Fundraising CRMs: 6 key tips to help with the decision-making process
Melanie May | 1 February 2022 | News
With numerous CRM solutions on offer – and taking one on a serious investment of time and money – here are a few quick tips from experts in the field to help guide the decision-making process and give a greater chance of success.
Have you considered both your current and your future needs?
A key tip is to not just think about what your organisation’s requirements are now, but to consider the future too. Look for something that will scale with you – this way you’re less likely to end up with something you too quickly outgrow.
Shaf Mansour, Not for Profit Solutions Specialist at The Access Group says:
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“It’s much better to use a fundraising CRM if you’re fundraising rather than to try and shoehorn your needs into a generic CRM. Development costs will far outweigh the benefit and may not get the results you desire. Some fundraising CRMs will offer additional modules and capability for those charities that may require membership or volunteering functionality.
“This does require strategic thinking about the longer-term goals and plans. Charities should aim to go with something that will enable them to grow and diversify without huge technical or development overheads. Consider the CRM as the brain behind the operation and all the sources of data that need to feed into that brain – website and payments are two key examples.”
Is it a suitable fit for the size of your organisation?
There are lots of entry-level and small-charity specific solutions available as well as those for bigger charities. Keep your requirements firmly in mind in your search for a solution for your charity to ensure your choice answers your needs in terms of size as well as functionality.
Mathew Neville, founder of The Kindness of Strangers says:
“One of the main problems for small charities is in using a CRM system that has really been designed for much bigger charities. This ends up a bit like buying a Formula One race car to take the kids on holiday to Cornwall. The problem is that there is so much to configure and adapt that you need an expert to get up and running. There are many CRM platforms out there that are specifically designed to help UK small charities so you can get up and running quickly and without any expertise.
“Look for the use of jargon or technical language. This is a good way of knowing that the CRM has really been designed for larger organisation with dedicated CRM experts. Check too that it helps with things like Gift Aid. This is a good way of knowing that it is a charity CRM and has been designed for the UK markets. And make sure that it integrates with your key fundraising tools like email and donation pages – it can be a pain to import data from one system to another and life is much easier if they are all in one place.”
Have you got your data in order?
If you’ve never had a CRM solution before, your data may be held in numerous files and databases and you may also have a lot of it. Before you start bringing it into the one system, it’s important to understand what you’ve got, what of that you actually need, and to get it in order.
Chris Houghton, CEO of BeaconCRM says:
“Implementing a new CRM is exciting, but it can seem daunting at first! Regardless of the CRM you choose, the most important thing you can do is to make sure you understand your data. With lots of data living in different spreadsheets, you’re going to have to choose what to keep, and what to get rid of. It’s a perfect time for spring cleaning!”
Will it integrate with everything else you use?
While a CRM solution will hold all your data in one place, of course it isn’t just a database, and will need to integrate with everything else you use for fundraising, from the platform you use for newsletters to your choice for managing events. Check then how a CRM solution will interact with all the other platforms that are vital to your organisation’s running before you bite the bullet.
Keith Collins, Principal Consultant at Adapta Consulting says:
“One of the main challenges facing charities is – ironically – not a CRM issue as such, but rather to do with the proliferation of technology tools that offer the potential to help non-profits with their fundraising and communications: email marketing tools like MailChimp, fundraising solutions such as JustGiving, social fundraising solutions like Facebook Fundraisers, and other popular fundraising/donation/events solutions such as Enthuse, Donr or iRaiser.
“The technology tools required to support modern fundraising go way beyond the traditional donor database or CRM system – but still need to work with these important systems. Add into the mix the challenges around the management of this data – often provided by the supporters or fundraisers themselves – and things can get very messy, very quickly. For charities, this means that rather than thinking about CRM solutions as regards the functionality they offer they now also need to think about how that CRM solution interacts with the wider (digital) fundraising and comms estate.”
Have you looked into implementation partners?
A lot of companies don’t actually help with the setup of the CRM solutions they sell, so for many you’ll need to find someone to implement it. Consider then who might suit your requirements as an external implementation partner and how much extra this might add to the cost, as well as who’s going to manage the project for you inhouse.
Ivan Wainewright, CRM consultant at IT for Charities says:
“When selecting CRM systems, especially Dynamics and Salesforce, charities too often concentrate solely on the software. I believe the most important thing is the implementation partner. They can make or break an implementation. You should find out their experience, knowledge, approach and empathy with your users.”
“When implementing any database, make sure you have an internal project manager – i.e. don’t rely just on the supplier. And don’t expect that person to be able to be a project manager and do their usual job!”
And finally, if it’s not your first, are you sure it’s a new CRM you need?
If you’re looking to replace a current CRM solution because it’s not doing what you want, do check that it is actually the CRM that’s causing the problems before you invest in a new one. Take a good look at the issues and barriers you’re facing – you might be able to solve them and keep your current CRM.
Jon Kelly, Managing Director of Wood for Trees says:
“The biggest issues that we see with charities and CRM strategies is the feeling that the CRM they have is the problem and the solution is always to look for a new system. This creates a belief that the new CRM will solve all the current issues which generally stem more from the quality of the data, the way the system is being used, and the skills/training/knowledge of users.
“My advice would be to focus on the current barriers you have to achieving your Supporter Engagement aims and strategies and to identify how these can be overcome through changes to your current processes or structures.
“It can also be good to look at alternative or innovative ways to solve these problems as the answer may often lie outside of the CRM. For example, a well-structured and well-managed data warehouse fed from your CRM may be much more useful and flexible than the reporting that any one given CRM can offer.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.