You're a nonprofit leader looking to boost productivity. What online tools should you be using?

Leveraging online tools significantly enhances efficiency for my nonprofit development team. We rely on Monday.com for project management, Salesforce as our CRM, Hootsuite for Marketing, and Teams for communication. In my experience, incorporating these tools significantly boosts productivity, However, it's crucial to assess your workflow before implementing a new tool. Also, it is helpful to regularly evaluate their effectiveness and be open to mixing things up if something is no longer serving your team. Of course, providing adequate training and support for your team will ensure a smooth transition and maximize the benefits of these online tools. These tools are worthwhile, but require planning and intentionality in their implementation.

In my experience, using simple and accessable tools like the G-suite can be extremely helpful. Almost everyone knows how to use them and all of the features are collaborative. If you are working with more specialized employees/volunteers, you can definitely have a more sophisticated online platform to use for communication and collaboration.

I own and operate multiple businesses and am old school digital technology challenged. lol I work with many volunteers, NFP groups, Indigenous people and regional small business owners who usually can’t afford monthly subscriptions to numerous software or communication tools, nor do they have capacity to learn and manage how to use them all. Working with government and industry stakeholders regularly, as well as multiple communities, key communication tools I use to coach 300 people annually and work with government are: - mobile phone - text messaging via phone or clicksend - MS outlook for my emails and calendar management - MS word and excel - cloud storage AND my external hard drive - teams and zoom - facebook and LinkedIn

As a leader of a global team across continents, I rely heavily on online tools for productivity. Key among them is MS-Teams, an essential for communication. For task management, MS Planner is invaluable, enabling efficient task assignment and tracking. Power Automate, also part of Microsoft 365, streamlines routine tasks through automation. Beyond Microsoft, Box's suite, including Box Drive, Box Sign, Cavass and Relay, offers robust cross-team collaboration capabilities. These tools are indispensable in our international operations.

DonorPerfect is an excellent fundraising tool for nonprofits. It offers comprehensive donor management, allowing you to track and build strong relationships with supporters. The tool is great for managing campaigns and donations, with the ability to generate insightful reports to analyze your fundraising efforts. It's user-friendly and integrates seamlessly with other platforms like email marketing and social media, enhancing your fundraising strategy. With its customizable features and online donation capabilities, DonorPerfect caters to both small and large-scale fundraising needs, backed by strong customer support and training resources. Other notable tools: Bloomerang and Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud.

I like to keep things simple and I have found MS teams and MS planner very effective and efficient for collaborative working.

In managing a nonprofit, the leader prioritizes not only communication and collaboration but also effective marketing and social media engagement. Utilizing tools like Hootsuite or SocialPilot, they streamline social media management, vital for engagement and awareness. Data analysis and impact measurement are key; they employ Google Analytics for insightful data visualization and to gauge the effectiveness of their programs. Importantly, they focus on security and compliance, ensuring data protection and adherence to regulations with cybersecurity software and GDPR compliance tools. These elements are crucial for maintaining trust and operational integrity in the nonprofit sector.