Did you know 82% of people aren’t effectively managing their time? Even with 24 hours in a day, it sometimes feels like there’s not enough time to accomplish everything on the to-do list. This is especially true at a nonprofit, where there are always a variety of important tasks that need to be accomplished on a deadline and people are asked to do more with less. Good nonprofit time management is a great way to maximize your time and resources. And we offer six tips to help you do just that.
1. Repurpose content
Ninety-four percent of marketers repurpose content. If you have a few articles that hit home with your audience, reuse meaningful facts from those pieces in presentations, emails and social media images. Or turn your blog post into social posts or video. Even though you’re familiar with the information, people outside of your organization may not be.
2. Automate tasks
Free up time your team didn’t know they had with automation tools. Instead of spending hours writing blog posts, consider incorporating an AI (artificial intelligence) copywriting tool. The same can be said for scheduling social media posts—leave the manual labour behind and use automatic scheduling software to plan, post and monitor.
3. Focus on strengths
To maximize your nonprofit’s time, focus on areas in which your nonprofit is already strong and has had success with in the past. For example:
- What is your most consistent donor demographic? Spend more time nurturing those relationships rather than trying to break into new target audiences.
- Where is your nonprofit strong? Do you have a loyal group of volunteers? Ask them to help you recruit others.
- Focus on fundraising. If grants provide a significant chunk of your funding, focus on fine-tuning staff’s grant-writing skills instead of spending time on cold-calling potential donors.
There are many assessment tools available to help uncover individual team member strengths, too. CliftonStrengths is one example. Ask your team to participate in a strengths assessment so you can make the best use of their talents. Reward those who do with a small token of appreciation. Staff giveaway ideas could include a collapsible can cooler, deck of cards or travel tumbler with sleeve.
4. Be willing to break tradition
Before dedicating time to an event or task, look at the numbers. Does your annual spaghetti dinner barely break even each year? Or is your summer picnic time and resource exhaustive but low on attendance? It may be time to revamp or leave an event behind.
Analyze the data to determine if your fundraisers are adding value to your organization. If not, brainstorm more financially beneficial options to present to your board.
5. Ask for help
Bringing in experts from the outside can help improve ideation and efficiency. Are you struggling with getting people to attend your annual golf tournament? Ask an experienced person (maybe from another nonprofit) to help you brainstorm enticing ideas.
If you’re trying to streamline time-consuming processes, ask a friend who’s a spreadsheet expert if they can help create formulas or templates. Or maybe you’re trying to keep an online community engaged. Find an engaged community that you admire and reach out to the moderator for tips.
6. Skip multitasking
Only 2.5% of people can effectively multitask. For the rest of us, juggling multiple balls in the air means at least one ball gets dropped. In a nonprofit, staff members often wear multiple hats. However, if you can help train staff to focus on one thing at a time, their work can often be completed more quickly and successfully. Training your team to delegate tasks and plan each day in detail can help get everything accomplished without having to multitask.
Staff giveaway ideas are a thoughtful way to thank your team for their focused efforts. The Trellis Knit Beanie, metallic stylus pen and Frosted Glass Coffee Mug are eye-catching options. Your team is sure to appreciate a small token of appreciation for their dedication.
Make the most of every minute with nonprofit time management tips
With nonprofit time management tips, like repurposing what’s already working, focusing on strengths and asking for help, your team can skyrocket productivity and know exactly where all their time has gone.