No matter what type of organization you run—whether you’re a nonprofit working to end child hunger in your local community or a small screenprinting business—you need a solid management strategy.
“Management strategy” is a broad term that can encompass everything from how you handle recurring billing to client communication or employee onboarding. In essence, a management strategy requires you to be an effective leader and handle the laundry list of tasks that come along with overseeing people and projects with finesse, no matter the nature of your organization.
But what’s a great leader without his or her arsenal of tools? With the right digital tools on your side, you can streamline, automate, and smooth out the rough edges of your management efforts. For instance, your fraternity and sorority management strategy may benefit from software that collects and organizes student member and alumni information, as you’ll have more free time to pursue philanthropic efforts. Likewise, your new small business could better manage its expenses with a digital envelope budgeting solution, empowering you to make smarter spending choices.
This is just one specific example of how digital tools can enhance your management strategy. Let’s explore three digital tools that can help with general management strategy fine-tuning:
Along the way, we’ll be sure to provide you with plenty of vivid examples of tools like these in action so that no matter the nature of your organization, you can imagine how they might help you ramp up your management game.
Let’s begin!
1. Registration and Billing Software
Whether you’re onboarding clients or hosting fundraising events, you’ll need a robust solution for managing all things registration and billing. After all, these processes allow you to pull in revenue from and engage with your target audience.
But what should you look for in a registration and billing solution? Here are a few items to keep on your shopping list:
- Customizable event registration forms
- Secure payments and multiple payment options
- Embedded e-signing
- Automatic receipt and payment notifications
- Seamless integrations with the rest of your tech stack
Here’s another key thing to remember when shopping for your platform: the most important part of any great registration or billing experience is user-friendliness. The right solution will allow you to keep the number of required steps and information entry to a minimum while also empowering you to capture as much information about your customer or donor as possible.
For example, say your professional association is hosting a conference. In order to participate in your conference, members need to register and pay a fee. With a streamlined registration form and secure payment processing, members can get through the logistics of registration quickly. A straightforward process will improve the user experience,resulting in higher form completion rate, and consequently, better attendance for your big event.
2. Customized Website
A website can serve as the central hub of your organization’s online presence, an internet outpost where your supporters, patrons, or members can go to find useful information and resources or complete important tasks, like making a purchase or signing up for a workshop.
But your website should be customized to your specific organization. In other words, it should reflect your organization’s brand. Use customizable templates or work with a web designer to ensure that your website reflects not only everything your organization stands for but your visual branding, as well.
Additionally, your website should include information and resources that are useful to your target audience. Here are a few examples of what you might add to your own website:
- Ecommerce store: If you sell products or services online (even if you’re a nonprofit that uses products to fundraise), you’ll need an online store. Within your store, users should be able to easily explore the items you have to offer and check out once they’ve made their selections.
- Event landing pages: If your organization hosts events, it can be helpful to create dedicated landing pages where you can share all of the details about the event. Include information about registration, date and time, parking, waivers, and dress code. This way, your audience will have a specific place to return to again and again when they have questions about the event.
- Donation page: If your organization participates in fundraising, you’ll need a well-designed donation page. This page should be mobile responsive and ask for only necessary information from your supporters, like contact information and payment details. If you wish to capture other information, make sure to mark extra questions as optional. For example, if you’re offering an alumni giving page, make sure to include optional questions like “When did you graduate?” or “Would you like to receive our alumni/ae newsletter?” This way, you won’t slow down the process for alumni/ae who are looking to complete their gift quickly but will also get a fuller picture of donors who do fill out those questions.
- Blog: A blog can be a great tool for keeping your audience informed about what’s going on at your organization. Stick to a regular posting schedule, and get creative as you share stories about your products, customers, donors, events, volunteers, or beneficiaries.
By including important resources like these and branding your website to your organization, you can establish your site as a reliable source of information for your target audience. This will give them good reason to visit your site again and again!
3. Membership Management Software
Many organizations offer some sort of membership program. For example, associations and fraternities and sororities lean heavily on the support of and engagement from their members. Likewise, a small yoga studio might offer a membership program to regular class attendees, or a boutique retailer might offer a membership or loyalty program that allows customers to leverage perks or discounts.
Regardless of what it looks like, your organization’s membership program will require managing, too! And that’s where membership management software comes in. The right membership management software tools will help you to increase your revenue, engage your members, store accurate data securely, improve your recruitment and retention processes, and offer greater transparency to everyone in your organization and membership program.
But, what specific tools should you look for? Here are a few we recommend:
- Communication Software: The appeal of joining a membership program, whether it’s a professional organization or a local gym, is that you belong somewhere. And for your members to feel like they truly belong with your organization, they need to be able to communicate with you and their fellow members. Look for a tool that allows you to update your members about events and upcoming fundraising efforts or class discounts. Members should also be able to interact with each other to strengthen connections.
- Project Coordination and Management Tools: Your members may also need to work together on different projects or initiatives. Tools like Google Drive, Trello, or Slack can ensure that your members can work together in real-time, whether they’re preparing a presentation for a conference or getting ready to launch a fundraising event.
- Recruiting Software: With any member-based organization, there is a consistent need to recruit more members. A larger community means more benefits for everyone involved! The right tools can help you find, connect to, and recruit new members so that your community grows.
According to OmegaFi, you should conduct careful research as you work to select the best tools for your organization. Google searches, software review websites, and trusted colleagues can provide insights and feedback on the solutions you’re considering.
You might be an event business owner, an association leader, a sorority president, or a nonprofit executive director. Regardless of what your organization looks like, having the right tools backing up your management efforts will be mission-critical to your long-term success.
Use this guide as a starting point to make sure that you’re looking for the right stack of digital tools that will benefit your organization and the people it serves. Happy shopping!