Tag Archive for: #communication

How Fundraisers and Accountants can Better Communicate

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The relationship between fundraisers and accountants in a nonprofit organization can be challenging. Fundraising and accounting departments provide vital services to the organization, but when they fail to communicate, it can lead to financial errors. Bridging this communication gap can help your organization ensure every dollar raised is used effectively.

In this article, we’ll cover the relationship between fundraisers and accountants, how each contributes to the organization, and why communication gaps exist. 

We’ll also look at the most effective strategies for improving communications and how technology can help bridge the gap.

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The Connection Between Fundraisers and Accountants

Both fundraisers and accountants play key roles in a nonprofit:

  • Fundraisers: Drive donations, build donor relationships, and organize events that support the organization
  • Accountants: Manage finances, ensure compliance, and maintain budgets

The fundraising department’s primary goal in a nonprofit is to bring in the necessary funds to support the organization’s mission. Accountants work to safeguard the financial health of the nonprofit by keeping detailed records and ensuring that funds are used appropriately.

For a nonprofit to thrive, these two departments have to work together. 

Fundraising is most impactful when paired with the proper management and allocation of those funds. When fundraisers and accountants collaborate effectively, they can maximize resources to drive the organization’s mission forward.

The Gap in Communication Between Fundraisers and Accountants

Lack of communication between fundraising and accounting departments is a common issue for nonprofits. Several factors can lead to communication gaps between fundraisers and accountants, including:

  • Differences in terminology and jargon: Each team uses language specific to their field, leading to misunderstandings.
  • Misaligned goals and priorities: Fundraisers focus on securing funds quickly, while accountants prioritize accurate recording and management.
  • Timing and urgency of information needs: The difference between when a team needs information can cause delays in gathering and reporting accurate financial data.
  • Lack of regular communication channels: Teams can miss details or misinterpret information due to a lack of open and consistent communication channels.

Strategies for Better Communication Between Fundraisers and Accountants

Fundraising and accounting teams can help bridge the gaps in communication by implementing a series of strategies, including:

  • Establishing clear communication channels
  • Aligning goals and objectives
  • Sharing transparent financial reports
  • Fostering a culture of open dialogue and feedback

1. Establish Clear Communication Channels

Without clear communication channels, your fundraising and accounting teams will never be able to collaborate effectively. Defined communication channels make it easy for fundraisers and accountants to share information before making decisions.

A few ways to establish these channels include:

  • Set up times for regular meetings and check-ins between fundraisers and accountants.
  • Use collaborative tools and platforms–such as project management software–to modernize your nonprofit.
  • Create defined points of contact for specific issues or projects.

2. Align Goals and Objectives

It’s easiest for different departments to work together when they share similar goals and objectives. Regularly scheduled joint planning sessions can help align each team’s activities with the overall goals of the nonprofit.

During these meetings, both teams can discuss upcoming fundraising campaigns, budget needs, and financial constraints to ensure everyone is on the same page. A collaborative approach reduces misunderstandings and ensures that fundraising efforts are supported by the accounting team.

Fundraising and accounting teams should also set shared objectives and nonprofit KPIs to measure success together. Working toward the same targets means accounting and fundraising teams will need to regularly check in with one another to meet shared goals. This not only improves collaboration and communication, but it can also improve the overall effectiveness of the nonprofit.

Pro Tip: In our experience, the biggest goal conflict is around the total fundraising goal. It’s important for the nonprofit’s leadership to define what the fundraising goal is. Specifically, whether the goal is on a cash-basis, “money in the door”, or aligned with how accounting has to reflect the figures in their financial reports – typically an accrual basis.

3. Transparent Financial Reporting

Accountants provide a variety of financial reports for the board of directors and other stakeholders.

The accounting team needs to make sure that the financial reports provided to fundraisers are clear and easy to understand. Simplifying complex financial data allows fundraisers to grasp the organization’s financial health and make informed decisions.

