CRM systems have still not found their way into non-profits’ graces. Stories about years-long or unfinished implementations continue to float around the sector and are often the main topic of small talk during fundraising workshops. What we don’t talk enough about, however, are the benefits of CRM implementation. Not only does the technology improve communication with beneficiaries and fundraising, but it also creates an opportunity to professionalize the entire organization, streamline key processes, and increase efficiency.
What is CRM software for non-profits?
CRM software for non-profit organizations is more than just a database – it’s a comprehensive tool that supports various areas of NGO operations, such as donor management, maintaining relationships with volunteers and partners, and organizing fundraisers. CRM systems’ main functions include collecting and analyzing donor data, automating processes, and improving internal communication and marketing.
However, the very name CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, sounds intimidating and too business-like for many of us. What customers? After all, in non-profits, we work with people in need, volunteers, and donors. All of these groups are a foundation’s or association’s “clients” or “customers.” A CRM system, however, makes it possible to collect and manage various data and documents about “clients,” projects, or partner organizations in one place.
Implementing CRM software and using it can:
- accelerate the professionalization of the organization,
- become an essential part of internal learning and development processes,
- as well as support the building of long-term relationships by, for example, thanking donors,
ultimately translating into increased revenues and improved quality of operations.
It is worth starting with the right assumptions and mindset to prevent the implementation process from becoming a never-ending nightmare. Let’s not bite off more than we can chew and give up on the all-or-nothing approach. CRM is software that we can develop as we use it. Whichever system we decide on (e.g., Salesforce, CiviCRM, Bitrix24), let’s start by defining the key needs we want the system to address and the types of data we would like to collect with its help.
Let’s make this our starting point. Let’s get the software up and running on a basic level and just start using it. As we work with it, we can gather ideas to make it work better for us and test which solutions are effective and which are form over substance. Naturally, some will be.
Even if our CRM isn’t perfect at first, its implementation corresponding to our well-defined needs (and further development) will allow you to streamline many essential processes in your organization. I will discuss the key ones shortly.
Organizing archival data
CRM tools allow you to gather all your organization’s important data in one place. This includes archival data. Databases in the nooks and crannies of an Excel spreadsheet, Google Spreadsheets, emailing tools, stored on individual employees’ and staff members’ computers, Google Drives, or servers – many foundations and associations lack clear procedures for storing information. As a result, we collect data using different tools and in various places, and knowledge is often a resource of individuals, not of the entire organization. When an employee working on a particular project changes jobs or takes sick leave, other people are deprived of the information, contacts, or relationship statuses necessary to efficiently take over their duties.
An essential part of implementing a CRM is organizing your archival data: inventorying, cataloging, reviewing, and considering which data we need and to what extent, and then preparing it to import into the system. This gives us easy access to organizational knowledge and is helpful in day-to-day work, evaluations, audits, reporting, clarification of irregularities, and action planning.
Streamline day-to-day work with data
However, the key to working effectively with a CRM system is not to import archival data but to keep what you store up to date. Data hygiene takes into account the ongoing updating of information, categorizing it, adding new records, updating existing ones, creating links between data, taking notes, and making them available to all interested parties. CRM makes knowledge a resource available not only to individuals but to the entire organization.
CRM solutions also support strategic activities rooted in experience and existing knowledge. The analytical functions of the software allow you to compare data, generate advanced reports, and draw conclusions. Therefore, a constantly updated CRM can provide statistical information and complex analyses necessary for making critical strategic business decisions, ultimately strengthening the efficiency and profitability of an organization’s operations.
Structuring processes and procedures
In many organizations, especially those that have grown out of informal and grassroots activities, individual tasks are carried out intuitively based on past experiences. Generally, everything works well until a problem arises, and it’s difficult to identify the cause. And what if the person in charge of the task from the beginning, with all of the instructions in their head, happens to be away? Or it turns out, by chance, that this way of doing things is completely ineffective?
One of the steps required to implement CRM software is mapping the organization’s existing processes and thinking about how they can be carried out using the system. This leads to collecting all the ways of doing things, evaluating them, and then turning them into specific procedures for use throughout the organization. All basic procedures should be written down in the form of manuals, which will allow for their periodic review, the introduction of improvements, the substitutability of people, the interchangeability of tasks, and the smooth introduction of new employees.
Process integration and automation
After the processes are systematized, the next step is integrating and automating them. CRM systems allow you to integrate them with other applications. You can use them with: newsletter mailing services, communication and meeting tools, a website, or a payment system. Not all integrations will be necessary, but integration capabilities are worth considering when choosing CRM software. With integration, data from different applications and processes are all gathered in one place, and the functions of the various tools can support each other and increase efficiency.
CRM systems also enable the automation of various processes. This reduces the time it takes to manage tasks, especially routine ones. Automations can include sending emails, fundraising letters, thank you letters, and notifications, monitoring contributions and engagement, and then taking specific actions based on them.
Knowledge management in organizations
Knowledge management in an organization, although often marginalized amidst day-to-day challenges, is vital to the sustainability of its operations. Simply put, it is the process of capturing, disseminating, and effectively utilizing knowledge within an organization. CRM can support us in effective knowledge management. It allows us to store information in one place that is easily accessible to the entire staff and to use it conveniently, both in terms of using the available knowledge and co-creating it.
Managing knowledge, developing it, and transferring it from the heads or computers of individuals to a shared system, where (with the possibility of granting appropriate access rights) it becomes available to the entire organization, is conducive to optimizing processes, reducing costs, responding to emergencies, operating in mobile teams and with staff changes. Proper knowledge management also makes it possible to make decisions based on specific data and analysis rather than often incorrect data, intuition, or predictions.
CRM Systems (Customer Relationship Management) in NGOs. Towards professionalization!
I sincerely hope that CRM systems will soon no longer be considered terrifying monsters by Polish non-profits and finally become a tool increasingly used to support their operations. In an era where the non-profit sector is becoming more and more professional, including in the context of the development of fundraising and philanthropy, and thus the growing expectations of donors, partners, and volunteers, CRM systems seem to be a tool that can take organizations’ activities to a higher level.
It is worth remembering, however, that the benefits of its well-planned and executed implementation go far beyond donor or beneficiary relationship management (which is talked about quite often) and can extend to many other areas, including those I described above: organizing archival data and hygiene of current data, mapping and systematizing key processes and procedures, automation, and knowledge management.