• by Jess Nelson , February 2, 2017

JotForm launched an updated version of its form building and data collection software on Wednesday, expanding to mobile devices for the first time and introducing new collaborative features and offline editing capabilities.   

JotForm claims to have nearly 2.5 million global users utilizing the company’s technology to collect and store data in the dcloud for event registrations, applications, lead generation and surveys. Email marketers can leverage JotForm forms to add surveys or forms to their emails that collect information or feedback, as well as soliciting donations and registering volunteers.

The company has a collection of more than 10,000 templates of online forms that marketers can use or adapt to suite their own specific needs.

Fernando Lopez, Director of Operations at San Diego LGBT Pride Parade, says JotForm has “streamlined the data collection process” for his organization. As a community-based nonprofit, Lopez say that JotForm has been incredibly beneficial from a business perspective by automating the data collection process.

The San Diego LGBT Pride Parade uses JotForm to collect registration information on parade participants and entertainers, as well as a myriad of other use cases. Whereas the organization previously collected information by paper, Lopez says registrations increased by six times once the organization began using JotForm. 

The information collected via JotForm’s documents is automatically imported into the organization’s email system, which Lopez says helps with segregated marketing. 

San Diego LGBT Pride Parade also leverages JotForm for donations and community feedback on who should be the Grand Marshall of the parade, as well as recommendations for who should be awarded community activist and athlete awards.

“We take proceeds from Pride and turn it back into community grants,” says Lopez, adding that it was formerly a paper process and that JotForm has streamlined the process and enabled the company to give out $90,000 to local community organizations last year.” 

Lopez says that automating the data collection process has directly related to increases in cash flow for San Diego LGBT Pride Parade. JotForm has added value removing time-consuming administration work, he says, increasing the amount of work his team can accomplish and allowing staff and volunteers to focus on serving the community. 

From 2015 to 2016, San Diego LGBT Pride Parade quintupled donations for its Tracie Jada O'Brien Transgender Student Scholarship available to students who identify as transgender, outside of the gender binary or are in the process of transitioning gender, by using JotForm to collect donations online. 

The organization also hosts youth essay contests the offer students an opportunity to write about their school community via an online Jotform template. San Diego LGBT Pride Parade uses this feedback to reach out to the local school board to enact policy changes that better support LGBT students.

San Diego LGBT Pride Parade is using JotForm in a new manner this year by collecting exhibitor registrations. Lopez says they already have two dozen exhibitors signed up for this year’s event, money that the nonprofit would not have had otherwise. Lopez says it has also helped their product ream take out the guesswork about what type of equipment they will need for the event. 

“I’ve been in nonprofit work my whole adult life and using JotForm has streamlined everything we do here,” asserts Lopez. “I now recommend it to every other LGBT nonprofit I work with.”