Nonprofit organizations make the world a better place for all of us. They used to work with the public and train employees and volunteers face-to-face, but the pandemic made many of them think about launching eLearning. This article will tell you about the ways eLearning can assist nonprofits to help people and benefit the community.
Why Use eLearning in Nonprofit Work?
Training in nonprofit organizations has several peculiarities:
- Nonprofits work under financial constraints – they tend to have limited resources and have to think about keeping their budget small.
- They have a diverse audience and may need to conduct separate training programs for their volunteers, community members, and staff.
- Their team might be very dispersed, working in the field in remote locations.
- Most of their staff are part-time employees or volunteers, and they should be kept motivated to perform their duties.
- They’re short of time because they endeavor to accomplish mission-related tasks more quickly.
- They tend to face high volunteer turnover.
It’s also challenging for nonprofit organizations to achieve consistency in training, as it is often conducted by different people in various cities or regions, and volunteers don’t receive the same training at different locations. However, if nonprofits switch to online training, this can significantly diminish the impact of the factors of money, time, and distance – and here’s how:
- You can launch training in remote locations and save time and money on flights, relocation, and printed materials.
- You can be sure that everyone gets the same information during induction and compliance training.
- You can track who completed the training and when.
- Your team members can access training anywhere in the world and on any device.
- You can boost volunteer retention by providing them with systematic training and making them feel like a part of the team.
- You can make many training-related processes automated.
All of it is possible with a proper learning management system (LMS). This is software for delivering and managing online training in an organization, a platform where you can store courses and other learning materials, as well as enroll learners, give assignments, and track training progress.
A learning management system is like a robust helper or an online university for your organization that serves for the stable development of your team. Next, you’ll learn about the major features of an LMS when it comes to training in nonprofits specifically.
10 Things to Look for When Selecting an LMS for Nonprofits
Nonprofit organizations often need to gain knowledge and boost skills fast to put them into practice sooner. Due to limited financial resources, it may seem that another piece of software would be an unnecessary expense. But in fact, with an LMS, you can make your organization stable and get your team fully engaged. That’s why purchasing an LMS can be a wise strategic solution for nonprofits that reduces training costs in the long run.
Below is the list of must-have features you can use as a checklist when deciding on an LMS for your organization:
- Cloud-based software. Nonprofits rarely have the financial means for IT deployment. Opt for a cloud-based LMS and it won’t need any long setup procedures. You can start using it immediately.
- User-friendly interface. Volunteers and staff might have no IT background or experience. So, a platform with an easy-to-use interface will be a perfect solution for anyone.
- Responsiveness. Choose a mobile-friendly, flexible LMS so people can access training in any browser and on any device, using a keyboard, touchpad, or touchscreen.
- White label. A platform that offers white labeling allows for branding and customization to align the training experience with the nonprofit’s mission and vision.
- Multilingual system. A multi-language interface is crucial for multicultural and geographically dispersed teams.
- Certification and gamification. An LMS that can award learners with certificates of course completion and badges for accomplishments helps to increase their loyalty and provides new ways to motivate employees.
- Built-in authoring tool. Charity and volunteering presuppose niche content, and nonprofits need to be able to create their customized content in-house. With a built-in authoring tool, they don’t have to purchase any extra tools.
- Management automation. These features free trainers and LMS administrators from spending time on manual course enrollments, sending notifications, and other tedious routine work.
- Customized reporting. It makes reporting to board members easy and convenient.
- Active user subscription. Nonprofits can save a lot by paying only for those users who are trained during any particular month. It is very convenient for ad hoc use when you don’t do training all the time, but conduct induction training to enroll new volunteers.
One more crucial point for nonprofits is the accessibility of training for people with disabilities and visual or hearing impairments. eLearning addresses this successfully: with some of the authoring tools, you can customize the way courses will be displayed in an LMS and adjust them to WCAG standards automatically. This way, you can be sure that courses and other learning materials will be fully accessible for learners with impairments.
4 Non-Obvious Ways to Use LMS for Nonprofits
Being an online platform for sharing digital resources, an LMS is more than a training tool for your organization. It also provides opportunities to communicate and understand each other better, seize the fruits of learning and monetize your knowledge. Take a look at these other ways to benefit from an LMS apart from the training itself.
Set up communication channels
Nonprofit organizations deal with several counterparts and strongly rely on communication with donors and communities. An LMS with embedded message and comment features can be a place for questions, comments, and discussions on useful materials, news, updates, etc. Authors can share this content with interested learners, answer their questions, invite them to collaborate via live chat or conduct web conferencing right in the LMS.
Know the interests of the audience
In an LMS, you can conduct polls to know people’s opinions as well as gain analytics on donors’ or employees’ activities in the system. That’s how you can understand what topics they like most, how to boost employee engagement, and how to align your donor engagement strategy correspondingly.
Become better at fundraising
That’s a way to boost income generation indirectly, through training. Training in a LMS on fundraising practices or writing successful grant proposals will be systematic and effective. As a result, staff members who amplified competencies in fundraising will bring more money for the organization.
Sell paid courses
That’s a direct way to monetize knowledge or exchange it for donation. Organizations that have accumulated vast expertise in their fields may create paid courses and deliver them in the LMS. Thus, they can educate people on social issues and get some revenue. If this case is relevant for you, opt for the LMS with eCommerce features or a course selling platform that functions as an LMS too.
Summary
eLearning makes it possible for people to learn whenever and wherever they need. For nonprofits, this implies that they can focus on accomplishing their mission while delegating volunteer and employee training to a robust learning platform. Knowing these 10 key LMS features for nonprofits, you can choose the software that allows your team to focus time, money, and effort on doing good deeds.
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