CRM needs and Not-for-Profit Organizations

Different organizations have different CRM needs and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.  Almost every Not-for-Profit needs contact and contribution management, but your organization’s focus and goals dictate the rest of the functionality you need.

Contact Management

One Record
Your organization should never have to refer to multiple systems to get a complete view of your constituents’ level of engagement with you.

Record Interactions Automatically
A CRM needs to be integrated with bulk email, online contributions, event registrations, membership management, case management, volunteer management, and more. Transactions that are based on automatic or constituent-based action should be automatically recorded on each contact record and need to be available for reporting and action. Actions that are staff-based, such as case management should be recorded by staff, but available on one record.

Track & Nurture Relationships
Linking contacts through relationships, groups, and tags, you can identify, track, and act on the web of connections between your constituents and your organization. At a glance, anyone in your organization should be able to look at a contact record and see all available information on that contact.  A CRM needs input from staff and volunteers to be effective and is only as good as the data that goes in.

De-cluttering
A CRM needs a scheme for de-duping or decluttering contact records, so that there are not multiple records on any contact.

Custom Fields
You should be able to add different addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and any custom fields you want to add to keep up with your constituents.

CRM needs: Contributions

You must be able to collect and record contributions to your organization made via credit or debit card, check, phone, and in person and tie them directly to constituents’ contact records. Some of these items will depend on the type of credit card processing used. These contributions might include:

• One-time donations
• Recurring donations
• Memorial donations
• In-Kind donations
• Pledge payments
• Membership payments
• Matching gifts

You should also be able to:

• Define your own contribution types for the different contributions your organization receives: in-kind, cash, volunteer time, or value of items donated.
• Add custom fields to track extra information about a contribution or contributor (for example, specific information required by the FEC for campaign contributions)
• Create as many different online contribution pages as you need for different campaigns, chapters, etc.
• Automatically generate receipts, and track thank-you notes
• Easily import and export contribution data to/from other systems like an accounting package
• Search for contributions by type, amount, date, etc.
• Offer a selection of premiums (thank-you gifts) to your contributors

 

CRM needs: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Successful fundraisers are viral fundraisers. A good system will allow your supporters to raise money on your behalf, within your system.

• Contact Records stay in your organization
• Hard and soft credits are credited to the correct users
• All monetary contributions are based on your system, reducing the chance for fraud

 

CRM needs: Events

An intuitive interface should allow you to establish your event’s date, time, registration period, capacity, and fees as well as confirmation, receipt, and reception messages. Additionally, it needs map functionality (for in-person events) and may need a way for attendees to cancel or alter their registration. All fees associated with the event should be recorded in the contact record and the contribution section, under the appropriate type.

• Search for participants by event, event type, participant role, etc.
• Easily import and export participant data to/from other systems, including bookkeeping systems
• Set up recurring events and activities
• Allow users to export events as iCal files and configure online calendar applications to “subscribe” to iCal feeds of your public events
• Allow for virtual event planning

CRM needs: Memberships

Membership add-ons should be intuitive, easy to use, and draw users into a workflow that allows for recurring and stable contributions in the form of membership fees. Any membership site should be able to:

• Configure membership levels
• Create online sign up forms
• Enable online payment
• Set up scheduled renewal reminders
• Import and export membership information
• Create online membership directory accessible to members
• Communicate with members
• Create member-only email lists
• Send out member-only emails
• Search for specific member types and create dynamic smart groups and email lists
• Create a monthly new member and renewing member report
• Create a report to see member participation in member-only events
• Integrate with your CMS to allow members’ access to member-only content

CRM needs: Email Marketing

A CRM must integrate completely with your email marketing platform. While you can host this yourself, many hosts do not allow you to do this yourself, so if you find a platform that has this tool, it usually requires a hosting change. Look for the ability to:

• Create html and text versions
• Personalize emails
• Import & export email lists
• Use email templates
• A/B testing
• Schedule mailings
• Segment your list
• Email statistics
• Check open rates, and click-through rates
• Monitor bounce rates and unsubscribes
• Provide information on dates of signup and unsubscribes
• Provide the ability to unsubscribe from all lists or just one list

CRM needs: Reports

Create reports as print-friendly HTML or downloadable PDF formats

• Export as CSV or Excel
• Add report results to a given group for case management (eg: send email, create mailing lists)
• Automate report delivery to one or more recipients via e-mail
• Limit access to a given report to a specific sub-set of your users
• Create reports from pre-existing templates such as Donor Report Summaries or LYBUNT (Last Year but not this Year)
• Create entirely new custom reports, especially based on your custom contact data

 

CRM needs: Case Management

By helping to evaluate plans and outcomes, case management can record incidents with constituents, while at the same time increasing staff productivity and decreasing duplicate tasks with the constituents.

• Allow notes and constituent touches to be recorded
• Automatically record email or text based interactions with constituents

CRM needs: Special Campaigns

Special campaigns may be fundraisers, organizational campaigns, or simply projects that need to be managed, with a defined outcome or goal.

• Select which activities are part of of the overall campaign or goal
• Create surveys and petitions
• Record responses to surveys and petitions
• Link activity such as donations, mailings and events to a particular campaign
• Record individual members’ levels of interest and engagement in a particular activity

 

CRM needs: Volunteer Management

Volunteers are the heart of a non-profit. Management of volunteers

• Define multiple projects
• Associate a project or volunteer with an event.
• Define each volunteer project with distinct roles and shifts.
• Allow volunteers to:
• Sign themselves up for opportunities
• Make their interest known for volunteering, without signing up for anything specifically
• Admins should be able to assign volunteers
• Log and record volunteer hours

 

CRM needs: Grant Management

Tracking grants and payments to individuals or organizations is paramount

• Grants or monies show up on contact records

• Any documentation or grantee touches are recorded on the appropriate contact record

 

CRM needs: Solutions

Once you’ve identified the needs of your organization, there are several pre-built solutions:

DonorPerfect

Zoho CRM

Blackbaud

Contact me if your organization needs help choosing and setting up a CRM for your organization.