Additionally, accountants should communicate the financial impact of fundraising activities with the fundraising team. For example, accountants can explain how specific campaigns affect the budget and cash flow of the organization. This transparency helps fundraisers see the broader financial picture and plan their efforts more effectively.

4. Encourage Feedback and Open Dialogue

It’s important to remember that both the fundraising and accounting teams are essential parts of your nonprofit organization. Aim to foster an environment where both fundraisers and accountants feel comfortable sharing their insights and concerns. Encouraging open and effective communication helps identify potential issues early and promotes mutual understanding between teams.

You should also actively seek feedback from both teams through regular check-ins. Promoting ongoing dialogue makes it easier to address challenges promptly and proactively. An open line of communication helps both teams feel heard and valued in the decision-making process.

Tools and Tech Can Help Bridge the Gap, Too

You can use a variety of technology tools to help improve communication between your accounting and fundraising teams. Common technology tools for nonprofits include:

  • CRM Systems and Financial Software: A CRM system makes it easy to track donor interactions while financial software helps teams manage budgets and transactions to give a comprehensive view of fundraising efforts.
  • Collaboration Tools: Collaboration tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams facilitate real-time communication between fundraisers and accountants to streamline discussions, share updates, and resolve issues.
  • Reporting and Analytics Platforms: Leverage reporting tools to generate visually appealing fundraising and financial reports that help track KPIs and make informed decisions.

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Work With Accountants Who Communicate with Fundraisers Well

Effective communication between fundraisers and accountants can help your nonprofit avoid costly mistakes and miscommunications. Implementing the strategies discussed in this article will help your organization effectively bridge the gap between fundraising and accounting teams.

Looking for an accountant who knows how to work with fundraisers? The Charity CFO offers a wide range of accounting and financial management services for nonprofits. We know how to effectively communicate with fundraisers so your nonprofit can better meet goals and objectives.

Contact us today to get started.

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The most effective ways to expand visibility and maintain funding in your business.

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On this week’s episode of A Modern Nonprofit Podcast, CEO Tosha Anderson invites Eric Ressler as her guest. Eric Ressler is the Founder and Creative Director at Cosmic, A Social Impact Creative Agency. Eric Ressler expresses his opinions and expertise about, “The most effective ways to expand visibility and maintain funding in your business.” Why do so many social impact organizations struggle to find, grow, and maintain funding? Eric breaks this question down and gives listeners tips to implement in your own processes. What does the future of social impact fundraising look like? Eric goes into the importance of your digital footprint and doing it in an authentic way. We cover why does social impact organizations invest in their digital strategy and platforms? We also hit on why should social impact organizations concern themselves with their brand when it seems like there are more important things to focus on? Finally why is the overhead percentage the wrong metric for assessing a social impact organization’s effectiveness? This episode is a wonderful conversation and a must listen.

Reach out to Eric Ressler @ [email protected]

Website: designbycosmic.com

How Nonprofit Technology Can Further Your Cause

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Are you the proud owner of a nonprofit that’s looking to take your organization to the next level? Are you curious to learn about different things you can integrate to give yourself an edge? If so, then you need to learn more about how nonprofit technology can streamline your organization.

Doing so can help turn your nonprofit’s greatest weakness into a strength. For example, with the right accounting services, you’ll be more in-tune with the donations that you receive.

See below for an in-depth guide highlighting the benefits of nonprofit technology and how it can help your organization thrive moving forward.

1. Well-Oiled Machine

Nonprofits are like fish, they can only grow to the size of the pond they live in. If you don’t take the time to organize your business model, it will stunt the growth of your organization moving forward.

Not to mention the fact that if you make a mistake such as losing funds that were donated to you, you could be charged with the misappropriation of funds.

Despite your best effort, you might find it difficult to balance your organization’s need for things like event planning, bookkeeping, production, communications, marketing, and so on.

