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identify needsConstituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Constituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)+context
Maintaining a relationship with supporters/customers is something done by most organizations. In the past this might have been done through phone calls, door-to-door canvassing or through the mail, but these days we have access to new tools.
see also:
+resources and best practices
Constituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)+background
In the business world you have customer relationship management tools, and in truth there are many similarities between these tools and those nonprofits might use. For more on customer relationship management, see this WikiPedia article. Nonprofits don't see their supporters as customers, so many prefer the word constituent. The relationships are similar in some ways, but mostly are very different, but the tools are very similar. Both allow for targeted approaches to maintaining and strengthening relationships.
see also: Content Management System (CMS)
Constituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)+definitions
Constituent relationship management (sometimes referred to as customer relationship management) (CRM) software is exactly what it sounds like, software that makes it easier for organizations to maintain relationships with supporters/stakeholders (donors, funders, volunteers, clients, etc) by doing the following:
- track the relationships with individual supporters and donors.
- target and/or customize appeals, invitations to events, etc.
- targeted appeals based on personal interests.
- post on-line acknowledgments.
- record all communications and transactions.
- strengthen connections.
- offer insight by aiding you to evaluate your approaches and results.
Simply put it can strengthen your relationship with supporters/stakeholders and help you to reach out to them and to new supporters, while improving organization and staff efficiency. It can become, if not the most important, one of the most important tools an organization could use
It is merely a tool though and still requires that an organization must already be dedicated to strengthening these relationships and to keeping them human and personable. A CRM is not a solution in and of itself, it is merely a tool that helps you to build and maintain these connections.
Constituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)+where to start
Constituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)+issues
To set your organization up with a CRM there will almost certainly be a financial investment required, either in a purchase price and/or monthly fee, or in hiring a developer to set up a CRM for you, as well as any associated staff costs.
Constituent or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)+lessons learned
In 2007 NTEN produced a CRM Satisfaction Survey. Much has progressed since then, but the survey is still useful. Their report is free to members or can be purchased for a fee. However, it must be said again that the information is dated.
The summary is as follows (and you can see more from the organizations section of this topic):
- CiviCRM was the most commonly used by small organizations and was the number 1 most recommended CRM.
- Salesforce was the most frequently used by medium organizations and was the second most recommended CRM.
- Convio was the most commonly used system by large organizations, but was only the sixth most recommended CRM.
Rounding out the top five on CRMs organizations would recommend are SugarCRM 3rd, Organizer’s Database 4th and Democracy in Action were 5th.
Also notable in terms of overall usage was Blackbaud Sphere/Kintera Sphere, however they ranked very poorly (15th) on customer recommendations.
Organizations also gave an overall approximate grade for their CRM, based on its quality and reliability, after sales support, ability to deliver on promises and deadline, usability, and value. The best grades in this section went to Organizer’s Database (A+ on 36 responses), CiviCRM (A on 100 responses, and by far the most responses), Salesforce (A on 5 responses) and SugarCRM (A on 18 responses).
Summary
Based on the above high ratings, and given that CiviCRM is an open source project freely available for download and appended to the powerful open source Drupal and Joomla! content management systems, that in turn give nonprofits immense functionality, they would seem to be a very strong choice for most. Also worth mentioning is Salesforce, as they are free to qualifying nonprofits.
