Every day, professional fundraisers hit the pavement to raise money for their organization. We knock on doors, we send emails, we make calls, we don costumes, we lead campaigns, we plan exciting events.

Often, we accomplish all of the above with limited technology resources. You see, nonprofit professionals, are expected to perform at a for-profit pace, but without the technology we need to be successful. I say “we”, because I still consider myself to be a nonprofit professional even though I am now part of an innovative tech startup in Santa Monica, California.

Here I am (second from right) at an Evening of Awareness to raise critical funds for the Milagros para Niños program at Children’s National Health System in Washington, DC

Our team recently developed a mobile application called Amelia to alleviate some of the frustration that comes with limited access to technology. Amelia helps nonprofits engage with stakeholders more easily, so they spend less time printing out reports and more time with their donors.

Here are some of the nonprofit challenges we hear most often: 

1. No system for tracking donor interactions on-the-go
2. Annoying to access CRM database when in the field
3. Unable to reference real-time fundraising analytics during donor meetings
4. Challenging to prioritize donor interactions

Here are 4 Reasons Why I Wish I Had Amelia as a Fundraiser

1. 24/7 Access to Fundraising Data and Analytics

Amelia gives fundraisers everything they need to be successful before, during and after a donor meeting. All of your contacts, notes, photos, reminders, fundraising data and performance trends are captured in an easy-to-read format. You can set a fundraising goal, view annual trends and make sure that your individual donors and corporate partners are on track! This level of data access would have saved me so much time.

 

2. Integrates with all CRMs

Amelia is CRM agnostic. We integrate with any existing CRM. CRMs are excellent at storing data, but often challenging to extract it from. Amelia addresses this challenge by syncing directly with your CRM, so you have all of your “constituent records” right where you need them – in the palm of your hand.

3. Enable volunteers and board members to fundraise on-the-go

It can be challenging to find meaningful activities for your most engaged, highly skilled volunteers. What if you could empower your volunteers to support stewardship conversations with your donors? Amelia is an easy-to-use tool that gives vetted cause ambassadors the resources to “go out in the field” and easily communicate with professional fundraisers. There are so many relationships for a fundraiser to maintain and Amelia can help delegate some of those conversations to trusted volunteers. If there are follow-up items, you can even use a simple “@” to alert the fundraiser to a note or task. More boots on the ground = more funds raised.

4. Simplify campaign planning through artificial intelligence

Just like Instagram deploys artificial intelligence to recommend photos and videos you might like (yes, mine are all of puppies ), Amelia makes recommendations of which donors and partners to meet with. The recommendations are based on key indicators such as frequency of interactions, giving potential, the amount of time you have, giving history and elapsed time since the last interaction.

You’ll spend less time thinking, “Where should I go today?” and “Who should I call next?” and more time taking action.

The mission of PwrdBy is to better understand the challenges of nonprofit organizations and create user-friendly technology to solve practical, everyday problems for fundraising teams. Amelia is our answer to lamentations of these problems from our fundraising friends.

When I look back on some of my biggest hurdles as a fundraiser (i.e. difficult to access fundraising data on-the-go, inaccurate contact information and limited notes on existing partners) I now feel hopeful because I know a tool like Amelia exists to help alleviate some of those challenges.