Holly Condon • October 1, 2021
A structured yet customizable document management solution (DMS) for nonprofits makes it easy to manage volunteer applications, donation invoices, donor records, and other documents. This not only makes it easier to retrieve and share relevant information, but it also streamlines business processes and workflows, ensuring paperwork doesn’t impede a nonprofit’s cause.
So whether you’re running a charity, campaign, or creative space, one way to better serve your donors and volunteers is to adopt paperless solutions, such as a DMS.
A DMS like PairSoft empowers nonprofits by allowing them to process and store documents in easy-to-access and secure electronic formats. Here are some ways a DMS can benefit nonprofits:
Nonprofits save on staffing costs by relying primarily on volunteers. But since volunteers aren’t being compensated the same way as their for-profit counterparts, it’s especially important for nonprofits to ensure that these individuals’ time and effort are worthwhile.
Automation solutions, such as a DMS, improve accuracy and efficiency by minimizing errors and eliminating unnecessary manual work. This saves your volunteers time, which they can instead use on higher-value initiatives such as securing funding, building initiatives, and more.
Handling paper documents can rack up significant expenses for nonprofits. The average organization spends more than $80 on paper per employee — and that’s not including the associated costs of printing, faxing, mailing, storing, and even disposing of paper documents. This also doesn’t account for the costs of errors resulting from manual processes.
A DMS digitizes the document management process at every endpoint to reduce the need for paper. All documents are stored and processed electronically, allowing you to significantly decrease the amount of paper you use as well as cut down on related expenses. Not only that, but a paperless workflow is environment-friendly and is likely better aligned with your nonprofit’s advocacies.
One of the worst things about working on a shoestring budget is that teams are compelled to use their own processes, which results in disjointed workflows. This can make it difficult to move documents between individual processes or teams.
With features like automated workflows, a DMS ensures that every task can be tracked through each stage and that no mission-critical steps are missed. This not only optimizes internal processes but also speeds up document processing from minutes to mere seconds.
Considering the often quick turnover of donors, volunteers, and workers, it’s important for nonprofits to have an effective record-keeping system. A DMS provides secure storage of vital records, while ensuring that these can be easily retrieved during tax season, audits, or whenever necessary.
If you are using a customer relationship management or CRM solution, PairSoft syncs with your system’s query tool, allowing you to pull documents for monthly closes, reimbursable grants, and audit requests. Simply create a query and you’ll get the documents you need in a few clicks.
No organization wants to succumb to a disaster, so it’s crucial to have a clear, well-defined backup and disaster recovery plan for any worst-case scenario. This includes securing accurate and up-to-date copies of critical business information.
A DMS lets you store documents and backups in the cloud, where they are protected by enterprise-grade security technologies and procedures against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. In particular, PairSoft uses geo-redundant storage to back up your data consistently to multiple locations, significantly reducing the risk of data loss. This means that even if your headquarters were to be hit by a local disaster, your data will remain secure and easily retrievable.
PairSoft can do more than reduce paperwork for your nonprofit. We can also help ensure that your organization remains efficient, secure, and poised for growth at all times. Learn more about what else we can do for your nonprofit by scheduling a free personalized demo today.
With over 25 years' experience in the SaaS space, Holly brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the table. She previously held leadership roles at PairSoft's subsidiary PaperSave and resides in South Carolina with her family.
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