According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), there are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations registered in the U.S. That’s 1.5 million organizations that, just like for-profit businesses, must manage to stay in-line with technology’s ever-changing progress — if they want to succeed.
Included in that search for staying up-to-date and competitive is finding a way to streamline and manage your organization’s finances, inventory, payroll, and employees, to name a few. No matter what your nonprofit business is dedicated to, there needs to be a useful system or strategy for managing your business or organization’s internal affairs. The good news is, there are commercially-available software packages like QuickBooks, Sage 50 (formerly Peachtree) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools that nonprofits can access, all without the costs associated with proprietary applications.
Let’s get started with three major programs that can significantly help nonprofit (and for-profit) organizations:
QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is an accounting software package that 87% of customers say is essential for running their business or organization. Here’s why. QuickBooks (marketed by Intuit) offers great on-premise and cloud-based accounting applications for small and medium-sized businesses or organizations, and it is best for organizations and businesses that need to manage sales and expenses, manage and streamline inventory and payroll, and perform other functions, like invoicing customers and paying bills. However, it’s also great for other key areas of running an organization, including creating up-to-date reports on the cash flow position of the organization, as well as easy-to-share files come tax time. A variety of other solutions exist and depend on each organization’s needs.
Sage 50
Formerly called Peachtree, Sage 50 (from Sage Software) is another group of accounting software programs for small and medium-sized businesses or organizations. Depending on what you need, their individual programs can help your business or organization organize your finances, pay bills and get paid, control cash flow and costs, manage inventory/employees/customers/services/jobs, compare multiple budgets, track warranty claims and recalls, and more. Learn more about Sage 50 accounting programs here.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies and platforms are designed to manage and analyze customer interactions and data so that businesses and organizations can improve their relationship with customers over time. CRMs help streamline and translate incoming data into useful business information to give you a clear view of your customers and leads, all in one place. From previous orders, customer service issues, all the way to social media activity, a CRM system can help build a successful sales, marketing, and customer service tool for any business or organization.
How We Help
Integracon consultants are well versed at providing IT support for nonprofits and associations. Best yet, we can help tweak and customize standard packages of QuickBooks, Sage50, various CRM systems, and more so that you and your staff can spend more time working on what counts — your organization — and less time fussing with screens and form fields that aren’t relevant to your needs. Contact us to let us know if we can help you with your technical support issues — we’re just a quick phone call away at 1-865-330-2323.
