Category Archive: Association

Engage Members with Confidence, Not Guesswork

Member-based organizations and nonprofits rely on accurate data to confidently engage members, report, and operate efficiently. Yet CRMs often become cluttered with duplicate contacts, outdated records, and inconsistent information — slowing teams down and leading to missed opportunities.

fusionSpan is proud to partner with Traction Complete to address this challenge head-on. By leveraging Complete Clean, we help organizations automate data cleansing, eliminate duplicates, and maintain a reliable, always-ready database. As a 100% native solution, Complete Clean keeps data secure, actionable, and under your control.

Confronting the Deduplication Dilemma

Many organizations struggle with maintaining clean, structured data — especially in legacy systems and fast-growing environments. Duplicate accounts, inconsistent records, and outdated contact information drain resources and reduce engagement. In fact, industry studies suggest that up to 30% of CRM data can be redundant or inaccurate, hindering your operational efficiency and decision-making (Source: Experian Data Quality).

Unlocking Organizational Efficiency

Complete Clean offers a robust solution to overcome these obstacles by:

• Eliminating Duplicates: Automates identification and merging of duplicate records to keep your database organized and unified.
• Improving Data Quality: Ensuring that every data point is up-to-date and consistent, thereby improving the overall reliability of your CRM system.
• Saving Time and Resources: It frees staff from manual data cleanup chores, allowing them to focus on member engagement and strategic initiatives.

Our Success Story

At FusionSpan, we didn’t just rely on promises — our own experience with Traction Complete spoke volumes.

After deploying Complete Clean to dedupe our accounts and contacts, we saw a 12% improvement in data accuracy and an 8% reduction in duplicate contact and account records. These improvements streamlined our workflows, improved reporting, and reinforced our commitment to maintaining clean, dependable data across our systems.

Managing taxes is rarely something member-based organizations look forward to. However, for 501(c)(3) organizations, ensuring tax compliance is critical to preserving their nonprofit status and essential to maintaining member trust. The challenges are multifaceted, from navigating complex tax exemptions to managing sales tax for merchandise.

At fusionSpan, we empower associations with technology solutions tailored to their needs. As part of our ongoing mission to simplify operations and improve efficiency for our clients, we’re excited to formalize a partnership with Avalara, a leader in tax automation.

This partnership presents a unique opportunity to address the key taxation challenges associations face today while enhancing operational efficiency.

The Impact of Taxation on Associations

While 501(c)(3) organizations enjoy significant tax benefits, their tax responsibilities can still be complex and burdensome:

• Membership Dues and Events: Determining taxability for member dues and ticketed events often involves navigating a web of state-specific rules and exemptions.
• Product Sales and Merchandise: Selling branded items like t-shirts or publications may trigger sales tax collection requirements, varying across jurisdictions.
• Tax Exemptions: Managing and maintaining exemption certificates for suppliers and purchases is an ongoing administrative task.

Missteps in these areas can lead to costly penalties, audits, and reputational damage. For many associations, manually managing these responsibilities strains limited resources and pulls focus away from an organization’s mission.

The State of Taxation Solutions in Member-Based Organizations

Historically, many associations have relied on manual processes and disconnected systems to manage their tax obligations. Common pain points include:

• Inconsistent Processes: Without centralized systems, staff may handle tax compliance differently, leading to errors.
• Difficulty Tracking Exemptions: Manually tracking and validating exemption certificates often results in lapses.
• Evolving Tax Laws: Staying compliant with ever-changing state and local tax laws is a significant challenge without expert support or automation.

Despite these challenges, the adoption of automated taxation solutions within member-based organizations remains low, often due to misconceptions about complexity, cost, or relevance.

Avalara for Member-Based Organizations

Avalara offers a comprehensive suite of tax automation solutions designed to simplify even the most complex scenarios. With Avalara, associations can:

• Automate Tax Calculations: Apply accurate tax rates for dues, merchandise, and events based on real-time jurisdictional rules.
• Simplify Exemption Management: Use Avalara’s certificate management tools to track, validate, and maintain exemption certificates.
• Streamline Reporting and Filing: Generate detailed tax reports and automate filings, reducing administrative burden and risk of error.
• Ensure Compliance: Stay current with tax laws and regulations across all applicable jurisdictions.

Common Use Cases for Associations

Let’s explore how Avalara can address typical scenarios faced by associations:

1. Membership Dues: An association charging membership fees across multiple states must determine tax applicability. Avalara ensures accurate calculations by considering state-specific exemptions for nonprofits.
2. Event Registration: Planning a national conference? Avalara calculates applicable taxes for event tickets based on each attendee’s location and event venue, avoiding surprises.
3. Merchandise Sales: From online stores to onsite sales at events, Avalara simplifies sales tax collection and reporting, ensuring compliance with multi-jurisdictional rules.
4. Exemption Management: Tracking exemption certificates for suppliers or purchases becomes seamless with Avalara’s automated tools, preventing missed deadlines or invalid certificates.

Whether you work for a nonprofit, association, or other fundraising organization, you likely know that donor engagement is essential to advancing your mission. Supporters want to contribute to organizations that not only do good work in the community but also make them feel like an integral part of their efforts and achievements.