This is where nonprofit technology can be of tremendous help. For example, you could use event planning software to organize every event or gathering you have from this day forward.

It can help you get a proper headcount, see who is bringing what (EX: tents, food platters, etc.), and where your volunteers will be assigned that day.

This software can also help you control your budget. If you know the exact number of people attending, then things like calculating food serving sizes become that much easier. Stick with the one-pound rule: cater one pound of food for every adult in attendance, as well as 1/2 pound for every child.

2. Optimize Communication With Your Donors

Every successful nonprofit has a group of advocates. These are what’s known in the industry as “supporters”. However, a constructive nonprofit doesn’t wait for the supporters to take action, they’re proactive in keeping their supporters engaged.

Nonprofit technology has made it easier for organizations to keep their most active followers engaged. You can streamline communications with them and maximize each supporter that you have.

For example, you can use your best judgment to invite the right supporters to events they’ll be interested in. This defeats the traditional “email blast” method, which can quickly cause them to lose interest.

It can also help you keep in constant communication with them. You can use technology such as Slack, Zoom, etc. to discuss your nonprofit initiatives with them in their preferred method of communication.

Nonprofit technology can also make it just as easy to talk to your entire support network as it is to talk to one individual.

Let’s say you want to alert everyone to an upcoming event, but wanted to provide more insight to certain individuals. If so, you could use Slack to send a message to the entire group, then direct message those that you had extra insight for.

3. Better Understanding of Your Donors

First and foremost, if you’re struggling with balancing your organization’s finances, don’t leave that to chance. Hire a nonprofit accounting service to get everything back on track.

To ensure financial security for your nonprofit in the future, you have to gain a better understanding of your donor base. The more you know about them, the more engaged they will become.

There is nonprofit-focused CRM (customer relationship management) software that can help you:

  • Track all donations on an account by account basis.
  • Connect your donors/supporters with other like-minded supporters in your database (to form a community).
  • Track the events that each donor attends on an account by account basis.
  • Understand the best forms of communication with each donor.
  • Organize all of the contact information for each donor in their accounts.

Without a CRM system, a person might attend one event, donate $25, then slip through the cracks of your nonprofit’s outreach capabilities. Make sure that no donor is ever left out. It’s how you grow the community surrounding your organization.

4. Increases Your Revenue

Say no more, right? If there’s a way to increase your organization’s revenue, you’re in! Nonprofit technology has proven to do just that for those that take advantage of it.

By integrating nonprofit technology, you can offer ways for your donors to donate online. They simply enter in their card information as they would when they online shop.

This makes it incredibly easy for you and your donors. You can also offer them a way to set up monthly or bi-weekly withdrawals from their account, so they don’t even have to think about it anymore.

5. Optimize Your Website

Do you wonder why it seems as if your site visitors are landing on your site, then navigating away from it without clicking on any other page? This is what’s known as a bounce rate.

Nonprofit technology can help you assess what issues your site has that are harming the site user experience (in other words: what’s scaring them away). This can help you lower your bounce rate and capitalize on those that come across your site.

The more site visitors you capture, the more donors you have for your nonprofit organization. Then you can use your CRM software to build meaningful relationships with each of them!

Take Advantage of Nonprofit Technology Today

Now that you have seen several ways that you can take advantage of nonprofit technology for your organization, it’s time to take action!

Be sure to visit this page to listen to our podcast, the Modern Nonprofit Podcast, to learn more about streamlining your organization.

For more inquiries, please be sure to reach out via our contact us page and we will be happy to assist you further.

Automating Communication for Nonprofits – A Short Guide

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From wildlife funds to children’s charities and the ASPCA to international NGOs, no matter what they support, most charitably oriented organizations have at least one thing in common: a resource deficit. There are only so many staff members nonprofits are able to hire; only so much space they can rent, and never enough time in any given day. 

