In August 2025, Pendula and NobleCX hosted "Digital Transformations for For-Purpose Organisations" - an event bringing together NFP and for-purpose leaders to discuss practical strategies for scaling impact without scaling budgets.
The following information was shared by industry leaders from Wildlife Victoria, Able Foods, Macular Disease Foundation Australia, Glaucoma Australia, and Fundraising Institute Australia.
Watch the full panel recordings:
Below are the key insights and frequently asked questions from both sessions, organised into practical takeaways you can implement in your organisation.
Personalisation & segmentation
How should organisations define personalisation in their context?
A: Personalisation means different things depending on your audience - whether it's donor engagement, customer experience, or volunteer communication. The key is thinking about your member and non-member segments, understanding their needs and desires, and devising personalised journeys for different segments. This leads to better retention, higher satisfaction, greater engagement, and improved net promoter scores.
What are the key recommendations for organisations starting with personalisation and segmentation?
A: Three critical foundations:
- Clean data in one place - Keep your data squeaky clean and centralised.
- Don't overcomplicate - Start simple and avoid over-segmentation that creates unnecessary work.
- Be mindful of sensitive information - Always consider "What if this landed in the wrong hands?" especially with health or personal data.
What personalisation tactics have proven most worthwhile?
A: Calculated donation asks based on giving history have shown significant impact - one organisation lifted their average gift from $68 to $212 over four years. The key is using inbuilt CRM fields to grab donors' last gift amounts and multiply by a strategic factor. However, avoid over-personalisation that could compromise privacy or create sensitivity issues.
Can you share an example of a successful personalised campaign on a limited budget?
A: One organisation tested personalised URLs with specific donation asks for their tax appeal. Each donor received their own landing page with a calculated amount rather than generic dollar handles. Despite concerns about their older demographic, they exceeded income by 30%. Importantly, 98% of donors gave exactly what was asked, even though they often responded through their preferred traditional channels (phone, mail, website) rather than the personalised URL.
How do you ensure supporters feel cared for in communications?
A: The human touch remains critical:
- Personal phone calls and "love notes".
- Multi-channel communications to meet people where they are.
- Thank you calls after donations (often resulting in additional gifts).
- Understanding that people love cards, phone calls, and personal touches.
- Avoiding trigger words that might cause distress to your specific audience.
Operational excellence
How do you define operational excellence in resource-constrained organisations?
A: Operational excellence means using donor dollars and grant income as efficiently as possible without compromising quality. It's about weighing investments against the cost of doing nothing, recognising that sometimes upfront investment is needed to achieve greater efficiency. Key elements include:
- Getting the right passionate people in your organisation.
- Clearly defining roles and responsibilities.
- Ruthless prioritisation of where you spend time.
- Maintaining a continuous improvement mindset.
How do you balance investing in new systems versus maintaining existing programmes?
A: Take an iterative approach rather than trying to solve everything at once:
- Don't chase perfection - focus on minimal viable products and quick wins.
- Start with clear objectives and end goals before implementing technology.
- Look for low-hanging fruit that can be addressed quickly.
- Consider ROI carefully - invest in technology that enables you to serve more people with the same resources.
- Build capability gradually over time rather than attempting massive transformation projects.
What's the best approach to volunteer management at scale?
A: Efficiency starts at recruitment:
- Conduct clear information sessions that honestly communicate what the role involves.
- Use existing volunteers to share real experiences.
- Implement screening for both physical and mental fit for the role.
- Set minimum requirements upfront.
- Use technology for deployment and management, but ensure it's user-friendly.
- Explain processes in ways that connect to volunteers' passion for the cause.
- Invest heavily in training upfront to ensure efficiency once people are operational.
How do you approach data management with lean teams?
A: Three key principles:
- Know your end goal - Understand what you want to report on before capturing data.
- Make data everyone's responsibility - Build data skills across the organisation rather than relying on one person.
- Build organisational capability - Ensure people can interrogate and validate data quality.
Remember: "You don't need a data team, you need a team that values data."
How do you get teams on board with consistent data entry?
A: Make the impact of data quality tangible:
- Use experiential learning - have staff experience the service from the user's perspective.
- Show how poor data affects real outcomes (delayed responses, wrong information).
- Only make decisions backed by data, requiring teams to provide data to support their recommendations.
- Reflect success back through dashboards showing what people have accomplished.
- Celebrate wins using data alongside identifying opportunities.
What role should AI play in for-purpose organisations?
A: AI should complement rather than replace human interaction:
- Use for operational efficiency (species identification, call transcription, triage support).
- Leverage for content creation, brainstorming, and idea refinement.
- Consider as a substitute for expensive professional services (HR, legal consultation).
- Implement for behind-the-scenes automation while maintaining human touchpoints.
- Always maintain the human sandwich approach: start with human objectives, use AI in the middle, end with human review.
What's the most impactful operational tactic for scaling without increasing budget?
A: Invest in human resources upfront through comprehensive training and onboarding. This drives data quality, improves outcomes, and prevents costly rework. Save people for jobs only humans can do while automating everything else. Use technology to remove manual administrative burden so staff can focus on high-value human interactions and relationship building.
The key insight: Your data is one of your most valuable organisational assets. Use it to drive advocacy, engage media, influence legislation, and demonstrate credible impact. Quality data gives you the credibility needed to create real change and can even become a revenue source.
Key takeaways
- Start with clear objectives before implementing any technology or personalisation strategy.
- Keep data clean, centralised, and accessible to everyone who needs it.
- Don't overcomplicate - simple, consistent approaches often work better than complex segmentation.
- Invest in people and training upfront to achieve long-term operational efficiency.
- Use technology to augment human capability, not replace human connection.
- Make decisions based on data, not anecdotal feedback.
- Remember that in the for-purpose sector, talking about good work isn't enough - it must be backed by credible data.
.webp)
