Why relationship mapping software is critical to your nonprofit

The brief 
Strong social networks are at the heart of every successful nonprofit, and by leveraging those networks, nonprofits create connections with potential partners, board members, and—most important of all—donors. But first, you need relationship mapping software to discover and understand these relationships. Here’s why. 

Prospecting for the above connections is nothing new, being able to do so without the time-suck and inefficiencies—not to mention human error—of manual processing, is. Using the power of data analytics, relationship mapping technology is changing the game for nonprofit networking in a big way by giving organizations a view into who they know and how they can leverage those connections for fundraising, partnerships and strategic growth. From our newest white paper, here are three reasons your organization should invest in relationship mapping now.

Imagine being able to visualize all of your current donors’ friends and peers, sorting by occupation, wealth and/or donation history. Relationship mapping software makes finding these potential donors simple by cutting through the clutter and helping you target high-impact prospects, taking the guesswork out of prospecting—and the legwork out of background research.

No fundraising strategy is complete without the human factor. Chances are your high-impact prospects have spent years building up their own networks, which means your organization stands a fair chance at access through one or more of those people within those networks. But how do you know where your org has access and who—either internal or external to your organization—can connect you? Relationship mapping solves for this by tracing each path to where you need to go based on who you know and who they know.

So, you’ve found your potential donor or board member. How do you approach him? Warm introductions always go over more smoothly than cold calls, and having a friend or professional contact in common can help you get your foot in the door. But there’s an ocean of difference between an introduction from a former coworker your prospect hardly knows and one from an old college buddy he sat on student government with. High-quality relationship mapping software doesn’t just show you the connections between your organization and your prospects—it shows you exactly how strong those connections are.

For more on relationship mapping software, including how to choose software and implement it most effectively, download our whitepaper “Why Relationship Mapping Software is Critical for Your Nonprofit.”

Haylin Belay is a freelance writer and blogger based in New York City. She is a frequent contributor to the RelSci blog.RelSci is a technology solutions company that helps create competitive advantage for organizations through a crucial yet vastly underutilized asset: relationship capital with influential decision makers. Download the full white paper on why relationship mapping software is critical. 

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