Discover why disconnected event tools create stress for nonprofits and how an integrated event tech stack streamlines ticketing, donations, auctions, and donor data.
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Imagine it is the night before your biggest fundraising event of the year. In just 24 hours, hundreds of donors, stakeholders, and local celebrities will begin arriving at your venue - and your team is still manually adding each attendee into your event fundraising software. This is the nightmare nonprofits face when event ticketing and donation processing systems don’t talk to each other. I’ve seen this scenario repeat itself across a range of organizational sizes and the underlying issue is the same: disconnected systems.
What many nonprofits experience as ‘event stress’ or ‘staffing/planning gaps’ is often something deeper: a fragmented event tech stack. When each step of the donor experience is handled by a different system, the potential for flow disruption is all but inevitable. Comprehensive nonprofit event management software that seamlessly integrates ticketing and donation processing with auction bidding and attendee communication can eliminate the need to migrate data between tools and reduce the administrative burden on staff.
1) 94% of nonprofits accept online donations through their website. 6% only do so through a third-party website.
8) 67% of nonprofits use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM or donor management) software to track donations and manage communications with supporters and donors. Of those, 54% use an all-in-one CRM and online fundraising software, while 46% use a separate CRM.
https://www.nptechforgood.com/2021/09/13/data-11-must-know-stats-about-online-fundraising/
While almost every nonprofit is now accepting online donations, only two-thirds use a CRM, and of those, nearly half are separate from their donation processing solution. This, unfortunately, demonstrates how often nonprofits underestimate their technology decisions. Whether this is due to a preoccupation with programmatic priorities or a lack of expertise in the matter, the result is a fragmented strategy, siloed data, and disjointed tools.
To avoid the headaches of data assimilation, overspending on redundant features, and hopefully even the late-night scrambles, it's important to consider an integrated approach to the tools your organization adopts.
Let's look at the idea of a tech stack from a donor's perspective. You buy an event ticket or sponsorship on the event website. After completing the purchase, you receive a confirmation email that also serves as a tax acknowledgment. A few days before the event, you likely get another email with parking and arrival instructions, event schedule/agenda, a preview of auction packages, and often instructions to download a bidding app or donation platform. Upon arrival, there is a check-in process that may include putting a credit card on file, assigning a bidding number or seating instructions. Throughout the night, there are appeals to give, activations and games, updates on how much has been raised, and reminders of the fundraising goal to realize the mission impact.
So now consider all the different solutions required in that example. A donation processing platform may have the functionality to send confirmation emails with tax information; subsequently, more detailed communications need to be sent through other tools. And those emails rarely make it onto a donor’s profile in the CRM/database. Auction bidding, add-on purchases, and night of donations or pledges usually take place in specialized systems or are tracked manually, making the final amount raised an educated guess or exercise in complex math. Without factoring in any nonprofit event planning software that may have been utilized before, we’ve already identified half a dozen capabilities required just for this one event.
A nonprofit event tech stack is the ecosystem of tools that manages every donor interaction (ticketing, donation processing, email/text messaging, CRM, auction and bidding, pledge tracking), from invitation to impact. The software you choose for nonprofit events determines how your information flows from one tool to the next and how they work together to capture all the information needed to move the organization and each donor relationship forward.
Once you understand the stack as a system, the next question becomes: what actually belongs in it?
A nonprofit event tech stack typically includes:
Long before the donor first learns of your event, decisions get made about which nonprofit event management software to use. Start by detailing which features are mission-critical as opposed to “nice to have”. How many unique purchase pathways do you need to capture details relevant to sponsors versus the general audience? Which fundraising features (ex. Auction, Raffle, Fixed Price Add-ons) will make or break the financial success of your event? Do you need multiple seating assignments for distinct phases of the event, requiring robust table management? As those elements of the event that will make or break your financial success shoot right to the top (they're typically donor-facing), don’t forget the integration with other tools your staff and volunteers rely on to execute their roles.
Event management solutions enable your organization to create multiple event types throughout the year, offering scalability by engaging different audiences across the diverse experiences. Each event format shapes the ticketing structure and sponsorship opportunities, determining how supporters will engage with your organization. Forecasting the number of attendees needed at each level to realize the event revenue goals focuses your fundraising team’s efforts and activates board members around contributing to these priorities. Anticipating budget implications associated with the event experience and benefits offered to each level ensures your event maintains a positive ROI.
The flexibility to conduct your event virtually or offer a hybrid experience allows organizations to capture donors who aren’t willing or able to attend in person. This also future-proofs your events so that attendance and participation aren’t lost to inclement weather or social restrictions.
How you get the word out about your event will also impact the visibility and participation generated. Marketing and communication tools can help to reach your most captive audience: your current and past supporters. Integrated tools can create dynamic communications that remind previous attendees of their participation level and invite them to repurchase or upgrade their support, as well as invite friends and family to join them.
The field of event management software for nonprofits evolves daily. As it does, there are new opportunities to evaluate how your solutions are stacking together.
Once you’ve selected a tool, now it's time for data entry. The donor/ user experience begins on the nonprofit event registration page and is one of the earliest opportunities to build trust... or lose it. A streamlined registration process, evaluated on its clarity and ease of use, determines not only who attends, but how effectively relationships can be cultivated before, during and after the event. A confusing registration process can diminish supporters' enthusiasm and turn your event page bounce rate into disengagement from the organization. What makes this risk even more costly, is that donors rarely complain, making event registration software for nonprofits a crucial decision for the event's success.