Donor stewardship is a major aspect of engagement for every nonprofit. Every type of gift—large or small, monetary or in-kind—deserves a heartfelt thank-you from your team, plus additional follow-up messages to keep your organization on donors’ radar.

Benefits of Donor Stewardship

Every organization’s donor stewardship approach will look slightly different depending on its audience and needs. However, the main advantages of a well-executed stewardship strategy are the same across the board:

• Improved retention rates. According to DonorSearch’s donor retention guide, “Although stewardship and retention are separate steps in the traditional donor management lifecycle, they actually overlap. If donors know that your organization is grateful for their contributions, they’ll be more likely to give again.”
• Higher donor lifetime values. Not only are donors more likely to give again when they feel appreciated, but they’re often motivated to contribute larger amounts over time. They also might get involved with your nonprofit in other ways, such as volunteering, attending events, or advocating for your cause, providing more value to your mission.
• Increased supporter loyalty. Donors will be more compelled to stay engaged with your organization when they feel valued through stewardship. They may even spread the word about your mission and work to their friends and family, helping you attract more potential supporters!
• Better organizational reputation. If your nonprofit stewards its supporters well over time, word will spread in your community, helping your organization become known for caring about its donors and communicating clearly and personally with them.

Keep these benefits in mind as you develop your nonprofit’s strategic plans and fundraising calendars so you can prioritize stewardship in these activities and maximize the results for your organization.

Best Donor Stewardship Strategies

To develop an actionable stewardship plan for your nonprofit, let’s walk through three useful strategies for any size organization.

1. Show Appreciation According to Donors’ Giving Levels

Expressing gratitude for contributions promptly and personally is at the core of effective stewardship. As Winspire’s donor stewardship guide explains, “When choosing recognition methods, the main thing to keep in mind is that the size of your nonprofit’s thank-you should match the size of the donor’s gift.”

Here are a few possible appreciation methods organized based on donors’ giving levels:

• Small gift: Thank-you email with attached donation receipt, text message for mobile contributions, end-of-year mass mailing thanking all low-level donors for their support.
• Mid-size gift: Handwritten thank-you note, phone call from one of your organization’s leaders or board members, tangible donor gifts like branded merchandise or a gift card.
• Major gift: Invitation to a donor appreciation event, annual report mention, social media shoutout, inclusion on a donor wall, naming rights to an area of your facility.

When your nonprofit receives in-kind donations, choose an appreciation method based on the gift’s monetary value. For example, a donor who contributed a few canned goods to a food bank would deserve recognition for a small gift. However, someone who donated a pickup truck to help the team transport food around town might be recognized for a mid-level or major contribution, depending on the organization’s major giving threshold and the truck’s Kelley Blue Book value.

2. Plan Follow-up Cadences

After donors give, keep your nonprofit top of mind by regularly following up with them. For first-time, low-level supporters, automate a welcome email series triggered by submitting your donation form. Set it up to send one or two emails a week in this order:

• Email #1: Thank-you note personalized with the donor’s name and donation amount.
• Email #2: Overview of your nonprofit’s mission, current initiatives, and major achievements.
• Email #3: Update on the specific impact of the donor’s gift, including relevant stories and data to make the results more concrete
• Email #4: Upcoming opportunities to get involved with your mission, such as volunteer opportunities, events, or advocacy campaigns
• Email #5: Encouragement to make another gift and keep up with your nonprofit through other recurring communications, such as social media or your monthly newsletter.

For larger-dollar donors or repeat supporters, use what you already know about them to tailor your follow-ups to their interests. For instance, if someone who won a prize at your most recent live auction later makes a monetary donation, one of your follow-up emails might have a subject line like, “[Donor Name], mark your calendar for our next live auction!” to encourage them to attend another event they’ll likely enjoy.

3. Collect and Analyze Data From Your Efforts

To understand the impact of your nonprofit’s stewardship activities, make sure you have systems in place for tracking and analyzing data before you start. Some key metrics to monitor include:

• Open and click-through rates for each email in your welcome series, which can help you hone their content and timing.
• Donor retention rates year-over-year or campaign-to-campaign, calculated by dividing the number of repeat donors by the number of total donors for the year or fundraiser.
• Number of donors who engage with your nonprofit in multiple ways after giving, so you know if your recommendations for volunteer, event, and advocacy opportunities were effective.
• Supporter satisfaction with your stewardship strategies, which you can measure by sending out surveys a few weeks after your initial round of recognition and follow-up. (Pro tip: Asking supporters for feedback about any of their experiences with your nonprofit—stewardship-related or otherwise—shows that your organization values them and therefore is also helpful for retaining them!)

Store all of your collected stewardship data in your nonprofit’s database so you can easily reference it as you continue improving your plans for recognizing and following up with donors.

As an association professional, you likely juggle many responsibilities. From recruiting new members to retaining your current member base, maintaining a thriving association takes a lot of work.

Although you have a lot on your plate, adding event management to the mix allows you to offer an additional membership benefit, bring your community together, and enhance the overall member experience. Events add value to your membership program and encourage members to learn from each other, which can help you retain them in the long run.

