The idea for a great campaign can start anywhere within your organization, but it will still pass through the same hands on its way to the donor, through a similar process every time.

Whether it's a complex, multichannel campaign or just a simple awareness touch via email, the idea has to be fleshed out, content created, maybe some shiny graphics put in place (#squirrel). Finally the piece is reviewed, edited, and approved before it’s time to hit the send button.

Technology is an integral part of that entire process, even before your missive makes it out the door. IT support comes in threes: hardware support, systems support, and application support are the critical pieces behind the magic curtain.

Think about when you show up at the office in the morning. You have a computer, yay! Hardware, check! Can you login? Get your email? Print? Whew, systems are go! Applications? Whip open anything from Notepad to Visio to brainstorm ideas and organize thoughts to get this campaign started.

Next in line, the graphics department is thankful for the latest version of Adobe CS5…along with the RAM upgrade to run it! Not wasting time watching a spinning icon is always a good thing.

Then it's on to the managing director, who is able to retrieve the working document from the shared drive, make edits and approvals, and save it for the next person in the process to pick it up. Good thing it's backed up daily, right?

All of the pieces are finally in place and the campaign is ready to launch first thing in the morning. So what happens if the server goes bump in the night? Do you know who to call or who will take care of this?

Most nonprofits care a great deal about more dollars coming in and fewer dollars going out. That's as it should be, but this absolutely does not mean your organization can skimp on IT support. If you’re going to budget and put in time and money behind a campaign, when you’re ready to hit that send button, you want to be sure it goes without a hitch. As Jim Lynch from TechSoup says, “If your computer goes down, your mission goes down.” If that campaign doesn’t reach your supporters and donors, the dollars won’t be coming in. If the dollars don’t come in, you can’t support your mission.

Hiccups in technology are enough to make any day feel like a really bad Monday. If those hiccups come along when it’s time for an integral piece of your message to get out the door, the wizard behind the curtain, your IT staff – or consultant, accidental techie, volunteer – can save the day.

So make sure your wizard gets a heartfelt thank you for getting the organization’s work out the door and into the hands of the people who help you make a difference!