In a data-driven world, it’s essential to keep stakeholders engaged with data and insights. Volunteers and supporters want more transparency, and data-driven insights can provide the proof that they need to feel confident in their contributions. Real-world stories are a powerful tool that cannot be replaced, but data-In a data-driven world, it’s essential to keep our many stakeholders engaged with data and insights about the impact we are making. Real-world stories are a powerful tool that cannot be replaced, but data-driven insights are the drivers of real change.There are so many ways you can use data in your organisation, let’s talk about what data can do to help engage your stakeholders.
Communicating The Impact of Donations
Donors are looking for more transparency over the impact their dollars are making and we know this is of increasing importance for younger generations when deciding where to donate their money. Data is key to showcasing the value of people’s donations and the impact it generates, whether this is focused on current supporters or future ones!
Donors are the lifeblood of any non-profit organisation and it’s essential to keep them informed about the impact of their contributions. While donors love to hear praises about their contributions from both your organisation and those you help, by sharing data-driven insights on how their donations have made a difference, you can create a deeper connection and show the value of their contributions. This could include statistics on the number of people impacted by a specific project, the number of funds raised and spent, or the outcome of a specific program. Sharing this information regularly can help build trust and increase donor loyalty.
While people love to donate, it can be hard to justify the donation if they do not know what their money can do to help. A great way to sway donors is to provide some specifics of what it costs to provide your impact, some organisations call these ‘Dollar Handles’ . For example, it may cost $10 to provide a meal to an elderly couple or $40 to pick up an injured animal. By maintaining a comprehensive dataset, your organisation has the means to drive real insights into the impact you are making such as the specific costs of each activity. By providing a specific amount, you are not only suggesting a donation amount but also showing donors exactly what their money can do to help.
⭐Volaby tip: Simplify the way your organisation obtains and records data with Volaby’s Impact functionality. Plan and build activity reports structures that pull the data you need to tell the story of your organisation. Whether you need to record hours of impact, the number of animals saved or the number of people who used your service, Volaby’s fully customisable Activity Reports allow you to gather any qualitative or quantitative data. Furthermore, you can drive data insights with the use of tags. Tags allow you to track particular metrics across activities and quickly report on these metrics by filtering for the chosen tag in the Impact Dashboard.
Showcasing Volunteer Impact
The best way to keep your volunteers informed and engaged is through showing appreciation for their efforts and what better way is there to show appreciation than to highlight the impact they are making every day. By sharing data on the impact of volunteer activities, you can demonstrate the value of volunteering and encourage continued support. This could include statistics on the number of volunteer hours logged, the number of people impacted by volunteer efforts, or the outcomes of specific volunteer initiatives. Sharing this information with volunteers can help them see the direct impact of their efforts and feel more connected to your mission.
You can also utilise data to provide a more personalised experience for volunteers. For example, you can target specific groups of volunteers with customised communications tailored to their specific contribution or interest. This could include updates on initiatives or programs they are a part of. Personalising communications can help deepen relationships with volunteers and increase engagement.
⭐Volaby tip: Through Volaby, all volunteer hours, activities and locations attended are recorded and easily visible to volunteers themselves! This information is displayed to each volunteer to highlight that their efforts are seen and can be used to mark key milestones in volunteering, such as hitting 100 hours. You can also track the impact of teams using the Impact Dashboard function and celebrate team milestones such as hours, number of activities run, low numbers of cancellations or impact numbers.
Allowing volunteers to see this in near real-time on a regular basis can also help maintain motivation, while also meeting the practical need of those who need to report on this regularly. Some volunteers find this information motivating as they see their contributions increase, others might need this information for real practical purposes such as completing certain certifications or maintaining access to benefits such as Centrelink.
Making Better Operational Decisions
Volunteer organisations are about delivering impact and helping others and data is an important part of ensuring we are doing that to the best of our ability. By understanding the real data coming through from volunteers, we ultimately better understand how well as an organisation we are delivering on our mission. This can help your Senior Leaders, Operations teams and even your Board make better decisions or have more confidence that their decisions are the right ones.
We know that volunteers probably won’t be keen to fill in detailed reports and answer lots of questions – but it’s so important to educate them on the importance of this data, and also make sure there is a simple and fast mechanism. Although it might not seem important if you are just starting off as an organisation, we often hear of organisations regretting not tracking their impact earlier to understand their past performance and how their organisation has changed.
⭐Volaby tip: The Impact Dashboard stores all of the impact data generated through Volaby. Use the aggregate view to see the ‘big picture’ of how your organisation is performing, track and compare the performance of each Program and make informed decisions based on real-time data. Alternatively, you can dive into the data in Detailed view and gather specific insights on each Activity or report type by filtering on specific dates, reports or activities. Volaby also provides the ability to export data that can be used to further drive insights throughout your organisation.
⭐BONUS TIP: To get the most out of your Activity Reports encourage your volunteers to fill in the journey section of our default Activity Reports! This free text field is a great way to get some real stories, interesting observations or even feedback. All powerful items to communicate to your stakeholders or improve your operations.
Let Volaby Simplify Your Data Collection and Storage
There is so much to focus on when running a non-profit, it can be easy to put data on the backburner.
Volaby takes the hard work out manually requesting and recording impact data from your volunteers. Create reports that contain the metrics you need to set goals and review performance, Volaby will promt your volunteers to fill in the required details on the days they volunteer and automatically store this data in the Impact Dashboard.
Using the Impact Dahsboard you can get a high level view of your organisations performance or drill down into the data to get real insights that can be communicated to your stakehelders. Our platform is made by nonprofits, for nonprofits. We’ve made it easy-to-use and intuitive for all users. We invite you to get in touch and trial Volaby for free today, with no obligations.
We look forward to speaking with you soon.