Non-Profits: Technology is The Biggest Donation You Aren’t Leveraging

Any non-profit COO or CTO will tell you that finding the technology that appropriately addresses their needs is tough to come by. The existing platforms with the non-profit in mind often cost upwards of $25,000 to engage. There are several problems with this situation. First, it is impossible to know that a CRM/donor database/360° fundraising platform will meet your needs long-term. Second, these platforms will lock you in for a year at least, and the much-needed updates will never come. Lastly, these platforms are insular systems without API or any means of connecting them to other solutions. (San Francisco, feel free to help us out here.)

I’m lucky to work in a non-profit vertical that spans from the tiny side-project to the multi-million dollar behemoth fundraising machine. In a space where we’re all working towards the same goal, it’s interesting how organizations leverage technology to carry out their mission.

Over the past six years at Stupid Cancer, we have stopped and started with so many different platforms my staff now cringes any time I tell them I’ve found something new. It’s true that I’ve probably worn out my welcome by having them help me test new things, but old habits die hard. When it was just Matthew and myself, we had to compensate for the lack of staff. It was the wild west of free trial exploration, and I learned a lot from it.

As we’ve grown over the past few years and hired staff to help us, my instinct remains to take a tech-forward approach.

I am also a big believer in putting automated systems in place where appropriate and removing the human element. There is no reason to try to do things better than computers. I see it way too often in this community of limited resources. It will only reduce your capacity for upward growth.

We recently did an internal exercise where we measured how much time each staff member spent on their respective duties. While they mostly landed as we thought they would, there were some instances where outside forces were pulling us away from getting out jobs done. In any company — especially a growing one – this is bound to happen. Ultimately, we took a look at the results and have begun to figure out how to mitigate these distractions by adding articles to our Zendesk FAQ, for example.

In this world of highly scrutinized non-profit budgets, there is so much time and money that can be saved by utilizing low-cost platforms like Zapier or IFTTT (Which doesn’t cost anything at all). I actually find most SaaS-based companies are willing to give deep discounts just based on your merit.

Google and Slack are two examples of companies that reward 501(c)(3) organizations with a lifetime subscription to their platform for free. If a platform doesn’t offer free or discounted services, offer to create compelling content for them that will be mutually beneficial.

We recently received a lovely donation from a platform we had used in the past that was in transition. The temporary separation was a mutual agreement, as they changed their core product offering. When the dust settled on their end, we jumped right in line to sign up.

As the maturation of Stupid Cancer continues from a tiny startup non-profit to million dollar organization, I remain vigilant in making sure we stay nimble and unburdened by the unnecessary.

Zendesk, a Non-Profit's Dream.

I'm going to generalize and say that most non-profits lack the ability to experiment with their tech infrastructure.  It's not their fault; they're just not as nerdy as Matthew and I. As I write this from my JetBlue gate at San Diego International Airport, I can't help but romanticize about closing tickets.  What I'm referring to is the act of responding to inquiries that get triaged by my staff and me.  It's become second nature.  I know that when I check my iPhone, there could be a Zendesk push notification.

So, what the hell is a Zendesk?

When I first pitched it to my staff, which doubled from 2 to 4 in 2012, I told them it was first a helpdesk ticketing system.  The inquiry comes in, the ticket is created, the notification is pushed, correspondence takes place, and then the ticket is solved.  Secondly, it's a glorious FAQ knowledge base that you can custom-tailor to your needs.  It also includes the ability to have a blog-style dialogue at the bottom of each FAQ page.

Why can't I keep using my free Gmail account that my whole staff shares which catch all of the e-mails that come in?

Chances are you have one or many e-mail addresses that catch your general inquiries.  (I have at least 6.)  You've created aliases, consolidated, and have any and all stray e-mails land in this Google safe haven.  If this sounds like you, you're not exactly doing it wrong, but you could be doing it better...with Zendesk.

If you're not doing this and have some other crazy MacGuyver setup, you may be past saving.

Why do you use it?

As I mentioned, I have at least six e-mails for inquiries to come in through.  Over the years, we've created these e-mail addresses for various purposes in an attempt to do something that I can't remember because it probably didn't work as well as we had thought it would.

Keeping with their mantra, we've been in a zen state since February.  Once we went live with ZD in February, in came the tickets! (YAY) We also realized that there was a lot of spam linked to these accounts, which subsequently drove our new ticket number up and resulted in us having to spend some time pruning.

Here's what I hoped for/expected when I signed up for Zendesk:

• One general inbox to rule them all. A place to keep inquiries and action items that isn't my personal g-mail which coexists with my work e-mail.

• Easily redirecting inquiries based on which bucket they landed in. Gone are the time-sucking e-mail introductions - with one click of a button, I can reassign a ticket to a coworker.

• Serving our constituents faster and more efficiently. Oh yea, those guys.

• Improved customer service. We operate a rapidly growing online store. Questions, comments, exchanges, and the occasional "WHERE IS MY ORDER??????"

• Living, breathing FAQ. Finally, a place to put all of our policies and hopefully reduce the number of inbound FAQs.

Here's the reality:

• You get what you pay for. Zendesk is definitely an investment, but it's worth every penny.

• Use it wisely. Zendesk is a leg of your communications strategy, but it's doesn't come with autopilot. (Do create macros, though!)

• Know your audience. Some people might be turned off by getting a ticket number assigned to them. Others may not understand their role in the process. If they're a legacy member of your organization, they just won't be expecting it. Keep on truckin'.

• Limit your back and forth. I once tried to coordinate a calendar meeting using Zendesk. We wound up going back and forth at least 10 times. There will be times you kick it old school and switch over to e-mail. Zendesk makes it easy to compose right from your dashboard.

• Feedback can be amazing. We've never had a "quick survey" tool. You can enable your Zendesk to send a followup e-mail to rate your customer service. I have mine set to 2 hours after I mark a ticket solved. Negative feedback is the single best gift someone can give you - it helps you do it better the next time.

• Creating FAQs can be both hard and easy. Your FAQs are not the same as people who are just learning about your organization. Crowdsource them and throw yours out of the closest window.

• FAQ pages can be fun. This is not your standard Zendesk front end.

• Accountability. Based on the size of your team, you can see who is kicking Zendesk's butt and who is slacking. You get full metrics about individual response time and the quality of their support.

There's definitely more to the story, and each Zendesk will have its challenges and opportunities.  As with any tech investment, you get out of it what you put in.