After a successful purchase or registration, there is often still a need to gather additional information. Sponsors need to submit logos for recognition. Guest names and contact information must be captured to ensure all relevant event details are shared and each attendee had a seamless check-in, ensuring they are primed to participate in the onsite fundraising.
While all of this event registration data might seem purely logistical, it's actually foundational to the success of the event and the organization. Identifying who will be in attendance allows fundraisers to plan strategic interactions that move donor relationships forward and tracking connections between donors lays the groundwork for a growing network of support in the future. Registration data ultimately becomes relationship data that shapes the trajectory of a donor’s engagement, cultivation and stewardship.
Nonprofit event ticketing decisions shape both first impressions and future opportunities, inviting donors to attend and engage, or alienating interested prospects by limiting who can participate and how.
Mobile ticketing can ease the administrative burden of distribution and facilitate a smoother check-in process for attendees.
Event ticketing software enables nonprofits to monetize and administrate event participation while capturing financial and attendee data that feeds fundraising and stewardship efforts.
As the majority of nonprofit donations and fundraising event transactions are now being processed digitally, there is an opportunity for real-time fundraising data to influence the on-site event narrative. If an event is underperforming, there is a chance to introduce a matching opportunity or announce a leadership gift that can inspire others to give. Alternatively, if donation events exceed revenue goals, this creates a moment of collective celebration and education about what that funding will unlock for the organization’s service delivery.
Effective fundraising event software for nonprofits tracks the revenue and ROI of the event, keeps staff informed about which levers to pull, leadership apprised without labor-intensive manual reporting, and donors engaged in the event's success.
Taking it a step further, donation event software that is integrated with a CRM or donor database allows for pledge tracking so staff know which donors to follow up with immediately after the event.
One of the opportunities created by nonprofit events is the collective activation of the attendees. Over the course of the event there are moments of education around the issue at hand, a chance to interact with the staff and beneficiaries of the mission and an invitation to join the movement. With all of that feel good energy, it's important to have a clear call to action and accessible entry points for supporters of all levels. Silent auctions and raffles create additional opportunities for donors to gamify their giving by bidding against others for prizes and packages, while also diversifying the way businesses and individuals can support with donated goods and services.
Nonprofit auction mobile bidding software allows attendees to participate in the financial success of the event without leaving their seat, increasing participation and how often they give. Organizations counting on auction and raffle performance to contribute to the overall event revenue underscores the importance of an integrated tech stack. If guest lists and attendee contact information is captured only in the ticketing system, that limits who is seeing and bidding on the auction. Another scenario that happens often at check in - only ticket purchasers or the sponsor’s main contact are registered and their guests never receive the organization's communication or an invitation to give.
If we reimagine our first scenario with an integrated event management solution, the experience completely changes for the donors and the staff. Instead of spending precious hours manually entering data or managing detailed migrations, staff operations are streamlined with fewer logins and systems to manage, allowing instead for intentional donor cultivation and relationship development.
When your ticketing and donation processing is built right into your CRM, the result is cleaner, more comprehensive and accessible data. Layering on integrated marketing tools enables more personalized, responsive communication without more manpower or effort. This all culminates in a better donor experience where every data point provided is honored and acted upon. Guests get direct access to the organization and are invited to contribute personally. Sponsors spend less time facilitating information flow to their guests and more time sharing why the mission matters. Donor connections become visible, leading to richer engagement post-event and results are shared instantaneously because reporting is easier.
With so many software features and options it's no wonder nonprofits struggle with finding the right tech stack for their situation. All too often we see legacy systems that have not evolved to keep pace with modern nonprofit operations. Closed systems or limited integrations prevent tools from working together and force staff to manipulate data to leverage existing systems.
Time and resource constraints often limit an organization's exposure to solutions and processes that truly meet their needs. Annual planning or subscription renewals are natural times to re-evaluate current technology and consider upcoming event goals and operational priorities. By outlining upcoming events and evaluating the complexity of each, you can ensure that revenue projections are matched to fundraising event software capabilities.
Be wary of trying to use too many specialized tools. Each layer you add to your tech stack requires thought to connect its data to the rest of your software arsenal. Similarly choosing “free” tools that cost significant time to learn or adapt to your organization's use case can cannibalize your efforts. For these, the initial investment comes in the form of lost momentum toward your financial goals and donor relationship strategy.
The best event management software for nonprofits is the one that offers integrated solutions tailored to your unique needs and the support to realize event success. The second best is the one that your staff will actively utilize and incorporate into the execution of their role within the organization.
The future of nonprofit events lies in unified donor data, leveraging AI insights, and behavior-based engagement that adapts to how supporters actually interact. Imagine donors receiving personalized appeals at just the right moment to capitalize on their desire for impact and commitment to be part of the solution. Using trackable behavior cues and automated workflows, data becomes actionable and opportunities are seized in real-time. By consolidating and harmonizing donor data into a unified format you can improve accuracy, reduce duplicate or partial records and create a more comprehensive relational picture. As we improve the veracity of donor data we improve the quality of the decisions and strategic direction based on that data. Philanthropy events will continue to be a key way nonprofits gather and galvanize their supporters, but centralizing the role of data in the execution of those events requires an effective and integrated tech stack.
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