New digital technologies are progressively altering the way organisations connect with their audiences, including charities 

In the old days, fundraising was a very easy and straightforward process. You’d give a fundraising collector in the streets your spare change or send your cheque to the post office box of your preferred charity. However, with the evolution of digital technology, coupled with the growth of mobile and internet technology, some significant changes have occurred in the donation process.

Nowadays, donors can make their donations instantly through their mobile wallets or monthly direct debits. Moreover, unlike the old days when donors had to confirm their contributions using a signature, now you don’t need to sign any form.

But beyond the apparent opportunities provided by digital technologies for non-profit organisations, which technologies should charities use to remain relevant?

Personalisation across platforms and channels

We all know that personalisation is not a new phenomenon. After all, direct mail has been in use for several decades for fundraising. However, digital transformation presents a lot of opportunities for personalisation with more measurable benefits. Specifically, the digital space provides opportunities that allow charities to draw users towards online conversations about donating.

Analytics and data maturity

We are living in the information age, where analytics and data are crucial for companies that want to succeed in a competitive environment. In fact, data is very central to the digital successes of any organisations and, as such, most of them are placing emphasis on a mature approach to gathering, processing, and interpreting it.

Charities can equally benefit from using data to make meaningful decisions. Specifically, an emphasis on attribution can help them to understand the contribution of each digital channel in terms of donations. 

Digital leadership and ownership

Most organisations going through digital transformation often face the challenge of getting C-suite level internal advocacy to drive change in their operations. The situation is no different in charities. In the non-profit sector, the responsibility is usually disparate and fragmented, posing an even more complex challenge. 

Notably, most charities reserve the ownership of digital channels to PR teams, existing supporter nurturing teams or new supporter acquisition teams. Regrettably, the fragmented approach may pose severe obstacles to the achievement of a digitally savvy organisation. So, for charities to realise the gains of digital transformation, they have to play a leadership role and have a stake in the entire process.

Conclusively, the future of digital marketing for charities will depend on how they will incorporate the use of analytics and data, provide a seamless experience across channels, and develop internal leadership for promoting digital transformation.

Looking to find out more about how Christians donate to charities? Download The Christian Opinion Panel 2019 Survey for free now!