Well, never fear. Automation is here and it’s got all the timesaving, cost-cutting, tech you need to bulk up your nonprofit’s resources and boost productivity when you need it most – particularly when it comes to marketing and communications efforts. And in case you don’t quite know where to begin, here are a few thought starters from the Charity CFO’s research library. 

A different approach to marketing

Marketing is an invaluable resource for nonprofits, whose sole mission is to reach out to likeminded people who are willing to lend support. And automation in the information age has made connecting with people at the touch of a button a real possibility. 

The first question that may spring to mind is, “But how can a machine replace real human interaction?” The answer is, it doesn’t have to. All it does is make meaningful interaction more accessible. 

For starters, marketing automation means that you can connect with your database in the following ways:

  • Automatic email messages – Crafted by humans, managed and sent by machines, whenever you need them to be.
  • Automatic responses to queries – Depending on the tech you choose, these can range from simple, “We’ve received your message and will get back to you” responses, or AI-driven responses that can answer more complex questions.
  • Automated birthday messages – These are a great value-add for donors and other supporters; a personal touch that (ironically) can be done automatically. 
  • Targeted or Programmatic Advertising – These are tools that will effectively bring potential donors to you, based on their searching and browsing habits.

Tools to take a look at

The digital age is a Shangri-La for communicators. Anyone old enough to think back to the 80s or 90s will remember terms like “The check is in the mail” and “Just fax it through”. Nowadays, paper has disappeared for the most part. Letters are rarely sent through the mail anymore and checks have given way to electronic funds transfers, online credit card payments, and PayPal. 

Mailchimp, Emma, and ActiveCampaign are just three examples of email marketing platforms that have taken the communications world by storm over the last few years. In 2019 alone, over 340 billion mails were sent from Mailchimp’s platform, making it the most popular contender on the list. But that’s not necessarily to say that it’s the best. Mailchimp does have great features and is quite user friendly, but it all comes down to personal preference. 

The common denominator is that these platforms have made creating email templates and mail design something anyone can do. And you can schedule emails well in advance plus automate several communication processes. 

Salesforce.org is a large CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform that has designed automated tools specifically geared at NPOs. Their Power of Us Hub is a resource center that helps nonprofit organizations communicate – both internally and externally – and connect through training and employee engagement initiatives. 

Salesforce’s Nonprofit Success Pack provides subscriber access to operations systems, donor management programs, and cloud-based communication platforms like Marketing Cloud and Pardot.

Salesforce isn’t your only CRM automation option, though. Bitrix24 offers up to 12 users in your organization FREE access to email and telemarketing tools, reports, and quite a bit more. Neon CRM has combined CRM and fundraising platforms, and Salsa CRM offers their own branded CRM, fundraising, and relationship management tools. 

Content is king

That’s just the beginning of the automated solutions that are available for nonprofits who want to ramp their communications efforts up to the next level. But one thing that’s always important to bear in mind is that, because all of these amazing tools are now available to communicators, it’s easier for messages to get lost in the clutter. 

That’s where the human element comes in. Marketing tools in the right hands are like paintbrushes in the hands of a master. It needs to be said that automation is not actually robotic. Before anything can be automated, a communications framework must be laid so that everything your organization needs to say is driven home effectively. 

So, before you go fully automatic, consider the importance of copywriting (not to be confused with copyrighting), to make sure that your messaging is on point; design and corporate identity, for an aesthetic that will appeal to all stakeholders and stay consistent; and marketing strategy, so that you have an ultimate goal in mind for what you’d like your communication to achieve. More detail on all of that in a future post!

Trust the experts

The Charity CFO is a leader in managing business and accounting processes for nonprofits. We’re consistently updating our knowledge of nonprofit industry trends so that we are able to provide nonprofit agencies with the resources they need, when they need them. 

Subscribe today for more informative business-related articles. And follow us on Facebook @thecharitycfo, and LinkedIn @tosha-anderson for regular updates.