MissieNederland

How MissieNederland was able to switch gears rapidly during the corona crisis

How do you ensure continued mission work during a lockdown? MissieNederland suddenly had to find an answer to this question when the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 made physical meetings impossible. Fortunately, its digital foundation was in order, which allowed the organization to switch rapidly.

MissieNederland is a platform that gives Christian evangelical organizations the opportunity to connect with each other, to share in the mission of Jesus. These groups can be individual churches, but also member organizations such as Christian political parties or broadcasting associations. What matters is the connection: living out the mission together as fellow believers. The focus is on three things: cooperation in the fields of church and society (1), global missions (2) and future generations (3). MissieNederland has eight denominations, 111 organizations, 228 congregations and 376 affiliated individuals as participants.

Jan Willem Janse, Church & Media Relations Manager at MissieNederland, explains the impact the pandemic had and has on the organization, and tells us how smart IT solutions help to put the mission into practice after all.

A solid digital foundation

Like other Dutch Christian charities, the corona crisis overwhelmed MissieNederland and its members. “Fortunately, we had the digital tools ready to quickly launch new initiatives,” Janse says. “We have now been using the Procurios platform for over 10 years. With this online platform – for which you basically only need a computer, a browser and a subscription – we manage our relationships (CRM), we handle donations and we take care of much of our digital promotion and communication. From one place, we can do a lot of our daily work. Without having to constantly switch between programs. As a result, we don’t have to keep track of relationship data in different places either: it’s all done on this one platform.”

In November 2019, MissionNetherlands switched to a new product solution from Procurios: /Fundraising. This package offers everything a fundraising organization needs, from donor management to administrative handling of invoices – and a wide range of tools to deepen the relationship with contacts. For MissieNederland, the transition was accompanied by a redesign of the CRM and the introduction of a new website. “We decided to tackle everything thoroughly and to give the website a substantial update. Procurios supported us here too. I’m very proud of the result, which, without knowing it at the time, would play an important role during the pandemic. Even before the crisis, the new website showed its value: we received many more donations through the website than before, partially because the donation process was better organized.”

Within five days, more than 100k believers engaged online

When the corona pandemic gained a foothold in the country, MissieNederland was able to play a central role in the (emergency) online faith experience. Janse: “Everyone asked the same questions, mainly about alternative forms of connection. But also about togetherness and the desire to jointly provide an opportunity to practice faith in relation to the pandemic.” The idea for the Day of National Prayer proved to fit right in with that.

Together with four other organizations, MissieNederland took the lead. Janse: “There were only five days between idea and implementation. Very little, for an action of this magnitude. We were able to fulfill our mission as the church dance floor: we connected all kinds of organizations and individuals. The need for an up-to-date CRM was undeniable in this process. Switching to Procurios’ /Fundraising placed us in an excellent position to play an important role in the organization of this national day of prayer. We could easily and quickly use our website as a promotion and recruitment channel. The platform effortlessly handled the enormous growth in the number of website visitors. If we hadn’t done this project with Procurios, we would’ve never been able to move so quickly. In total, more than 100,000 believers participated in the National Prayer.”

Keeping an overview, staying involved

Of course, there are other benefits to the Procurios platform. It’s not without reason that MissieNederland has been a customer for over 10 years. Janse: “What’s nice is that the Procurios teams are well familiar with fundraising organizations. Partly because of this, useful new features are regularly made available to make the fundraiser’s work easier. For example, all interactions with donors are directly visible on the relationship card, whether it’s a mailing or the invoicing of a monthly donation. This relationship data integration is very valuable to us. The CRM at the heart of the Procurios platform is very powerful and all the Procurios products we use, are integrated into the CRM. The fact that this is standard at Procurios (so no hassle with separate software packages and data integrations!) was the deciding factor for us to continue our long-term partnership with Procurios.”

_{Foto Jan Willem Janse © Aron Bagel}