Digital Transformation is often used to describe new ways to engage with donors, or front line-volunteers. However it is just as important for Not-For-Profit organisations to apply Digital Transformation to back-office processes. Productivity in the back-office translates to more resources available for the Mission…
Why invest in back office tools?
1. Save Costs
Every organisation benefits from reducing their operating costs. For private enterprise, this translates into better profit for shareholders. For government enterprises, this translates to more effective use of tax payers dollars, and better services for the community. For Not-For-Profit organisations, the benefits of reducing cost are even more profound. A typical non-profit organisation spends 15 to 40% of revenue on administration cost. Every dollar saved in overhead and administration costs flows back into the services that fulfil the NFP’s mission. One could argue that NFPs are mission driven to save on costs, and should relentlessly pursue business improvement opportunities – whether they be in fundraising, administration or tools to support efficiency in the distribution of services.
2. Scale Administration
NFPs are often subject to one-off external events that can increase demands on the organisation’s resources. The recent bushfire emergency in Australia is an example of a spike in demand for services from NFPs. Massive public support translated to a huge influx of donations, which in turn leads to increased demand on administration to process and then distribute funds in line with the NFP’s constitution. When natural disasters strike, there is obvious pressure on front line services, but what is often unseen is the massive stress on backroom administration to keep up!
3. Governance
Governance is key for all NFPs. Donors have an expectation that the highest percentage of funds possible make their way through to front line services. In addition to these community expectations, there are legislative requirements for reporting and audit. The right back-office tools embed compliance within core business processes, which makes reporting and auditing significantly easier.
4. Employee Satisfaction
Automation tools remove manual, repetitive work. This frees up human workers for creative and service oriented tasks. Employee engagement increases when there is greater meaning to their work, especially when the boring drudgery of data entry and mindless repetitive administration is removed! Increased employee engagement leads to reduced turnover, with compounding benefits. Some studies estimate the cost of replacing an employee at 2x their annual salary! Furthermore, not only does the organisation save money on finding and training new team members, but when key processes are automated, there is a lower risk of error with temporary untrained staff filling the breach.
Where can Digitisation and Automation help your Not-For-Profit Organisation?
Digitisation and Robotic Process Automation can support in the following use cases:
Support bots for front-line fundraisers and call centre operators interacting with donors.
- Unattended software bots to automate data entry and updating systems
- Finance bots to assist with processing invoices & paying suppliers, processing payments and expense management
- Finance bots to assist with reporting and reconciliations
- Admin bots to generate emails and reports, supporting internal & external communication
- HR Bots to support onboarding of staff and volunteers, and rostering of staff
- Compliance bots to log activity and gather data for auditors
- Procurement bots to set up vendor and/or contractors, as well as updating price catalogues
Return on Investment from deploying a Robotic Process Automation solution is achieved typically within 12 months, and often as soon as six months after going live. Rapid deployment means benefits start to be realised within weeks. For Not-For-Profit organisations, RPA is an essential tool to maximise the efficiency of backfroom administration, and it becomes even more valuable as the organisation grows.