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How To Create More Profit For Your Non-Profit By Using Time Saving Software

Posted by Lior Weinstein on Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

Non-profit and charitable organizations have to keep their eye on the bottom line. Tracking donations and expenses shouldn’t be another huge expense.

Image source: Dosomething.org

People want to know where their money is going, and they want to be sure that most of their money isn’t going to administrative costs.

Charitable organizations are under a lot of scrutiny to run efficiently. You need to make sure that the largest percentage of your donor contributions goes to your worthy cause. There are many scams in the world of non-profit, and just as many charities or organizations that don’t manage their resources effectively.

More contributors are checking out a charity on sites like Charity Navigator before they send their hard earned money to an organization. Charity Navigator rates charities partly based on how much of their budget is directed to administrative costs.

Image source: Mashable.com

Non-profits are struggling in the current economic environment. High unemployment rates and consumer debt has affected the giving cycle and people are reducing or cutting out their charitable donations.

If you are pinching pennies at your organization, you probably don’t think that this is the time to invest in new software, but some things pay off big in the end, such as moving your non-profit content to the cloud and transitioning to a paperless office.

Your goal is to have the lowest administrative costs. You need to have transparency with regard to your operating budget and provide financial statements to donors so that they can see how their money is helping your cause.

Start by cutting the fat. Get rid of redundant processes and eliminate waste. Many smaller organizations can’t afford some of the more expensive donation tracking software, but Excel is a great tool for tracking donations, funding, volunteer and donor contact information, schedules and other important data.

Microsoft offers free or discounted software to many non-profits if you meet the eligibility requirements. This program also includes Excel. If your organization has a focus on the following issues, you may be eligible:

• Providing relief to the poor

• Advancing education

• Improving social welfare

• Preserving culture

• Preserving or restoring the environment

• Promoting human rights

• Establishment of civil society

Image source: Ggministries.org

Most charitable or non-profit organizations are run by volunteers. Many of those people may not be familiar with software such as Excel. There are many free tutorials online that will help you and your team to learn this valuable tool. Excel 2013 has new features for non-profit organizations to make your number crunching go a lot easier, but there are still issues. How do you get all of that information into a spreadsheet without having someone sit there and manually input the data?

By investing in a PDF to Excel converter, you can cut down on the time it takes to do all that work. Your volunteer staff will be able to take data in other forms and convert it to a spreadsheet, saving your organization time and money. That means more time to raise funds and more time to get out there and do the good work that is your calling.