It's All About the People!

It’s been a gorgeous weekend in Kingston and my wife and I were fortunate enough to spend a good chunk of time together while doing our spring gardening. Shoveling, digging, weed-whacking and getting my hands nice and dirty reminded me how important the balance between humans and technology is, in all areas of our lives. When it comes to gardening, some tasks are best done with your own two hands while others should be left to tools and machinery. The same applies to the world of fundraising. At RESolutionsTECH, we help hundreds of local, national and international charities on a daily basis. A major goal of each charity we work with is to acquire new donors for the organization. However, the reality is that not all newly-acquired constituents originate as major donors right off the bat. Instead, they may begin their relationships with charities as $10-donors, volunteers, peer-to-peer fundraisers, connectors, or even just friends of the organizations.

Once a newly-acquired constituent is added to the database, a charity’s goal now shifts to engaging and stewarding this relationship. If done effectively, the constituent will move forward along the pipeline and become closer to his/her ultimate major gift to your organization.

So, what is the most effective balance between humans and technology that will allow your organization to maximize these major gifts?

With the thousands upon thousands of constituents that charities are managing in their databases, we always hear that there are not enough hours in the day to properly nurture and build relationships with them all. Do not fret, though. Tackling this problem is very doable!

Constituents need to be segmented into two groups:

• Those you should be spending your time with
• Everyone else

Typically, charities will have lists of key people who they feel they should be spending their time with. However, there are always other constituents who they aren’t even aware of yet. At RESolutionsTECH, we use predictive modeling and other data mining activities to assist our clients in identifying new constituents who they should be allocating time towards. These special constituents should get personalized attention. As for everyone else in the database, technology becomes critical in the continuance of building relationships.

We pride ourselves on successfully helping charities use email, websites, social networking, surveys, and a great deal more to engage their constituent groups of ‘Everyone else’.

Whether charities are spending one-on-one time with constituents or making use of technology, it is critical that they are creating regular touch points with every constituent and collecting all pieces of the constituent puzzle. This data needs to be tracked in one convenient and centralized location: the constituent database.

As charities continue to piece together their constituent puzzles, it becomes clear that knowledge and data are their new best friends. All activities, both present and future, will be based on the puzzle pieces that charities have collected and recorded in their constituent databases.

Improving and increasing your technology usage will allow your organization to collect more relevant data than ever before. New data will flow in at all hours of the day and night, even when charity staff is not involved! Your reach will be significantly expanded and relationships will continue to be built between both constituent groups: those you should be spending time with, and everyone else.

With all of this additional information, technology can be utilized even further to prioritize activities. We can help you determine which activities, with which particular constituents, will provide the best return on investment.

A proper balance of human interaction and technology usage will provide your charity with:

1) An improved total picture of each constituent individually as well as collectively with the rest of your database.
2) Convenient, informative single-click dashboards and reporting.
3) Data and information benchmarks over time.

At this point, your charity will have a clear road map or strategic plan for utilizing technology, as well as people, to broaden your reach and maximize your fundraising results.

You will increase your gifts and revenue, reduce costs, and improve the relationships you have with all of the constituents in your database.

Remember – it is all about your people spending time with the right people and letting technology assist with the rest!

Parallel Universe:

RESolutionsTECH provides our satisfied clients with two convenient and affordable options to achieve the aforementioned human and technology balance.

If you want absolutely everything taken care of for you, our comprehensive and worry-free Total Support Package is right up your alley!

Your second alternative is through our interactive, hands-on Unlimited Online Training Package.

The first option costs a bit more; however, our clients are always telling us that our services are considerably less expensive than what other companies are offering. Partnering with RESolutionsTECH will provide you with far more bang for your buck and is one of, if not THE best decision your charity will ever make!

Let RESolutionsTECH assist your organization in maximizing revenue and building better relationships with new and old constituents alike. Contact us at sales@resolutionstech.com or (866) 776-5414.

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