The prospect of managing an event or conference may seem overwhelming. That’s why we’ve created this guide to break down the process into four simple steps. Let’s get started!

1. Start by determining your event goals.

Like any new initiative, the event management process should begin with goal-setting. Your goals will drive your event efforts and keep you focused on what’s important. For instance, you may aim to:

• Engage members to keep them actively involved in your program and retain their support.
• Create networking opportunities that allow members to form new connections that can push their careers forward.
• Build a community that helps members find a sense of belonging in your association.
• Strengthen relationships with sponsors by promoting their businesses during the event.
• Generate revenue from ticket sales, merchandise, donations, and more to further support your association financially.

No matter which goals you choose to pursue, make sure they’re actionable by following the SMART goal framework, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, a SMART event goal may be “engaging 100 members in an unforgettable conference experience” or “raising $5,000 via ticket sales, merchandise, and a raffle to support future programming.”

2. Work out event logistics in advance.

Although it’s not the most exciting part of the event management process, logistics are the foundation of your event, and planning them far in advance ensures everything runs smoothly. Leave your team plenty of time to determine the following event logistics:

• Budget. Start by determining your budget so you know how much you can allocate to each aspect of your event. Work with your team to create a realistic budget based on your current financial performance, and get estimates from different event providers so you can get the best value.
• Date. Depending on the size of your event, you may need several months to over a year of planning time. Choose your date accordingly so you have enough time to prepare. Additionally, try to avoid any dates that conflict with major holidays, observances, or cultural events that may prevent members from attending.
• Venue. Look for a venue that has enough space for your expected number of attendees and ample areas to host the different activities you’re planning. Your venue should also include elements like wheelchair ramps and elevators that make it accessible for all attendees.
• Speakers. If you plan to have featured speakers at your event, reach out to them far in advance to ensure they’re available. You may want to keep your event date flexible until you’ve secured your speakers to maximize the chances they can attend.
• Activities. What will attendees actually do during your event? Fill your event agenda with engaging activities. For instance, an in-person conference may feature a panel discussion, whereas a virtual event may have online breakout sessions.

Additionally, you must delegate responsibilities for planning each of these logistics and managing other aspects of the event. For example, you may assign one team member to research venues, another to book speakers, and yet another to check attendees in on event day. That way, you can evenly distribute different event management tasks and ensure everyone knows exactly what they must accomplish.

3. Implement the right technology.

The right tools simplify the event management process and help you provide the best attendee experience possible. To choose the best solution for your organization and event, EventMobi’s event management software guide recommends following these steps:

1. Determine your needs. Refer to your budget and goals to decide what type of software you’re looking for and any necessary features. For example, if you’re hoping to increase networking opportunities, you’ll want to select a platform with networking capabilities like appointment booking and one-on-one messaging.
2. Read reviews. Research your options on review sites like G2 and Capterra to see what other organizations have to say about them. For best results, try to find reviews from fellow associations or organizations hosting a similar event to yours.
3. Investigate ease of use. All stakeholders using your software should be able to easily leverage the platform. Take advantage of demos and product tours to test your top options before making a purchase decision. If you’re implementing an attendee-facing event app, consider having a small group of members try each platform and give their feedback.
4. Look for security measures. Your event management software will house a variety of attendee data that you’ll want to keep safe. Look for security measures like PCI-compliant payment processing and Soc 2 Type II compliance so you can protect sensitive member information.
5. Speak with customer service. While you ideally won’t encounter problems with your event management software, you may need help fixing certain issues or answering stakeholder questions about the platform. Reach out to potential providers about their customer service options and hours of operation to ensure they’ll be available to help if needed.
6. Secure team buy-in. Gather your team to make the final decision. Create a presentation summarizing key details of each of your top providers to help team members make a well-informed decision.

Your new event management platform should fit in seamlessly with the rest of your existing tech stack. Before making a final decision, look into which software solutions each provider integrates with to ensure your current systems will work well with the platform you choose.

4. Measure your event’s success.

Once your event wraps up, and on an ongoing basis, reflect on your event management process. Optimize future events by noting your successes and identifying areas for improvement. Evaluate your event management approach by:

• Leveraging event analytics. Your event management platform will likely generate event data to help you understand what attendees liked best about your event. For example, you may analyze session attendance rates to determine which topics members were most interested in and focus on similar concepts again during your next event.
• Surveying attendees. According to eCardWidget’s member appreciation guide, asking for feedback is a “clear way to appreciate members and demonstrate your organization’s commitment to their membership experience.” Use their survey responses to obtain qualitative data that can help you improve future events.

Once you’ve gathered your event data, update attendees on the results. Send communications that summarizes the event’s successes and highlights how you’re adjusting your approach based on attendee feedback.

With a methodical, carefully planned approach, your association can manage an incredible event and provide an enriching experience for its members. As long as you stay organized, let your goals guide you, and prioritize your members, you’ll develop an unforgettable opportunity that rejuvenates your membership program and keeps attendees on the edge of their seats for your next event announcement.