Nonprofit tech stretches to meet donor expectations

Donors increasingly expect the same level of service from their nonprofit beneficiaries that they get from the corporations they regularly engage with. It is driving a technological revolution in the cause sector, with smart nonprofits leveraging tools and platforms that make supporters feel seen, appreciated, and understood.

Donor experience in 2025

Constituent expectations have changed dramatically in the past few years as corporate America has implemented ever more sophisticated and personalized online experiences

Your donors, when they interact with businesses large and small, now expect:

• Personalized communications that are tailored to their interests and needs,
• An end to receiving messages from different departments that have inconsistent information, design, or tone.
• To be able to interact with the company in ways that are convenient for them.

Are we not doing that too?

Largely, no. It’s not uncommon for an individual department at a nonprofit to adopt a platform or tool that works for them. Sometimes, this is out of necessity or desperation but many of our clients find themselves with a stack that doesn’t integrate, forcing their teams to build complex workarounds. Many others simply can’t take advantage of modern fundraising tools at all!

From a donor perspective, that means receiving multiple emails in the same week with different appeals, or content that is overly generic (because the org isn’t able to collect or easily surface relevant information about their interests as a supporter). The consequences can range from a mild feeling that the org doesn’t understand them, to a planned giving disaster.

Leading nonprofits are seeing the value of creating an organization-wide technology strategy to align department and org needs. It’s not simply about having everyone in the organization using the same technology. It’s about providing a more personal and unified constituent and donor experience.

Start here:

1. Develop a strategic approach to your technology.

You might think of your customer relationship management (CRM) or donor database system as the tool you use to manage your constituent and donor relationships. But to truly deliver a consistent and cohesive experience, it’s critical to take a broader view of your technology stack—including all of the apps and platforms you use, from marketing automation tools and peer-to-peer fundraising platforms to event management software and online communities. To be effective, your nonprofit’s technology plan must align with your organization’s goals, ensuring that each tool you select works with your overall tech ecosystem to support what your organization is trying to accomplish.

 

Get The Nonprofit’s Guide to Making Strategic Digital Tech Decisions

 

2. Put your data in order.

Ensuring you have high-quality data is crucial to create good donor experiences. No matter how great your marketing, fundraising, and technology strategies might be, they won’t reach their potential if you have lots of duplicate, old, or missing data. Take time to deduplicate, delete or archive outdated records, and fill in the data gaps you need. Develop clear documentation data entry and duplicate handling.

3. Take an audience-first approach.

Identify the audiences you want to communicate with and design an experience that connects with each segment in the most impactful way. To power your strategy, you will need trustworthy data that gives you the 360-degree view of your donor and a tech stack that can leverage the personalization features that supporters demand.

Take the next step to deliver for your donors

If you’d like to talk about how to build a technology foundation that supports donor experience, our team is ready to help. Contact Team Heller today to learn more.

 

P.S. This is your reminder to stretch. Yes, you, right there at your desk. Let’s stretch some of that tension out.