5 Lessons Nonprofit Leaders Can Learn from Big Tech Nonprofits can do more good by adopting a few key lessons from tech companies — like focusing on efficiency and using data for strategic decision-making.
By Darian Shimy Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Key Takeaways
- Nonprofits should leverage tech industry practices like modern solutions, data-driven decisions, and strong branding to enhance their effectiveness.
- To maximize impact, nonprofits must innovate, incentivize donors, and actively share successes through social media and other viral avenues.
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FutureFund, the company I run now, is a very different organization than Square or Weebly, where I worked previously. The biggest difference? Instead of a typical B2B startup, we exist to help K-12 school groups fundraise, which means we work primarily with nonprofit organizations.
It might feel like a strange choice for someone with my resume to enter the nonprofit sector, but I'm grateful for my background in big tech because it's actually been an asset. Applying some of the things tech companies do well can help nonprofits do a lot more good.
Here are five lessons your nonprofit can take from the tech industry to become more effective in your mission.
Lesson 1: Don't settle for less
The number one thing that frustrates me with nonprofits is that they don't strive for excellence. Startups strive for excellence because they exist in a more competitive world.
The mission of a nonprofit is not technology; it's social good. However, nonprofits often don't choose modern solutions or best-in-class tools. They don't look at the landscape and find the most efficient ways to achieve their goals.
This results in many platforms becoming antiquated. They don't accept Apple Pay. Their sites don't work on mobile. Some of them ask you to use browsers like Internet Explorer, which no longer exists. All of this makes it less convenient for donors to support your work.
Tech companies understand that stagnation occurs when one doesn't innovate. When I worked at Square, we always iterated and tested new software to ensure that our solution was the most convenient option for our customers — because we knew that without them, we wouldn't have a business.
Lesson 2: Use data to make decisions
It's good to be guided by your values, especially as a nonprofit — but you shouldn't ignore the data at your disposal. Sadly, many nonprofits don't use data to make decisions, even when it's readily available.
FutureFund provides a good example. Say you're a school group using our platform to run a donation campaign. The platform lets you specify pre-set donation amounts ($50, $100, $200, etc.). But how do you know those are the right amounts? Are you testing to find out? Are you comparing the amounts raised from similar campaigns (which is easy to do with our reporting tools) and identifying what variables make the difference?
Analytics is the lifeblood of practically every successful tech company because technology is only as good as the way people use it. Nonprofits can benefit from adopting the same view: your mission is only as good as the amount of support you can create, so you should always be testing and refining your approach.
Lesson 3: Keep your message consistent
Apple. Tesla. Google. I don't have to describe their logos — they pop into your head when you read their names. That's the power of establishing a strong brand.
Small nonprofits lack branding and marketing. Many don't write well, have a logo, or even use consistent colors. Look at a university, and it's different. However, branding should matter at nonprofits, too, because it helps prospective donors recognize you and encourages positive associations.
Branding also ensures that when you leave, other people at your organization can keep using the assets you've created. This cuts down on the work required when there's turnover within an organization—which happens all the time at nonprofits like PTAs since key positions often change hands from one year to the next.
If you don't build a brand that can stand on its own, you'll have to keep rebuilding it repeatedly, which kills your momentum and drains your resources. It's a bit easier if you're a school group since we offer to create logos and branding for you — but this can be debilitating for nonprofits in other sectors.
Related: Before Spending Thousands on Custom Designs, Prioritize This to Elevate Your Brand Instead
Lesson 4: Incentivize your audience
Startups actively court customers—but many nonprofits struggle with incentivizing people to donate. Having a cause that matters is only the tip of the iceberg.
At Square or Weebly, we constantly asked ourselves what we could do to encourage user adoption. What could we do to show people that our solutions would make a difference in their lives and make the decision easier for them?
You can do the same with your fundraising campaigns. For example, schools using FutureFund can enable corporate matching to effectively double donors' contributions and automatically provide tax-deductible donation receipts.
Related: Why Trust and Incentives Help Consumers With Better Brand Selection
Lesson 5: Share your successes
This ties into lesson three above. As a general rule, most tech companies are social-media friendly in ways nonprofits aren't. They aren't shy about using viral avenues of communication. They post, share, and signal boost coverage about their successes.
Nonprofits tend to be more old school, but this wastes potential opportunities. Emails are great for a thank-you, but a post that gets likes or comments is 10x more valuable because others can see it.
An efficient nonprofit has a bigger impact
The nonprofit world is competitive too, even though it might not always feel that way. The success of your mission hinges on your ability to get your message out, reach potential donors, and attract them to your cause — the same way startups market themselves to their customers.
