ApproveThis manages your Donation Manager RedCloud Integration approvals.

When Fundraising Meets Fast Decisions

Let's be real: Nonprofits have better things to do than chase down signatures for donation approvals or sit on urgent appeals because someone's out of office. That's why pairing Donation Manager RedCloud with ApproveThis isn't just smart - it's survival mode for teams drowning in manual processes.

Here's the ugly truth your development director won't say out loud: Every hour spent emailing PDFs for review is an hour not spent cultivating major donors or optimizing campaigns. This integration through Zapier fixes that by turning approval bottlenecks into automated workflows that actually keep pace with your mission.

What Happens When You Connect the Dots

Donation Manager RedCloud tracks the money. ApproveThis handles the decisions. Together, they create closed-loop systems where:

• New donations trigger instant compliance checks
• Campaign launches get reviewed faster than you can say "matching gift"

Take Wildlife First Alliance - they cut appeal approval time from 3 days to 4 hours by auto-routing new campaigns through legal and comms teams. Their secret? Using ApproveThis' calculated fields to flag high-risk asks before they even hit a human inbox.

Four Ways This Combo Actually Works (Not Just Theory)

1. Stop Letting Appeals Collect Dust in Inboxes

Scenario: Your events team creates a new Giving Tuesday campaign in RedCloud. Zapier instantly pings ApproveThis to start the review chain - marketing gets first look, finance checks the budget coding, ED gives final blessing. All while your team sleeps.

Real impact: Food Bank United shaved 11 days off their annual holiday campaign setup by eliminating the "Who approved this?!" email chains.

2. Don't Let Major Gifts Slip Through the Cracks

When a $50K stock donation hits RedCloud, ApproveThis doesn't just notify the CFO. It uses approval thresholds to auto-route based on amount type: Investment committee for securities, board member for real estate, finance team for cash. No more guessing who needs to sign off.

3. Vet Supporters Without the Paperwork

A new corporate partner gets added in RedCloud? ApproveThis immediately:

• Checks against your CRM for existing relationships
• Pings the program team for alignment review
• Flags any political exposure risks

Pro tip: Use calculated fields to auto-approve recurring donors under $1K, freeing up staff for high-value relationships.

4. Launch Giving Pages That Don't Embarrass You

New donation page goes live without legal reviewing the T&C? That's how lawsuits happen. The integration ensures every new giving portal in RedCloud gets:

- Compliance team review (required)
- Marketing UX check (optional)
- ED final approval (conditional on $ goal)

All while maintaining an audit trail that would make your auditor blush.

Why This Isn't Just Another Zap

Other approval tools make you choose between speed and control. ApproveThis gives both through features built for complex nonprofits:

Approval Groups: Require consensus from all 5 board members or just first-responder approval based on campaign urgency.

Vacation Delegation: Development director out climbing Kilimanjaro? Requests auto-reassign to their deputy without missing IRS deadlines.

Email Approvals: Let your 70-year-old board chair approve things via email like it's 1999 while keeping everything tracked in the system.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Here's the no-BS guide:

1. Connect Donation Manager RedCloud to Zapier
2. Pick your trigger (New Appeal, Donation, etc.)
3. Map fields to ApproveThis' custom workflow
4. Set escalation rules ($ thresholds, time limits)
5. Test with a $5 donation before going live

Biggest time-saver: Use ApproveThis' pre-built templates for common nonprofit workflows. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Who Actually Benefits (Besides Your Sanity)

Finance Teams

Auto-flag donations needing gift agreements. Route stock transfers to investment committees. Slash month-end close time by having all approvals audit-ready.

Program Staff

Ensure new restricted gifts get approved by the right project leads before anyone spends a dime.

Development Directors

Stop being the middleman between RedCloud data and board approvals. Let the system handle follow-ups while you wine and dine major donors.

Compliance Officers

Sleep better knowing every giving page T&C gets reviewed - with version control and digital signatures.

The Elephant in the Room: External Approvers

Your CPA doesn't need a RedCloud license. Your board president shouldn't have to learn new software. ApproveThis solves this with:

- Email-based approvals (they click approve/reject)
- No extra licenses for external users
- Full audit trail regardless of approval method

Case in point: Community Arts Inc. gets 87% faster approvals from their fiscal sponsor by letting them review via email while keeping everything documented.

When Not to Use This Integration

This isn't magic fairy dust. If your team:

- Still approves things via hallway conversations
- Doesn't have clear approval hierarchies
- Thinks "workflow" is a type of flooring

...maybe fix those issues first. But for teams ready to move past spreadsheet trackers? This is your lifeline.

Bottom Line

Nonprofits using RedCloud already track donations better than most. Adding ApproveThis through Zapier means deciding faster too. Whether it's vetting a controversial donor or launching an emergency appeal, automated approvals mean you spend less time on process and more on impact.

Ready to stop being an approval bottleneck? Register for ApproveThis or schedule a demo to see how it plays with your RedCloud setup. No sales bingo - just 15 minutes that might save your team 15 hours a week.