Nonprofits today are serving up more data, across more channels, than ever before. Luckily for these organizations and their constituents, there are even more tools in which to leverage that data for advanced visualization, analytics, and predictive analysis of a nonprofit organization’s data.
This data visibility helps nonprofits connect the data dots, leading to a better understanding of target audiences, more modernized, engaging experiences for constituents, strengthened marketing efforts, and greater fundraising.
When nonprofits truly understand data and see the full, zoomed-out view of constituents, organizations are able to better identify pain points and communicate with constituents on an individually customized basis, paving the way toward greater impact on the mission.
Connecting the Nonprofit with Data
One of the most exciting data solutions now available is Salesforce’s Data Cloud. This Cloud can stand alone in its own Salesforce Instance or can be added to an existing Salesforce CRM, which provides a safe, secure, and scalable foundation for organizational data. No matter the size of the nonprofit or its mission, Data Cloud is designed to support and scale alongside the organization.
Data Cloud does so through the use of real-time data analysis to transform customer experiences, allowing organizations to deepen relationships with those customers and create engaging experiences backed by data. Data Cloud unifies constituent data and leverages tools like AI and automation to create actionable insights. This is achieved by connecting data at scale, from any app, device, or real-time stream.
Salesforce users can collect, store, and manage all constituent data in one place and achieve a comprehensive view of each individual’s interactions with the organization across different systems in the technology landscape. This level of insight then allows users to create tailored experiences that harmonize data, empower internal staff, and better engage the constituent.
Currently, Data Cloud connects seamlessly to the Salesforce CRM, Amazon S3 Storage, Azure Cloud Storage, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Personalization, Intelligence, Google Cloud Storage, and SFTP. Data ingestion streams support bringing in data sources from across the organization and harmonizing them into unified constituent profiles.
Data Cloud for Fundraising
Fundraising drives nonprofit organizations. Being able to find the trends in data can help us better understand donor giving, plans for incoming revenue, and preferred communication, all of which are ways to help increase engagement and funds raised. Data Cloud empowers nonprofits to track and analyze key metrics, such as donor interests and communication preferences, by how and where they interact with your organization. Pulling in data from your marketing automation, website, social, and CRM can help you predict the next best action, recommend funds on interest to prospective donors, or identify your next major donor.
Real-World Application
Between ticketing, point of sales, membership, and donation systems, museums are faced with the perpetual task of connecting data and then leveraging that data. Data Cloud helps to unify data from ticketing systems, member databases, commerce POS systems, events systems, and more, to build a cohesive donor profile. From there, organizations can identify the precursors necessary to find more major donors and drive engagement that benefits the acquisition funnel.
Data Cloud for Program Management
Nonprofit programs serve as beacons of hope for our communities, but spreadsheets and Google Cloud Storage can divide data and create barriers to success. By leveraging Data Cloud, Program Managers can consolidate all the data gathered from various sources, including Google Storage, spreadsheets, local demographics, government assistance records, and demand trends, into one, easy-to-access solution. This consolidation allows organizations to connect with constituents in a way that empowers outreach and creates innovation.
Real-World Application
Maintaining a balanced inventory is critical for food banks to meet the varying demands of their clients. Data Cloud enables organizations to analyze historical data, such as food donations, seasonal trends, and consumption patterns. Armed with this data-driven knowledge, organizations are able to optimize their inventory management, reducing waste and ensuring a consistent supply of nutritious options for those in need.
Data Cloud for Impact Reporting
Impact reporting is a critical aspect of fundraising success that should not be underestimated. These reports are used to track the progress of the nonprofit organization’s fundraising success on a yearly basis, at quarterly intervals, after completion of campaigns, etc. Creating efficient impact reports helps to create transparency in the organization while providing clear, actionable reports and metrics that can be leveraged for all future efforts. Data Cloud is perfectly suited to the amount of data and scale of operations typically garnered by nonprofit organizations and analyzed through impact reporting.
Real-World Application
Nonprofit organizations in the human service sector rely on impact reporting to derive insights on where needs are most prevalent. Using a variety of data sources, such as surveys, census data, and geographical factors, human service organizations leverage impact reports to build strategy and strengthen relief efforts wherever the data says its most needed. From housing and crisis relief to advocacy and legislation, impact reports are essential for these organizations to continue vital efforts.
Breaking Down Data Cloud’s Nonprofit Benefits
Unified View of Constituents
Nonprofit organizations interact with various donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, and members every single day. With Data Cloud, organizations are able to harness the power of real-time data from any source (website visits, email campaign engagement, social media, etc.) to build a single, unified view of each constituent’s interests, preferences, and digital behavior. Organizations can then leverage that data in real-time to better understand constituents and inform every subsequent interaction.
Personalized Constituent Engagement
With a unified view of constituents, nonprofit organizations can use Data Cloud to personalize interactions with ease. For example, in just a few clicks, nonprofits can send personalized messages to donors based on their unique giving history or tailor-crafted marketing messages based on a constituent’s website browsing. Every campaign, journey, and moment shared between the organization and the constituent benefits from Data Cloud’s real-time data connectivity.
That connectivity helps to achieve a sense of identity resolution across an organization’s efforts. Identity resolution creates tangible alignment across a variety of profiles from the CRM, web activity, social media metrics, and more, to generate a comprehensive picture of an individual.
More Targeted Marketing
Data Cloud can also help build targeted marketing efforts by identifying the right audience for the right campaigns with a drag-and-drop editor. Say a nonprofit wants to create a segment of high-value donors who have given a certain amount in the last year, or a segment for past program participants that might be interested in an upcoming event.
These hypotheticals become realities through Data Cloud’s ability to seamlessly empower users to connect with ease. Going a step further, nonprofits can also leverage Data Cloud’s unified customer data profiles to tailor experiences automatically with Salesforce Einstein.
Deeper Insights and Analytics
Data Cloud unlocks invaluable insights and analytics that can help drive data-driven decisions. These analytics are tracked intuitively across a variety of constituent engagement metrics, such as email open rates, website visits, and social media activity. Having access to these metrics then helps nonprofits fine-tune campaigns to maximize the effectiveness of marketing efforts over time.
Want to learn more about how Salesforce Data Cloud can create quantifiable change for nonprofit organizations? Contact Cloud for Good today.
