The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works all over the world to save the lives and defend the rights of children and young adults. Private donors and volunteers allow this mission to be so successful. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights provides customers with the most connected platform that can serve many different groups. Outdated fundraising models do not do the trick anymore, so Dynamics 365 provided a fresh new outlook and also allows for transparent communication with donors. It allows for audience segmentation, engagement, and retention. Insights are available faster and more efficiently, and the flexibility and innovation is unmatched. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights has helped transform UNICEF and other nonprofits for the better.
Private donors and volunteers are increasingly hard to find and retain. Many not-for-profits compete for the time and resources of these individuals, and the expectations of these supporters have risen. “The old fundraising models are not working as well as they used to,” says Suzanne Laszlo, Executive Director, UNICEF Netherlands. “Our donors are changing. They want to give something to UNICEF, but the next day, they want to give something to another organization.” UNICEF needs to build strong, personal relationships with the donor community to find and retain long-term contributors. “We have to stay in touch. We have to tell our stories. We have to explain where the money went, how it’s spent, and what the results were,” she explains.
Although UNICEF Netherlands found that personally engaging supporters and potential supporters increased their overall commitment to the organization, personalizing interactions at scale was a challenge. Key details on donors, such as their contact information, philanthropic interests, and donation history, were housed in disparate data silos. “What made it hard,” shares Guus van Dijk, Digital Transformation Manager, UNICEF Netherlands, “[was that] data was not easy to connect. We have millions and millions of records. It was difficult to bring in all those different sources.” Without a single, unified source of information on donors, it was challenging to create and send personalized communications to each of them.
