Successful nonprofits are storytellers. They use data to understand their program’s value and enhance a narrative that will reach the hearts of supporters. You can use your Connect site’s reporting to gather the data you need to present to your board, appeal to donors, and encourage sustained volunteerism. Here are some ways your organization can better tell its story of changemaking:
Visualize Success: Set Achievable Goals
Set goals for your organization and its volunteers. Communicate your progress along the way to show volunteers and donors that their efforts are making a real difference to the health of your community. You can capture relevant data through your software so that your board, volunteers, and community can visualize your growth--ultimately inspiring sustained support.
Community Impact Goals
Set goals for volunteer hours and opportunity responses with Community Impact Goals. Community Impact Goals, like the example below, are an effective way to share your process of growth:
Your community can watch as hours and donations accrue in real time and ultimately help meet your goal together.
Secure and Maintain Funding
Awarding foundations and donors want to know the value of your programs. Communicating your value will demonstrate the importance--and effectiveness--of the work you do. Plus, our Customer Care Team can help you decide which Connect report is right for your needs.
Use your reports to understand program-specific data that will demonstrate the outcomes (and successes) to your funders, and encourage supporters to learn more about why your program matters. For example, let’s say that 250 volunteers contributed over 2,000 hours to your “Women Build” program last year. With the dedication of these volunteers, your program built new, safe homes for women and children in your community.
Tip: Support your data by sharing the story of a volunteer or individual affected by your program to remind supporters about the true purpose of your organization.
Increase Volunteer Engagement
Volunteers are motivated by the desire to do good. But they also like to know their work is appreciated. Your data can help you understand, and award, the efforts of your volunteers. Here a just a few tools that will help you acknowledge and engage volunteers:
Benchmarks
Set Benchmarks to acknowledge volunteers who have achieved your volunteerism goals. Volunteers earn badges like these when they reach benchmarks:
Custom Pages
Custom Pages offers a space to feature your superstar volunteers, tell their stories, or highlight popular opportunities and new programs on your site (use your Connect reporting feature to identify program, skill area, or opportunity popularity). You can showcase your custom pages in your site’s spotlights, image rotator, and more!
Volunteer Newsletter
A monthly volunteer spotlight or program feature makes for great content in your next e-Newsletter (use your top volunteers report to find your hardest-working helpers). You’ll show your dedicated volunteers the appreciation they deserve, while enriching your organization’s story of volunteerism.
Grow Your Programs
It’s important to understand program outcomes and volunteerism participation to help you reflect on your efforts, identify areas of improvement, and set new goals. Tools like these can help you develop a deeper understanding of your current impact:
Custom Questions
Want to capture more than just numerical data? Custom questions help your organization gather information specific to your needs by asking volunteers to submit their answers when they sign up for an opportunity through Connect. You may ask questions like:
How likely are you to volunteer again?
How can your volunteer experience with your recent opportunity improve?
What are the strengths of this program based on your recent volunteer experience?
Now that you have the answers to the questions you need, use the User Filter to generate a custom questions list to communicate directly to those volunteers.
Volunteer Impact Page (VIP)
Share your story internally to boost morale and motivate staff, and feature compelling infographics on your Volunteer Impact Page for your supporters to view. Title your VIP something like “Look how far we’ve come!” Volunteers and partner agencies will see the part they played in your growth.
More than numbers
Your data is more than just numbers. Capturing and reporting accurate data can help you tell your story, grow your impact, and acknowledge the dedicated volunteers who make your programs possible. Please reach out to us at support@galaxydigital.com for your questions on Connect reporting.