Together, these solutions make up your digital infrastructure, also known as your tech stack. It’s important to regularly assess and maintain your digital infrastructure to optimize the performance of your tools, enhance your team’s productivity, and make any necessary adjustments. Your technology should be an ally in moving your mission forward.

To help you get a strong start, we’ll explore three tips to help assess your tech stack. Note that some aspects of your digital infrastructure may require more technological know-how than others, so you may want to partner with a nonprofit technology expert, like an experienced web designer, for assistance. Let’s begin!

1. Evaluate Website Performance

Start by turning a critical eye to your website. Your website is where it all starts—it’s the hub of your online presence. It should be an active tool for educating people about your cause and providing them with everything they need to take action, like donation forms or volunteer training materials.

When you assess your website, consider the following:

• User experience (UX): UX refers to how your website visitors experience and interact with your website. Websites with great UX typically offer a quick load speed, intuitive navigation, easy-to-understand content, and high-quality but simple multimedia.
• Mobile responsiveness: More than 92% of internet users access the internet from their mobile phones, so your website must have a responsive design. This allows the site to adapt to different devices and screen sizes and ensures that anyone can use your site no matter their device.
• Content relevance: Chances are you have a lot of different content on your website, from how-to guides for volunteer fundraisers to blog posts giving updates on recent projects. Comb through your content to ensure it’s all timely and relevant to your current users, removing old content or refreshing it as needed. For instance, a training guide for last year’s gala volunteers could be updated for this year’s event.
• Accessibility: The best nonprofit websites are accessible to people of all abilities. Look at how accessible your website is by comparing its functionality to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Some things you’ll look for include easy-to-read fonts, high color contrast, and text alternatives to multimedia elements like videos.
• Plugins: Plugins allow you to expand your website’s functionality. However, not every plugin is of high quality, and having too many can slow down your site. Ask yourself the following about each plugin: Is it secure? Will it improve or hinder the user experience? Do I need a plugin for this feature?

To further evaluate your website’s performance, try using a tool like Google Analytics. According to Cornershop Creative’s guide to the platform, Google Analytics can provide “information about the people who visit your site, including the channels and sources they come from, the pages they view, and the actions they take on your site.”

Understanding how people get to your website and what they do while exploring it can help you continue to improve it over time and strengthen it as an integral part of your tech stack.

2. Review Your Data Management System

To carry out your work effectively, your organization collects, stores, and uses a variety of data, from individual donor contact information to key performance indicators (KPIs), that tell you how much of an impact your programs have on your community.

Most of the time, nonprofits keep track of this information in a customized database called a constituent relationship management system (CRM). When assessing your nonprofit’s digital infrastructure, you’ll want to spend a good bit of time examining your CRM and how well its features are supporting your goals. This is especially important if you’ve recently transitioned to a new CRM provider or plan to do so in the near future.

You’ll also want to look at the data stored within your CRM. When your data is up-to-date and accurate, it will be much easier to find the valuable insights you need to improve your operations. Here are a few best practices for better data hygiene, according to NPO Info:

• Remove unnecessary information, such as duplicate information or information for individuals who are deceased or who are on do not call or do not mail lists.
• Verify all remaining information is accurate, such as addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.
• Standardize how data should be entered into the CRM, such as how addresses or dates are formatted, and train your team on your new guidelines.
• Schedule regular data back-ups to ensure your data remains safe and accessible in the case of a software crash.
• Append your data to fill in any gaps, whether you’re missing donor employer information or phone numbers.
• Ensure your team undergoes security training so you can keep donor information secure and maintain trust with your community.

Maintaining your data in this way allows you to feel confident in the insights and trends you get from your CRM, which in turn allows you to be more confident in the decisions you make based on those insights.

3. Consider Integration Options

Nonprofit software tools have come a long way and continue to advance, providing new ways for organizations to reach and engage supporters. With hundreds of providers offering a wide variety of features, integration options are especially important when assessing your digital infrastructure.

Integrations allow different platforms to “talk to each other,” meaning that they can share information back and forth and expand each other’s functionality. Here are some examples of tools you may want to integrate with other parts of your digital infrastructure:

• Event software: Tools like Eventbrite can manage your event registration, check-in, and even things like livestreaming and ticketing. Integrating your event software with other tools like your CRM allows you to add event attendance information straight to your donors’ profiles.
• Matching gift software: Say you want to install a matching gift database on your website so that your donors can check their eligibility. You can embed it onto your donation form so that website visitors who are donating can quickly type their company’s name into a search tool and then kickstart the matching process.
• Email service providers: Platforms like Mailchimp and Constant Contact make it simple to get in touch with your entire supporter list through automated emails. By integrating your email platform with your CRM, you can populate your messaging templates with specific data about each of your supporters, like the date of their last donation or their preferred name.
• Fundraising tools: In addition to matching gifts, you can earn more through each donation by using fundraising software such as donor prospecting tools. Connecting these tools to the rest of your tech stack ensures your nonprofit is making the most of every contribution while setting yourself up for future fundraising opportunities.

Each software solution you purchase is an investment of time and money, as software takes time to learn and can be expensive with ongoing fees. Ask providers ahead of time if their software can integrate with the solutions you are currently using and how easy the integration process will be, and check for additional integration opportunities when evaluating your digital infrastructure.

Assessing your nonprofit’s digital infrastructure can help improve your website’s functionality and your online presence as a whole. These benefits can help you generate more engagement, leading to deeper donor relationships and more support for your mission. If you’re ever unsure if you’re making the right decisions about your website, don’t hesitate to reach out to a nonprofit tech consultant, who likely has experience with software integrations, plugins, and platform extensions.

About the Author

De’Yonté Wilkinson is a late-80s baby who found his passion for web design and development during MySpace’s heyday, when he helped his friends create awesome profiles. He’s spent the last three years specializing in WordPress and conversion optimization, and is an active proponent of coding guidelines.

In his off time he enjoys cooking, rugby, and hanging out with his wife.