How to Buy Technology for Your Nonprofit
Buying nonprofit technology can seem scary. But this guide can make easier, especially for those small to medium sized nonprofits.
We know what it’s like working at a small nonprofit. Sometimes you don’t have the resources to buy technology. All of the extra dollars you bring in get reinvested in the community, one way or another. It’s all in the hopes that you will be able to achieve your organization’s mission.
That’s why the idea of buying nonprofit technology can seem like a daunting task, especially if your team hasn’t been using the best tools to date.
So, we want to remove some of those barriers by breaking down the steps you should take when tackling a technology buying decision. Our friends at Capterra created a nifty infographic to show their most important steps when buying technology. But we’d like to delve a bit deeper and give you even more information to make a smart decision.
Let’s start with the vocabulary. Some of the terms that come up quite often when it comes to buying #npTech include:
• Automation — The technology by which a process or procedure is performed without human assistance.
• CRM — An acronym for Customer Relationship Management. This is a piece of technology that houses all the valuable information about your contacts, donors and volunteers. Basically, anyone you come in contact will be found within the CRM.
• Data — Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. A lot of the information you collect could have some metrics attached to them, and you can make smart decisions based on these numbers!
• Implementation — The process of putting a decision into effect. In this case, it’s about making sure your technology is actually rolled out properly and is being used.
• Migration — This is the process of moving your data from one place to another, or from one system to another.
• Onboarding — The process of familiarizing your organization and team members with the new technology. This is often done in partnership with the technology vendor.
If you’d like some more, you could always check out our full nonprofit technology glossary.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way..
Here are some practical steps to take as an organization, when it comes to buying technology:
