It’s that time of year, we’re heading into the 2020 plan and beginning to chip away at new goals for yourself and your team. To keep chipping, you need to manage your time fiercely and I’ve yet to run into a nonprofit leader who hasn’t at one point in time struggled with time management. I sure did when I was in the field, and it’s no different now that I’m a consultant.
Many of you have asked, “how do you do it”? Well, I have a treasure trove of platforms and apps that help me with efficiencies so that I can spend time with you and the things that make me happy in this place I call “nonprofitdom” – people, revenue and strategy.
If time management has been eluding you, and you’re looking for some simple solutions to make it appear as though you’ve cloned yourself, look no further. I use these platforms on a daily basis to manage my work.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Basecamp – https://basecamp.com/
This is great project management software, and it eliminates you having to hunt through ALL THOSE EMAILS when you’re trying to find a key update on a deadline, project or event.
CONTENT
Canva – https://www.canva.com/
Use Canva to create almost anything graphically appealing, even if you aren’t “artsy”! (Ahem. Me.) Snappy social media graphics, blog banner, posters and flyers, letterhead – the list is endless.
Active Campaign – https://mbsy.co/activecampaign/40994748
For those you who need CRM software to keep track of your clients, the messages you’re sending them and documents that are related to your work, this is the ticket. Create newsletters and email campaigns, track open rates and click throughs. (Non-profit folks, this is NOT the CRM for you – this doesn’t track donations!)
Bitly – https://bitly.com/
If you need short, snappy links, Bitly’s the way to go to shorten your URL names.
CRM – DONOR DATABASE
Bloomerang – https://bloomerang.co/partners/incite/
And, for my nonprofits in the room, this is hands-down my favorite nonprofit CRM! A great CRM is people based, meaning the person has a record and there are categories assigned to them (donor, board member, program participant, volunteer, etc) Track their giving, their history with you, how they like to receive your message. A great CRM gives your nonprofit a huge lift with institutional memory- invest in one.
Watch for the next part of this blog later this month, focusing on scheduling and communication tools.
What are your favorite platforms that make your life easier? I love to learn about what other people use. Send me an email or post a message on my Facebook page.
