If you’re a nonprofit and you’ve been watching the news lately, you’re probably a little uneasy. Donation forms unavailable. Workflows interrupted. A spinning logo where your donor information should be.
And the middle of year-end giving is a very expensive time to put out a sign that says “please try later.”
But these disruptions also raise questions worth asking about your own fundraising technology. Who controls it? What happens when something fails? And who can get you working again?
The answers can make you a smarter shopper. Or give you a better understanding of the systems you already have.
When a donation form goes down, recovery depends on who controls the systems behind it. Here’s why that matters, and six questions to ask your vendor before year-end.
Why a Working CRM Doesn’t Mean Working Fundraising
For many nonprofits, email, CRM, donation forms, payment processing, and events are all in different systems.
That means your CRM could be working while your fundraising emails aren’t going out. A monthly donor’s gift could be processed while the information never makes it into your donor record. Or your donation form could be unable to accept a gift at all.
Your donor doesn’t care which system caused the problem. They just know they tried to give and couldn’t.
These are different problems, with different fixes. You need to know which parts of your fundraising depend on which systems, and what happens when one becomes unavailable.
Preferably before your biggest appeal of the year.
A Familiar Logo Won’t Get Your Donation Form Back Online
Have you heard the saying, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM”?
The idea is simple. Choose the established brand, and nobody can blame you for making a risky decision.
But a familiar name doesn’t tell you how a platform is built, how many outside companies it depends on, or how much its own team can fix when something goes wrong.
And a famous logo is not a recovery plan.
So what should a nonprofit do? Be tough on your vendors. Particularly if you’re shopping for a new CRM, ask the questions that go beyond features and dashboards. You deserve answers to help you understand what happens when something goes wrong.
Six Questions to Ask Your Fundraising Software Vendor About Outages
You don’t need to become an IT expert to ask these questions. Your vendor should be able to answer them without making you wish you’d brought one.
1. If our donation forms go down, who fixes them?
Find out who responds and whether that team can make the necessary fixes directly or has to wait for another company.
2. Which critical services depend on outside companies?
How many companies are involved in hosting, donation forms, payment processing, and other essential functions? You don’t want to learn how complex the environment is when there’s a problem.
3. How are customer environments separated?
You don’t want another customer’s cybersecurity event to affect you.
4. Who handles security updates and backup systems?
Is there an in-house IT department keeping the systems updated?
5. How will you keep us informed?
Be certain you will receive notifications, ongoing updates, and a way to contact the company if you have questions.
6. Do you test your recovery plans?
Technology changes fast, and recovery plans can fall behind. Ask whether they’re tested regularly and how long the vendor expects recovery to take.
How CharityEngine Reduces Fundraising Downtime Risk
Are we immune from any sort of attack? No. No company is. But we’ve made choices that reduce specific risks.
We offer separate customer environments. This helps limit the chance that a problem in another customer’s environment will affect yours.
We have fewer outside dependencies. By building and operating core fundraising tools ourselves, we reduce the number of outside services our platform relies on. Fewer dependencies mean fewer places where someone else’s problem can become yours.
We maintain direct control over our critical infrastructure. We manage our own servers, security updates, and systems that take over when something fails. That gives our team direct control over important parts of prevention and recovery.
We keep all tools in one central system. With CRM, email, donation forms, events, and payments on a unified platform, your team has fewer connections between separate fundraising products to manage and troubleshoot.
None of this makes us invincible. It gives us more control over the systems our clients depend on and more responsibility for keeping them working.
When you contact CharityEngine, you reach the company accountable for those systems. Our team owns the response, works to restore service, and keeps you informed.
The buck stops here.
What to Do Before Your Next Fundraising Outage
Start by asking your current vendor these six questions. Share the answers with whoever oversees your technology, and make sure your team knows what to do if a critical service becomes unavailable.
Check how you’ll receive incident updates. Know where to get help. Understand which parts of your fundraising could be affected.
Your year-end appeal deserves a better contingency plan than crossed fingers.
And the next time you evaluate fundraising software, ask to see more than pretty dashboards. Ask who controls the systems behind your donation button, what happens when something fails, and who picks up the phone.
Then talk to CharityEngine. Bring the hard questions.
We’d welcome the chance to earn your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a nonprofit do if its donation form goes down?
Contact your fundraising software vendor right away and find out who is responsible for the fix and how you’ll get updates. Then work out which parts of your fundraising are affected, such as forms, payments, email, or donor records, and let your team know what to tell donors. Ideally, you have this plan in place before your year-end appeal.
What questions should nonprofits ask a fundraising software vendor about outages?
Ask who fixes your donation forms if they go down, which critical services depend on outside companies, how customer environments are separated, who handles security updates and backups, how you’ll be kept informed during an incident, and whether recovery plans are tested.
Can a nonprofit CRM be working while donations aren’t?
Yes. Many nonprofits use separate systems for CRM, email, donation forms, payment processing, and events. Your CRM can be running while your donation form can’t accept gifts, or a gift can be processed without reaching the donor record. Knowing which systems your fundraising depends on helps you respond faster.
