Making sure you have a steady stream of revenue is a key facet for any business, and it’s even more true in the nonprofit arts and culture sector. You dedicate so much time and resources to producing unforgettable shows for your patrons, but, in general, ticketing revenue only accounts for 40-60% of an organization’s total production and operating costs. That means fundraising becomes essential to meet your budget goals. And the best way to drive those donations is to understand who your patrons are and what they want, then cultivate a meaningful, personal relationship with them.
To do this effectively, you need a 360-degree view of your customers. This includes all of their interactions with your organization, their ticket purchase information, donations, class registrations and even participation in non-ticketed events. That’s a lot of information! In most cases, you would have to use a different platform to collect each of those different data points. Not to mention you’d need to switch between multiple systems to view it all. One of the great benefits of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, like PatronManager, is that all of your most important customer data is stored in one place. And if the native CRM doesn’t collect all of the information you need, some are able to integrate with a system that does.
Our experts have put together a list of the top third-party tools you should consider using for your arts and culture organization to gain a deeper understanding of your customers and boost your bottom line.
WealthEngine
If you can determine which patrons are able to make a larger gift to your organization, your fundraising efforts (and your donation revenue) will grow exponentially. While you want to make all your patrons feel valued, it’s a good idea to spend a little extra attention on those who have a vested financial interest in your organization. WealthEngine makes this easy. Their software pulls donor information from public records, which means key fundraising indicators, like home values, stock transactions and gifts to other charitable organizations, are automatically added to your patron profiles. You can then segment these patrons based on their historic donation behavior and use that information to tailor your messaging to them. For example, you can run a report for all ticket buyers who have previously given $1,000 or more to an arts organization, then meet them at the door before your performance to greet them. Fundraising really can be this easy!
CourseStorm
There is more interest than ever in music lessons, dance classes and summer theater camps, so you want to make the most of that excitement and offer your own workshops. There’s so much more that goes into it than finding an instructor and selling tickets, though! You need to showcase your full course catalog, promote your offering, manage registrations, accept tuition payments online and more. With CourseStorm, a powerful cloud-based class registration and management solution, you can take advantage of sophisticated features like customizable online course catalogs and easy family registration for parents enrolling their children. Meanwhile, all that information is flowing back into your CRM, so you can instantly see which families in your education program haven't bought a ticket recently or those who haven't yet donated to your annual fund.
Double the Donation
Did you know that tens of thousands of U.S. companies offer a matching gift program to their employees as part of their overall benefit package? This means that when someone makes a gift to a nonprofit organization, their employer will match it! However, most patrons don't know their employers offer such a program. That's where Double the Donation comes in. Their solution, 360MatchPro, can integrate with your donation forms and website, allowing your fundraising team to identify match-eligible supporters and drive their matches to completion. This seamless integration makes it simple for nonprofits to gain actionable matching gift insights and increase fundraising revenue.
PatronManager Virtual Events
Online events offer a great opportunity for patrons to engage with your organization and attend your performances remotely if they can’t be there in person. However, choosing the right platform to host these online events is key to ensuring a seamless event experience. The good news is, PatronManager has your back! They integrate with their parent company’s virtual events solution to help you unlock a host of new ways to connect with audiences from around the world. Livestream your shows, collect in-stream donations and offer Video on Demand recordings after the fact. And that’s not all! You can also sell tickets to smaller events like online Q&As with actors and directors, roundtable discussions, educational sessions and workshops and more. Sell these virtual experiences alongside your in-person events to boost your revenue and expand your audience base.
There’s no question that incorporating the right tools into your business will help you drive more revenue for your organization and connect with your patrons like never before. And if these tools integrate with your CRM, that’s even better! Luckily, PatronManager integrates with all of the above products and more. Our platform is built completely on Salesforce, so it seamlessly pulls all this data into one place for your organization. That means patrons’ account activity information is synced automatically, and there’s never a gap in your customer profiles. Connect with our team to learn more about how we can help enhance your fundraising efforts and why we’re the standout ticketing and CRM solution for the arts.
This article was sponsored by Patron Technology.