What are the best communication tools for nonprofits? What collaboration tools meet the needs of nonprofit organizations (NPOs)? An examination of recent nonprofit sector surveys1 identifies that NPOs face many urgent challenges—budgetary and financial considerations were the biggest concern, with staffing, change management and the need for collaboration also among the key results. While some of these challenges resemble the difficulties small businesses experience, others are unique to the nonprofit space, like the challenge of limited government funding and technology shortfalls.
There's a growing consensus that NPOs can benefit from digital transformation in order to reevaluate the way they interact with donors, staff, volunteers and the broader community. This push toward adopting collaboration and communication tools for nonprofits will allow NPOs to host virtual meetings, fund-raising events, and more. For example, 71% of Grassi1 survey respondents reported adopting new technology, while "enhanced technology" like pivoting to virtual service delivery (think collaboration tools) was cited as "necessary" for success in the Nonprofit Leadership Center (NLC)2 survey.
Financial challenges
Financial stability was the top challenge for 62% of respondents to the National Finance Fund (NFF)3 survey, despite 86% of NPOs reporting an increasing demand for services. Meanwhile, 83% of NPOs saw a decrease in revenue and contributions compared to 2019, according to the Independent Sector5 survey.
NPOs often have to contend with unpredictable annual revenue, which causes budgeting challenges. Further, some donors and foundations prefer to direct their grants toward restricted funds that are earmarked for special programs or purposes. For example, 46% of NFF respondents reported accessing unrestricted revenue as one of their main concerns. Additionally, the National Executive Service Corps identifies a disengaged board as one of the top reasons NPOs fail financially, which means that helping board members to learn more about the daily work employees perform, as well as the platforms and collaboration tools employees use, may set the organization up for success.
Staffing and communication tools for nonprofits
A key challenge identified by 66% of NFF respondents was the impact of staff retention and resource constraints making it difficult for NPOs to invest in employees' professional development or offer competitive salaries. NPOs who happened to have the resources for "additional skills/training" and collaboration tools that "assist in remote work for planning and accountability" found these to be headline reasons for success, according to the NLC survey. This indicates that managing the transition to a flexible and hybrid workplace is a challenge for both NPOs and for-profits and that organizations that have these resources can thrive and grow.
Managing and engaging volunteers is a unique challenge for NPOs, with 32% having implemented new volunteer engagement methods since the start of the pandemic, according to the New Hampshire (NH) Center for Nonprofits4 survey. It can be hard to build the necessary momentum for digital transformation if most of the users are volunteers who work part time or only several times a year. This can be exacerbated if volunteers lack confidence in using technology or lack proficiency in specific nonprofit organization software.
Benefits of collaboration tools for nonprofits
As the survey details, collaboration is a crucial challenge for NPOs, whether between internal staff, with volunteers, with the board or with other NPOs. According to the NFF survey, 68% of NPOs are collaborating with other NPOs, while 43% are considering a collaboration next year, according to the Grassi survey. Having the right collaboration tools can boost organizational efficiency and effectiveness. As virtual events are becoming the new normal, keeping audiences engaged remains a challenge.
Using the right collaboration tools can allow NPOs to share their stories and missions to potential supporters helping to attract more fundraising and volunteers. Efficient and structured engagement with the wider community is important for NPOs as better collaboration results in enhanced outcomes.
Change management
Adaptability was cited as the most important trait for success by 40.5% of NLC respondents. Nonprofit leaders often must pivot organizational priorities and services when the needs of the people they serve change, often doing so with limited resources.
NPOs also face many of the same challenges as other organizations when it comes to change management, the digital workplace and online collaboration. NPOs especially need an effective strategy to invite a volunteer or donor up the ladder of engagement (for-profit companies would refer to this as a customer experience strategy). For example, as part of that strategy, religious NPOs like mosques, temples and churches may need user-friendly distance conferencing tools to help their communities safely attend services. Schools find themselves in similar situations, relying on distance learning solutions to make classes available to all students in a hybrid learning environment.
Tools that address nonprofit challenges
Cost-effective collaboration and communication tools for nonprofits can help address their common challenges. For example, smaller nonprofit teams that run on lean budgets can use collaboration tools, like BlueJeans, to stay connected with colleagues and supporters from anywhere, hosting conference calls to announce new initiatives or configure hunt groups for year-end fundraising drives. One Talk Side View option provides application programming interfaces (APIs) with software such as Salesforce to provide easy access to real-time insights on donors and supporters, which can help small NPOs move constituents up the ladder of engagement.
Communication and collaboration tools for nonprofits like BlueJeans have a range of features to help address some common challenges:
- Smart meeting highlights and transcriptions can help engage board members, remote staff or volunteers unable to attend meetings. This technology can track important action items and select topics for future follow-up conversations.
- Breakout rooms can facilitate large-scale collaborative meetings, such as volunteer training sessions or team meetings.
- Annotations and digital whiteboards can provide space for ideation and problem-solving either externally with other NPOs or internally with key stakeholders including board members.
Project management tools like Jira, Asana and Monday can track every step of each project, whether related to seeking funding, delivering services or policy advocacy. This allows staff and volunteers to stay informed and make sure relevant conversations or notes aren't stuck in someone's inbox.
NPOs must address many complex issues, many of which are familiar to for-profit businesses. They must digitally transform, collaborate effectively and cultivate meaningful relationships with constituents. Crucially, NPOs must accomplish all of these goals with modest and unpredictable budgets. Affordable collaboration and communication tools for nonprofits can help them overcome many of the challenges they face today.
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The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.
The 2021 surveys examined were:
1Grassi Nonprofit Leadership Survey Report
2Nonprofit Leadership Center (NLC) survey of nonprofit CEOs and executive directors
3Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) National State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey
4New Hampshire (NH) Center for Nonprofits survey
5Independent Sector survey on Impact of COVID-19 on Large and Mid-Sized Nonprofits