Nonprofits rely on donations to keep their doors open, and these organizations are always on the lookout for new ways to engage donors in their cause. These individuals are becoming more tech-savvy, which means nonprofits are having to learn to keep up. Donation management software is an essential building block of a tech-savvy nonprofit environment and can help organizations keep in touch with previous donors more effectively. However, gaining new contributors is always a challenge, especially as new-age groups become viable donors.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy noted that traditional forms of fundraising may not be as effective with the millennial age group, whose members tend to perform their own research rather than responding to solicitations. The news source reported that 4 out of 5 donors will research before giving. Five years ago, only 2 out of 3 reported researching an organization before giving money.

According to “Informed Giving,” a report from Root Cause, donors don’t often give charitable gifts to organizations unless they have learned a little bit about them. Besides, there is a steady number of donors who don’t respond to the solicitation at all, and instead rely on their own research to determine whether or not to give money.

The report found many different areas of interest to potential donors. For instance, 75 percent are interested in the impact of the organization, 63 percent want information about the social issue the nonprofit addresses, and 56 percent are interested in specific projects the nonprofit is attempting to fund.

The necessity of donations 

The best remedy to this changing environment is for nonprofits to start providing information online that potential benefactors can find that will encourage them to give to the cause. Having a blog is more important than ever. For potential donors who don’t respond to cold calls or mailings, nonprofits can populate their blogs with the kinds of information that donors are interested in learning. On every blog post, organizations can include a signup form that will enable them to receive e-newsletters or other communications that may help their decision-making process.

To blog about current projects, nonprofits should ideally have a good system for maintaining data about these programs. A robust donation management platform can also help you keep track of new potential donors and keep in touch with them more effectively. As fundraising tactics change, having a nimble platform to maintain donor information is more important than ever.