The non-profit back office can either be a source of revenue
or a drain on operations. This largely
depends upon what systems you choose, how you set it up and where the money
flows. Your back office can drive millions of dollars in donations every year, or
simply be an expense that you pay every month while seeing modest results. The
key differentiator in a back office that supports your mission and one that
sits idle lies in the architecture and set-up. To dive a little deeper, we
interviewed the Chief Technical Officer at Geekibo for answers.
Interviewer: What are the primary considerations for a
non-profit back office that drives revenue?
Charles Bikhazi, CTO, Geekibo: The primary considerations
must take into account not only the non-profits goals, but also the user
experience throughout the back office experience. From the first donation
received to the email that goes out thanking them to the on-going relationship.
How will you communicate with that donor for the lifetime of that donor? What
types of events will you have and how will that donor fit into that? Is your
database and communications platforms tied to your financial platforms? Are
there triggers that will send communications when an event happens? Can you run
analytical reports that tie together how many visitors to your website or event
and how many donations? All good questions….and with a well-thought out back
office can be solved easily.
Interviewer: Why can you just use Excel for donor
management?
Charles Bikhazi, CTO, Geekibo: While excel is a powerful
tool, it is not ideal for donor management as a back-office system. The ability
to interact with donors while managing the donor relationship and finances is
not easily done in excel. What’s more is that with an effective back-office you
can actually save hundreds of hours of non-profit productivity which in-turn
means more donations go to the actual cause. Creating a structured system
architecture doesn’t have to be the biggest expense, it just needs to be set up
smart. Having a centralized database for your donors and constituents helps
create your single view of the world allowing you to make better decisions.
Interviewer: What about all the donor management software
out there? Isn’t it supposed to be easy to set up and use?
Charles Bikhazi, CTO, Geekibo: Yes, and what you need to
know is that as with any software, it is essential to think about
configuration, integration with other systems and training and support. Too
often, non-profits buy software online thinking it will solve all their
problems only to realize it is more complicated than they initially thought.
Or, the software touts it will handle all their problems when, in reality,
there are gaps. These gaps in functionality can be detrimental to on-going
non-profit growth. Sometimes, having a third party to help evaluate and set up
the back-office can mean the difference in driving revenue or being a cost
center. The traditional CRM model for B2B nearly always doesn’t fit into a
non-profit process.
Interviewer: What should people do if they are confused or
have questions about their back office systems?
Charles Bikhazi, CTO, Geekibo: There are many companies out
there that compare the various donor management systems, but we recommend
having a conversation and partnering with a IT professional who has been there
and used these systems. The ability to have a trusted partner can accelerate
growth and ease the stress of setting up back end systems. Additionally, the
ability to have a third party to evaluate the back-office and provide on-going
support is priceless so that your non-profit team can continue to function on
what’s most important.
Interviewer: Thanks Charles. This was super helpful.
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