right for a livestream. If your audience is comfortable using Twitch, YouTube or social media, if you chose to livestream via Facebook than live streaming is a good idea. If your audience is not comfortable with those platforms it doesn’t mean that you can’t do a livestream it just means that you may not get a huge return from the event. 

Next, it’s time to plan your livestream events content. Think of your live stream as the modern equivalent to a charity telethon-except instead of broadcasting on TV your using the internet. A telethon doesn’t consist of a single still shot of the action and neither should your livestream. 

Create a content script. If your are doing a fashion show consider doing interviews with the models or designers (or stores that donated the fashion). Have a host roving the audience,anything to spice up the broadcast. Remember you want to keep the excitement going. 

Many livestream apps allow your organization to collect donations directly from the livestream platform, so make sure your call to action is clear. 

EveryAction wants to be everything to every nonprofit. This cloud based platform offers fundraising, advocacy, organizing and digital all in one package. 

For fundraising, you can use the platform to create a simple donation page for your website. You can also use the platform to track major gifts, pledges and other donations. And, you can run an online auction with it as well. 

Get all your advocacy done with social matching and listening which lets you monitor and track influential supporters and it has an advocacy module that makes it easy for you to turn your advocates into donors. 

Organize your supporters with the built in tools to manage your volunteers and coordinate your canvassing or phone bank events. 

The digital portion lets you build multi channel ad campaigns. The platform includes data visualization tools so you can make use of all the various data sets that your organization accumulates. 

Nonprofits can make the most out the remaining giving days in the year, reports The Nonprofit Times. 

You’ve survived Giving Tuesday – and hopefully come out of it with a nice boost of donation revenue for your nonprofit.

Read article on The Nonprofit Times

New Story, a nonprofit that focuses on using tech to build affordable housing, plans on having 50 new homes erected a Mexico community by the end of 2020. 

A giant 3D printer built two houses in an impoverished, rural part of Mexico last week, breaking ground on what will be the first 3D-printed neighborhood in the world.

Read article on Fox 2 Now

According to the Biz Tech Magazine, integrated giving is one of several technology trends that will impact nonprofits in 2020. 

Nonprofits have a lot on their plates. Charitable giving took a hit last year, declining for the first time since the Great Recession, forcing organizations to do more with less.

Read article on Biz Tech Magazine

Mobile friendly devices help contribute to the success of #GivingTuesday, reports Biz Tech Magazine.  

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are all behind us, but the long Thanksgiving weekend isn’t over yet. Many will be digging deep into their pockets again today, but not for themselves—this time, it’s for Giving Tuesday. 

Read article on BizTech Magazine