"Charites are just spending a lot of time, on average one day per week, downloading spreadsheets, formatting them, deduplicating them so that … you’re not putitng Joe Blogs into the system twice… for example. …Because the data isn’t going onto the system quickly, somebody isn’t thanked for a donation in a timely fashion…” - Sean Donnelly
In this episode we speak with Sean Donnelly, co-Founder of CharityBI, and friend of the show. We speak with Sean about the challenges charities are facing with processing and organising data and what they can do to overcome said challenges.
1. Steamlining data export/import
With such a variety of third party data platforms being used by charities, from fundraising to volunteer management, it’s not surprising that reconciling all of these different data channels into the charity’s Content Relationship Management (CRM) system is a vast undertaking. The speed and efficiency of a charity’s processes here can make the difference between a donor receiving a professional thank you and not receiving thanks at all. For charities wishing to better engage, steward, and thank their supporters and achieve greater supporter loyalty, efficient and effective data management is crucial. Compare the friend who texts you back in good time, shows interest in you, or says thank you for their birthday gift versus one who is only your friend on their terms, and think who you are more likely to stay friends with.
2. The ramifications of poor data
There are a number of reasons for ensuring good data and thinking about processes and systems that can help your organisation to manage and use this data effectively and without breaking any laws. Adhering to data protection regulations is a crucial aspect of this, ensuring that you are using personal data in line with what those individuals would expect and want. With a regular flow of data there is a real risk that without a clear process and system to manage it charities will risk upsetting supporters and even incurring fines.
3. Using a charities best resource more effectively
For those charities spending so much of their staff resource on managing, cleaning, and processing data, there is a real opportunity to improve these processes while freeing staff up to do something more useful for the charity and engaging for themselves. In the current climate of organisations struggling against a skills shortage and high staff turnover in some charities, this could be an added benefit to developing a clearer and more automated process. Of course, short-term training, system buy-in and disruption needs to be considered but a medium to long-term view needs to be taken by charity leaders too.
Find out more about CharityBI
This episode of Charity Chat has been brought to you by our platinum sponsor Work for Good. Work for Good believes everyone should be able to turn the work they do into good. Through their fundraising platform, they offer charities a way to engage and work with small businesses, including founders, owners and sole traders who want to make an impact for charities through their sales. To find out more, please visit workforgood.co.uk.
We hope you enjoy this week’s episode.