To successfully grow your organization and fulfill your mission, you need the right people in your corner when it comes to administrative support. One of the biggest struggles faced by non-profit organizations is being strapped for time and having limited funds for additional resources. Oftentimes the only thing standing between you and launching a profitable fundraising campaign is an extra set of hands.
Nonprofits often struggle with hiring staff. It can be difficult to offer employees a competitive salary on a limited budget. Virtual assistants for non-profits are affordable alternatives to hiring an on-site administrative assistant. A quality executive assistant can cost over $50,000 per year. With the additional costs associated with payroll, insurance, benefits and recruiting, bringing on a full-time employee may simply be impossible within budgetary constraints.
Hiring a virtual assistant offers a way to get the additional help you need while working within your budget.
Ways A Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Non-Profit:
1. Connecting with donors, volunteers and supporters are all vital to your organization. However, you don’t have to shoulder the entire burden of communicating with all of these stakeholders. In particular, responsibility for scheduling email blasts and social media posts can be delegated to your virtual assistant. Delegating these tasks ensures that communications are regular and timely.
2. Creating content that promotes your organization’s goals and communicates successes with stakeholders is an important part of maintaining a non-profit. Examples of content include blogs, descriptions of your organization on your website, articles for your newsletter, and brochures. Not only is this content critical to communicating with your stakeholders, it can also generate new interest in your organization.
3. Coordinating events and planning can be easily handed off to a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants can investigate venues, manage vendors, send out invitations, manage guest lists, and more. Virtual assistants can also handle internal events like board meetings, not only navigating busy calendars but also generating meeting minutes.
4. Managing volunteer onboarding, recruiting and tracking is vital to the success of a non-profit, but can also be very time consuming. Your virtual assistants can track new volunteers, make sure that they receive the necessary training, distribute paperwork, and provide updates to them.
5. Administrative tasks such as bookkeeping, office management, research and data entry are perfect tasks for a virtual assistant for as little as a few hours a week to help keep you organized. Simple tasks such as entering expenses, keeping your donor list up to date, and managing your calendar can be handled by a virtual assistant.
Conclusion
A virtual assistant can provide some need help for your organization, providing you with the flexibility to focus on important organizational goals. Once they get to know you and your non-profit, they can become an invaluable resource.
Hiring a virtual assistant doesn’t require you to delegate everything. You can start with a short-term arrangement and just a few tasks. See how it goes then add more time for them as you’re comfortable.