Being on Engaging Networks has made Sense’s approach to digital engagement and fundraising easier to carry out. By integrating with Microsoft Power BI, they can visualise their audience, develop a sophisticated overview of their activity, and provide engaging insights to their teams and senior leaders. For more on the advantages of a unified digital engagement platform with real use case examples from our clients (including Sense) and accredited partners, download our latest report, “Attract, Retain, and Mobilise: The Power of Unified Supporter Engagement”.
A more holistic understanding
It’s hard work for charities to build and maintain relationships with the different groups of supporters they depend upon. As a result, it can be easy for those same nonprofit organisations to forget that their supporters are real people behind the screen — not merely opportunities to bolster the numbers of contacts on a database, or donors in your programme.
How can teams acquire a more holistic view of their community while remaining productive and efficient?
The national disability charity Sense found their answer in an integrated, unified digital engagement platform. It has provided them with an understanding of the diverse range of individuals they engage and with the tools they need to engage them.
By further integrating their platform with the business intelligence tool Microsoft Power BI, they are also able to visualise their audience, develop a sophisticated overview of their activity, and provide engaging insights to their teams and senior leaders. All of this has helped to better inform their decision making and the organisation’s future strategy.
“Without a unified platform, your supporter journeys won’t be tied together. There’s an expectation from supporters of how you engage with them,” says Josh Rosekilly, Insight Manager at Sense. “You need unified platforms to do that.”
Why opt for unified?
First things first, it is worth defining what exactly is a unified digital engagement platform. It is an online service provider with a suite of capabilities that includes — but is not limited to — emails, text messaging, fundraising, peer to peer fundraising, membership, and/or online advocacy. Such capabilities assist in pulling together the actions that are the life-blood of nonprofit organisations.
With the ability to use supporter data across the platform, teams can propagate more varied, personalised, and relevant campaigns to their supporters. Reporting and tracking tools enable organisations to simplify their data-flows with a single source of data.
If an organisation has an existing set of products they already prefer, such as a CRM, a great unified platform will pair with these products — seamlessly integrating their campaigns, systems, and processes. No longer do nonprofit professionals need to fret about major charity challenges such as scattered data that can be impossible to access and recover.
When an organisation brings together their existing tools, systems, and platforms, it inevitably helps their team break down productivity barriers, become more efficient, and deliver more impactful, effective work. That sort of empowerment is so important in the charity sector. With every extra pound raised, every hour saved, and every moment you’re not thinking about your systems, you’re freed to do more good, transform more lives, and ultimately help make the world a better place.
How unified engagement benefited Sense
Looking for the most sensible solution, Sense were drawn to use Engaging Networks because it was flexible, could be integrated into their Raiser’s Edge CRM, and could centralise all the respective data sets from their digital tools within a single accessible location. This has made their approach to digital engagement and fundraising easier to carry out — no matter its level of complexity. (Our previous case study on Sense explains in-depth how their integration process worked out.)
Profoundly, being on a unified digital engagement platform has underscored the fact that support comes in all different shapes and sizes. James Dungate, Head of Engagement Operations, and Rosekilly both remarked on how pulling together their platforms has given the organisation the ability to put the right ask in front of the right supporter at the right time — creating more varied, engaging, and donor-centric supporter journeys.
For example, the current cost of living crisis has put a strain on how much money people can donate, and for that reason, frequent financial asks may not be appropriate for every supporter. With their platform, Sense can automatically vary the content supporters receive based on their activity or profile. “Someone might still absolutely want to support you in every way they can, but the wrong ask at the wrong time will switch them off. Being able to use our tools to apply segmentations and integrate demographic information is crucial,” says Rosekilly.
For those who can’t afford to donate, Sense can send alternative asks such as calls to sign petitions, volunteer, or attend events. Through this more holistic view of their supporters, Sense are delivering on their core strategy: to engage and support more people than ever before, reaching those who need them in new ways and new places.
Per Rosekilly: “Unified platforms enable us to layer in new ways of understanding supporters.”
Learn more in our latest report, “Attract, Retain, and Mobilise: The Power of Unified Supporter Engagement”.
