Now that we are in an age defined by technology, it's getting harder for nonprofits and charities to garner support the way they used to - by demonstrating a need, telling people about the good work they're doing and asking for donations, according to The Nonprofit Quarterly. A growing number of groups are collecting data about their causes and work toward alleviating those issues so they can build fact-based evidence for philanthropists to earn funding.

"There's a shift that’s occurring across the sector and will continue to occur mostly because there's just less to go around," Nancy Roob, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation CEO and president, told the source. "We want to make sure that the limited dollars that there are really focus on what's working."

This is why national nonprofit Nurse-Family Partnerships now collects data on 2,000 variables from all the women and babies receiving assistance through its services, reports TIME Magazine. Information about babies' weights and emergency rooms visits can be translated to actionable data, so a spike in the former let's nurses know they may need to spend more time discussing breast feeding or nutrition with the mothers in the program.

As foundations tap into emerging digital channels to raise funds online and manage campaigns, they can benefit from nonprofit fundraising software that tracks incoming donations and quantitatively measures the success of their efforts.