| What if your website could offer donors not only the | | | | time by not having to call you each time they need to |
| ability to donate, but also the opportunity to volunteer, | | | | make a change or see a receipt; and it saves you |
| renew memberships, register for events, participate in | | | | time by not having to process the changes and |
| surveys, and more? With growth in the nonprofit | | | | requests. |
| sector, and high-speed internet connections becoming | | | | 2. Save Money And Increase Value |
| more available, nonprofits are keeping up by offering | | | | Allowing your donors to print their own receipts can |
| donors all types of ways to participate through their | | | | save your organization a great deal money. It does not |
| organization's website. | | | | require a live person at the organization to answer the |
| The additional services are designed to increase | | | | phone and update the files, and it saves postage by |
| donors and donor loyalty. However, these benefits | | | | not requiring you to mail a receipt each time one is |
| may not be fully realized if all of the information that is | | | | requested. Offering these additional services also |
| submitted online is not properly recorded in a safe and | | | | increases the perceived value of your organization, |
| secure fashion. Some organizations are turning to | | | | and allows you to compare favorably to other |
| web-based donor management software to manage | | | | nonprofits who may or may not also be offering this |
| this task while others are choosing to have this | | | | service. |
| information link directly into their locally installed desktop | | | | 3. More Data Integrity |
| software. Both of these methods offer secure | | | | Manually entering data can lead to mistakes. Having |
| transfer of the data, ensuring the privacy of personal | | | | your donor management software directly accept |
| and financial information. | | | | information from your website can virtually eliminate |
| In this article we will briefly discuss the process | | | | errors of this type. |
| involved in linking your desktop software to the internet; | | | | 4. Faster Response Time |
| and the benefits of doing so. | | | | In many cases, your website can be set up to send an |
| If your software vendor supports it, you may be able | | | | automatic thank-you note as soon as a donation is |
| to connect your desktop application to your website. | | | | submitted, but did you know that your donor |
| You will need to be running a client/server version of | | | | management software may also have this capability? |
| your software, and the server you have your | | | | Your donor management package should have the |
| software installed on needs to have access to the | | | | flexibility to automatically flag new donations, |
| internet. Once this is in place, you can talk with your IT | | | | volunteers, and members with appropriate letters |
| personnel about establishing a connection between | | | | which will be printed out with your next batch; again, |
| your database and your website. | | | | with no manual intervention. |
| The Benefits | | | | There are many more benefits to having your |
| 1. More Convenient | | | | software connected to your website, and FundRaiser |
| Having your software connected to the internet can | | | | Software will soon offer the ability to accomplish many |
| allow your donors the convenience of reviewing their | | | | of these services. We encourage you to review some |
| donation history updating their contact or mailing | | | | of the advantages to see if it could be a good option |
| information and printing receipts. Your donors save | | | | for your organization! |