CRM Strategy with Nourishment Now
Nourishment Now (formerly Kids Against Hunger - DC Metro) is a humanitarian food-aid organization that aims to address food insecurity by arranging packaging events of nutritious meals and transporting those meals to local food pantries and overseas partners.
In 2015, Nourishment Now packaged over 1 million meals! An amazing accomplishment, especially for a completely volunteer-run organization. But as requests for meal packaging events increased, Nourishment Now didn’t have the ability to scale internally to meet the growing needs of their constituents. Some of the challenges were:
No clear fundraising strategy. Since most meal-packaging events were paid for by a sponsoring organization, Nourishment Now rarely focused on fundraising. With limited funds, Nourishment Now had little money to scale or even build the necessary infrastructure that helps nonprofits run effectively (technology, clerical help, marketing, etc.).
Disparate Systems. Nourishment Now’s online donor data was tracked in the credit card merchant’s system, check donations were tracked in spreadsheets, and volunteer data was tracked in various online sign-up forms, or not tracked at all. There was no clear and cohesive picture of who their supporters were.
Outdated Technology. Nourishment Now’s website had not been maintained in years. It was cluttered, outdated, and just became a repository of photos from events, as opposed to a tool to educate and engage constituents on Nourishment Now’s work. Even though the majority of the volunteers were millennials, aside from a semi-private facebook group to announce events, there was no social media activity or strategy.
Communications. Aside from a periodic newsletter, there was limited communication with donors, partners, or volunteers. Volunteers would show up for events but rarely hear back from Nourishment Now afterward.
Collectively, our goal for Nourishment Now was to become a constituent-centered organization, to know more about every donor, volunteer, partner, and stakeholder so they can build a community around their work. By doing so, it would open up opportunities for engaging more volunteers, securing more donations, and scaling their mission. Through a series of workshops and strategic planning in 2017, OneTenth helped address some of the challenges above through the following:
Finalized a strategic plan, identifying Nourishment Now’s objectives and key results for the coming year.
Developed a fundraising strategy, primarily using email, social media, and at-event appeals.
Implemented a low-cost donor manage system (Fundly CRM) to manage all constituents (donors, volunteers, partners, stakeholders) giving a 360-degree view of Nourishment Now’s constituents
Revamped Nourishment Now’s website with a modern and responsive design (using Squarespace), and started a blog to keep content fresh and informative.
Integrated online donation and volunteer registration forms to Nourishment Now’s website, allowing all data to flow directly into Fundly CRM
Developed and implemented a social media strategy for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram with regular posts of original and curated content on food security and the partners Nourishment Now serves.
Developed and delivered engaging newsletters (through Fundly CRM) to ensure constituents were updated with all of Nourishment Now’s activities and events.
With Nourishment Now being a volunteer-run organization with limited expertise in technology and social media, OneTenth stayed on to be the Fundly CRM System Administrator (developing reports and dashboards to track organizational health and develop system enhancements) and to manage Nourishment Now’s social media accounts and communication initiatives.
OneTenth’s “soup to nuts” approach with its services helped transform Nourishment Now, cementing a new foundation as a constituent-centered organization. ~