Data collection is an important part of nonprofit success, but these processes are often challenging and time-consuming if you have limited resources and staff. Especially if these processes are paper-based. It’s difficult to focus on high-impact projects when you’re swamped with paper documents and manual tasks.
If you work at a nonprofit, you know the potential technology has to improve operations. Taking the leap to digital data collection processes can be an investment, depending on the platform. But long term, it has the power to streamline workflows, cut administrative workflow, and ultimately maximize your nonprofit impact.
The power of data for Nonprofits
Data reaches every corner of nonprofit operations, from constituent communication, volunteer recruitment, donor outreach, and fundraising. And if this data is high quality, it can help nonprofits properly budget, provide donors with accurate reporting, and forecast effectively. It also helps nonprofits provide more personalized experiences for clients, volunteers, staff, and board members.
With the right data collection tool, nonprofits can streamline these processes and increase operational efficiency while improving data hygiene and reporting capabilities. Learn how nonprofit organizations are making this happen with help from FormAssembly’s easy-to-use data collection solution.
1. User-Friendly form builder with advanced functionality
Integrating new technology into your nonprofit is challenging enough without the added accessibility concerns for non-technical staff. On the other hand, you don’t want to invest time and money into a platform that lacks the functionality you need.
The National Gaucher Foundation chose FormAssembly for the ease of use for team members and the ability to modernize and secure application processes that involved sensitive medical data. FormAssembly’s drag-and-drop form builder with save and resume capabilities reduced the time staff spent manually editing and updating applications. The accessibility and functionality on both the front and back end created seamless experiences for both staff and clients.
Ultimately, the National Gaucher Foundation eliminated 100s of staff hours otherwise spent on manual data entry, with 99.99% of applicants stating FormAssembly made the user process simpler.
2. Powerful app and system integration
Your nonprofit most likely uses multiple tools already such as spreadsheets for tracking volunteer hours, payment software for collecting donations, or Salesforce for constituent management. Finding a data collection tool that connects with these systems may seem impossible. Thankfully, FormAssembly provides many integration options to ensure even more efficient workflows.
UtmostU relies on FormAssembly’s Salesforce-connected data collection solution to improve efficiency, communication, and effectiveness of their Network for Young Adult Success program. Previously, the organization struggled through manual data uploads to Excel spreadsheets to collect and share information about students. With FormAssembly, they now have seamless processes for collecting data regarding enrollment, student demographics, academic status, and contact information.
UtmostU saw a 50% reduction in manual data management effort and a 30% reduction in form-associated maintenance costs by turning to FormAssembly.
3. Workflow automation
Many nonprofit processes involve repetitive tasks that waste time for staff. Such administrative processes as volunteer reminders, event follow-up, feedback requests, and approvals, can easily be automated with the right tools. With more tedious tasks fully automated, you and your team will be freed to focus on bigger, more meaningful projects.
Family Promise leverages FormAssembly’s data collection platform and Workflow process builder to modernize and automate outdated administrative processes. In the past, the nonprofit organization was buried in time-consuming manual tasks involving paper mail and spreadsheets. Now, Family Promise automates these processes with help from Workflow and plans to automate processes such as pre-event communication and volunteer sign-ups in the future.
So far, Family Promise has been able to effectively serve 125,000 family members and 200+ affiliate organizations every year with a solution that helps them save time and achieve cleaner data.
Start streamlining your nonprofit processes
Could your nonprofit benefit from more streamlined and efficient data collection processes? Learn more about how FormAssembly can help!
