Nonprofits optimize donor engagement with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
Nonprofit organizations rely on donors and volunteers to sustain and expand their missions. But they must compete with other nonprofits for the contributions of these valuable supporters. To secure and retain necessary funds and resources, nonprofits must appeal to the interests of their supporters. Some are interested in improving children’s health, while others want to make an impact in children’s education. Some prefer to personally connect with individuals who have been helped while others want only email communications. Supporters also have different preferences for fundraising activities, from galas to family-oriented events. The diverse interests and preferences of supporters plus the proliferation of interaction channels are modern challenges that require nonprofits to adopt a new approach. Delivering personalized experiences to donors and volunteers is no longer a nice to have, it’s essential for encouraging continued interest, engagement, and donations. In fact, an Accenture global study found that 59 percent of supporters in the U.S. would be willing to contribute at least 10 percent more for a personalized experience. That increases to 72 percent for millennials.
Yet according to Accenture, only 44 percent of donors and volunteers are satisfied with the personalization they receive from nonprofits. The root of the problem is that supporter data including donation transactions, interests, preferences, calls, emails, website visits, events attended, and social media activity is scattered across many different systems. Without a complete view of supporters, it’s impossible to deliver experiences that resonate deeply with each supporter. Unified and enriched supporter data serve as the foundation and source of insights that enable nonprofits to recognize, remember, and engage each supporter, while standing out from other nonprofits competing for support. For nonprofits, it’s vital to convey to supporters the impact they, individually, make with their charitable donations and volunteer work. According to Accenture, as many as 81 percent of donors and volunteers consider this to be important. Nonprofits don’t need to start from scratch; most already have vast amounts of supporter data, just not the tools to synthesize the data and generate insights.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is a preassembled and flexible customer data platform (CDP) with built-in AI to unify supporter data across all sources and generate actionable insights that power personalized experiences. Using prebuilt connectors, the solution brings together supporter data residing in siloed systems like CRM and ERP. The solution automatically resolves supporter identities using AI and creates a persistent, unified profile for each supporter. Customer Insights proactively identifies segments and generates predictive insights such as donor churn rates, lifetime value, interests, and more. Real-time integration with business applications and business processes ensure that marketing, fundraising, and volunteer recruiting efforts are tailored for each supporter, from personalized websites, fundraising campaigns, digital communications, and in-person interactions. Nonprofit organizations see results faster with Customer Insights, an intuitive, ready-to-go CDP that requires minimal training and IT assistance.
Microsoft’s customer data platform powers personalized experiences for supporters while maintaining the strictest compliance and security standards so that all supporter data is securely managed and adheres to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Built on a hyper-scale Microsoft Azure platform, Customer Insights allows organizations to tap into powerful analytical and full customization capabilities using Microsoft AI, Azure machine learning, and Power Platform.
At the end of the day, supporters want to make a difference. By engaging them with highly personalized experiences that speak to the causes they care about and the positive contributions they make, nonprofits can inspire greater engagement and donations in support of vital services and programs.
To learn more about Customer Insights, visit the Customer Insights website.
