How Can You Manage a Nonprofit Internationally With Innovative Technology?

Many businesses have managed to succeed in the global market thanks to translation companies who have (for the longest time) been facilitating trade between people of diverse backgrounds. But with the rise of new technology, many emerging markets (China, South Africa, Singapore, India, and South Korea, for example) are all hungry for new services that could be provided by small businesses.

So while some people are focused on revenue growth opportunities, what about the increased opportunities for efficiently managing international nonprofits using technology? How can you take advantage of the new technology? To answer this question, we will look at several ways you can leverage technology in managing your international nonprofit.

1. The power of social media

Everyone knows how powerful social media is, both as a marketing tool and as a platform for social interactions. You can now reach out to people deep in Somalia or Haiti (or elsewhere) through Facebook and Twitter. You can share the plight of women and children in the Far East using Instagram photos, Snapchat, and YouTube videos. When you share, you are able to mobilize more resources from philanthropic social media users – resources that go a long way in making your nonprofit bigger and better. Interacting with people on Facebook, on the other hand, gives you an idea of who needs your assistance, when, and the magnitude of the assistance.

2. Artificial Intelligence

We have come to a time when donors are demanding more and more transparency from the causes they are supporting. For nonprofits, AI will play a huge part in delivering this as it will help them process and deliver more data related to their programs. First of all, AI chatbots, can play the role of customer service and remove a huge burden for frequently asked questions. Moreover, they can process easy tasks and queries and divert the more complex ones to human staff. Nonprofits can also automate a number of processes from data collection, meeting scheduling, reminders, etc. as a means to save money. They could also use AI to develop algorithms in order to see what their donor databases look like and divine what their donors are looking for and potentially increase the donations.

Moreover, slowly we are seeing how big companies are partnering with nonprofits, to deliver results, which with the help of AI is truly making an impact in society. For example, Facebook works with the American Red Cross and provides platform data to track maps and the movement of people, send disaster relief teas, dedicate resources, and identify evacuation routes.

3. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is a relatively new term that incorporates the integration of virtual elements into our real life. Nowadays, nonprofits can spread out their vision and cause, by making people see what in reality exists somewhere else, get a feel of their cause, and potentially inspire them to act as well. There are numerous examples of nonprofit campaigns involving AR. For example, a Dutch nonprofit organization has created the Dolphin Swim Club, which uses goggles to allow people with disabilities to virtually swim with dolphins in their in-house pool as a form of relaxing therapy. According to the organization’s policy advisor, “Some 82 percent of our clients feel actually relaxed by seeing the films.”

4. Using translation services

One way of navigating the language barrier is contracting translation companies to translate your visual and static content to your target audience. There are also many premium and free translation tools on the internet, including Google Translate and Day Translations tool. Any of the two options will do for your nonprofit depending on your budget, although it is worth noting that translation tools aren’t always accurate in their translation. Technology allows you to search for reliable translation companies who can translate both the letter and the spirit of your philanthropic work using their human translators. The good thing is that you don’t have to look too far for such a company because there are tons and their reviews are all over social media.

5. Internet of Things

For many nonprofits, the area of the Internet of Things may seem far off on the horizon. However, many organizations have already started implementing and using these tools to extend their reach. For IoT, the most crucial thing is the power of data and the insights that these devices deliver. For example, if a nonprofit is working on a project for delivering water to children in developing countries, then placing a sensor on the water well, which will in real-time send insights about the maintenance needed and also send indicators about water consumption could be transformative.

7. The Future of Remote Work

As we have already mentioned, you need all the help that you can get to reduce the costs of your nonprofit. One way of cutting expenditures is not traveling too much and instead delegating duties to your partners and staff members in international offices. Thanks to smartphones and other mobile smart devices, you can work from anywhere in the world and share data with all stakeholders across the world in an instant. As a matter of fact, you can do everything from your living room instead of renting a physical office. With audio and video conferencing technology, you can now hold meetings with your team, each member conferencing from a remote location.

These are just a few of the ways that innovative technology can help nonprofits reach their goals, but hopefully, it means huge returns for the people that they serve.

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This article is a guest post by Rilind Elezaj. Elezaj is an experienced digital marketing specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Rilind possesses a strong entrepreneurial mindset and has devoted his career to enhancing the sphere of digital marketing. In his methodological approach, Rilind integrates web development and other digital marketing solutions to create hybrid strategies that bring the best results.