Tools
The Technology Program Team is always researching new services and solutions camps and other nonprofit organizations can use effectively. We will be slowly adding new categories, so come back soon!
| Board Management | Most nonprofit Boards face the difficult task of managing the efforts and talents of many geographically dispersed members. Just finding a time that each person can meet can be a challenge, never mind sharing documentation such as Board Minutes and Agendas, efficiently collaborating on projects, or even putting a face to each name on the Board roster.We have reviewed a number of technology tools that can help Boards run more efficiently and effectively. These brief reviews are listed below, organized by type of tool. For more detail about each tool, please follow the link provided to the appropriate website. |
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| CMS | Content Management Systems can help you create and organize your websites. CMS’s offer easily expandability and usually have the ability for add-ons which increases the functionality of your site. All CMS’s have a friendly user back end that allows even the most bashful user to create and manage a complex website. |
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| Donor Management Software | Core to a nonprofit organization’s fundraising and outreach efforts is a Donor Management System (DMS). With appropriate personnel and processes in place to effectively manage the system, a DMS can make processes for communicating effectively with your constituents (with up to date contact information!) much more streamlined and accurate.
Every organization is different, so it’s difficult to recommend one particular DMS for everyone. Instead, the Technology Program has reviewed a handful of DMS that may fit your organization’s needs (and budget).
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| eNewsletter Tools | eNewsletters offer nonprofits a relatively inexpensive way to communicate with and engage constituents. The following tools help organizations design templates that match the branding of the organization; provide statistics to track which constituents are opening eNewsletters, which links they are clicking on, and which email addresses are no longer active; and ensure the eNewsletters get through Spam filters. |
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| Event Registration | In the past, event registration could become a real hassle for a non-profit organization. Staff would have to take lots of phone calls and mailed-in registration forms, and manually enter the information into a central event attendance list. The process was manually intensive and could introduce lots of errors. For the attendees, there wasn’t much information available to them about which friends and acquaintances would also be at the event. The process was flawed.Now there are many online event registration tools available to improve this process for both the organization and the participants. If your organization’s web provider offers online registration that is integrated with your constituent database, you are ready to go. For everyone else, we reviewed a few of the tools available online |
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| Online Giving | All nonprofit organizations must offer some type of secure online giving option. It wasn’t long ago that people didn’t purchase items on the internet. Or bank online. Or share lots of personal information online via social networks like Facebook. But now they do – and many expect the convenience of supporting their favorite nonprofits online as well.We have reviewed a number of online giving options that nonprofits can utilize to offer their constituents a simple, secure way to donate online. Check out our reviews of these tools, which include some basic details to help you understand the benefits and challenges of each option. For more detail, please follow the link provided to the appropriate vendor website. |