The pace of digital transformation means that organisations need to keep up to date with the latest technologies to stay competitive. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Nonprofits has become a powerful tool for organisations that want to tap into the latest solutions offered by cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS).
With Microsoft Dynamics 365, non-profits can take advantage of features like automated marketing, advanced data analytics, and integration across systems and kiosks.
These features let non-profit organisations tailor each customer journey, quickly access information when needed, and gain insights into customer behaviour through dashboards.
It's a great way for non-profits to get more done with less while still providing valuable service offerings and making meaningful connections.
This article is specific to the charity sector but if you work within the Public Sector or Higher Education, you may find our blog 'Dynamics 365 within the higher education, charity, and public sectors' more helpful.
What is Microsoft Dynamics for nonprofits / charities
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Nonprofits is a modern and efficient all-in-one system for nonprofits to manage their data. It provides the necessary foundation, in terms of customer relationship management (CRM) components, which are necessary for any nonprofit organisation in order to run its operations effectively.
Dynamics 365 is easy to learn and highly configurable and enables nonprofits to organise, track, record and analyse data related to events, contacts and service requests.
The platform's flexibility allows it to grow with an organisation's needs - you can add modules including finance management and financial reporting capabilities with more specialised engagement activities like volunteer tracking or program evaluation.
Another great feature Dynamics 365 offers over other software solutions is its integration with popular Office apps such as Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint - this means you don't need to buy separate systems or manually enter the same data into multiple silos; streamlining workflows and saving time.
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Nonprofits has allowed lots of nonprofits around the world to improve their fundraising efforts, build closer relationships with constituents, increase efficiency and maximise productivity.
How can Microsoft Dynamics 365 help nonprofits?
The Dynamics 365 suite can help nonprofits achieve greater efficiencies and engage more deeply with their supporters. With Microsoft's Customer Engagement Plan for nonprofits, charities have access to five powerful yet easy-to-use apps:
- Sales
- Customer Service
- Field Service
- Project Service Automation
- Microsoft Social Engagement
Together, these tools provide a comprehensive solution that can help nonprofits track their relationships with sponsors and donors, manage service requests from volunteers, monitor the progress of projects, analyse data to improve campaigns and processes, handle customer service inquiries faster and better, identify opportunities for growth in sales performance—and much more.
The Sales module simplifies processing leads and managing deals by automating mundane tasks such as sending follow-up emails or adding relevant documents to sales pipelines.
The Project Service Automation app helps streamline project management tasks like scheduling resources across various jobs or tracking delivery requirements.
Similarly, the powerful and intuitive Customer Service app has options for organising Knowledge Base articles for quick item lookup during customer interactions or help with creating ticketing workflow rules.
The Field Service feature offers technicians a mobile interface along with GPS monitoring capabilities making it easier to manage field personnel while avoiding issues like missed appointments or scheduling conflicts.
A unified system
Operating a nonprofit organisation efficiently and effectively is essential for success. While many organisations rely on volunteers to help achieve their mission, making sure everyone involved has a clear view of the entire operation can be an uphill battle.
That's why Dynamics 365 offers an integrated way for nonprofits to keep track of contacts, donations, volunteers and memberships all under one roof. All of the data within an app in the Dynamics suite is connected so that information is not split across multiple programs, allowing everyone involved to have a fuller understanding of how everything fits together.
In addition to making it easier to manage day-to-day operations, Dynamics 365 sits as part of Microsoft’s established suite of products – like Office and Outlook – meaning they seamlessly integrate with one another.
This streamlined approach removes potential conflicts between staff working on various projects; often located in different areas.
As a result, this unified system provides complete transparency into operational procedures by having all stakeholders connected in the same place. This means that the nonprofit organisation achieves maximum efficiency and effectiveness with less effort spent managing individuals and departments separately.
Grant management
Grant management is an essential aspect of running a successful nonprofit organisation. Finding, applying for, and managing grants can take up a lot of administrative time that might otherwise be spent on more beneficial activity.
Additionally, many charitable organisations also issue their own grants to support the missions of other charitiesin their fields.
Dynamics 365 helps make the process easier and more efficient by providing solutions to assist nonprofits in tracking grants from beginning to end. This includes reminders when renewals are due or applications should be submitted—ensuring valuable opportunities don’t slip through the cracks.
By automating grant processes with Dynamics 365, nonprofits have more time and energy available to invest in the initiative they care about: improving outcomes for those they serve while increasing their reach within communities everywhere.
In addition to avoiding missed opportunities, Dynamics 365 provides enhanced capabilities made specifically for grant management that help ensure compliance with applicable regulations and goals for grant sources.
It offers visibility into grant challenges including applied awards, funding strategy outputs/analysis, reporting requirements as well as progress toward grant objectives in order improve accountability for all stakeholders involved.
Finally, it allows nonprofits to easily access donors’ portfolios giving them greater insight into detailed budgeting systems that enable cost tracking & reconciliation of spending tied to specific projects.
Donor and member management
Nonprofits rely on donors and members to keep themselves running, making it increasingly important to manage and analyse their data effectively.
Dynamics 365 enables nonprofits to record and track donor engagement. You can view past pledges, set up regular payments, and get a complete understanding of what’s working when it comes to fundraising. Through these functions, you can see where you've made progress in the past year and where you still need to improve.
As well as being able to monitor donor activities, nonprofits with membership schemes can run them through Dynamics 365 too.
Functionalities available include maintaining records of relationships between charities and members as well as processing orders, subscriptions and invoices.
Plus, Dynamics 365 also makes it easy for members to take control of their donations by setting up a self-service portal where they can access information, manage their profiles and even make direct donations without any additional hassle.
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