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Maybe you've outgrown your technology. Maybe you have a sneaking suspicion your job could be easier with better tech. Whatever your reason, we're here to walk you through the process!
This guide will answer the questions many nonprofits have when they need to start looking for a new CRM.
Technology makes our lives so much easier, right? Those of us who remember the elation we felt when the Palm Pilot debuted still scratch our heads in amazement when there’s an update to our iPhone—it tells how to get places, lets us send immediate messages, and practically reads our minds. Communications, medicine, logistics, education...it’s all been made easier with technology.
A nonprofit CRM can be as lifechanging as a new iPhone, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all decision. If you’re in the market for a new CRM, it’s important to make sure it’s a solution that fits your needs. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about selecting a nonprofit CRM. It will provide every question you need to ask and every detail you must consider.
We’ve worked with nonprofits since 2008, and we’ve built our nonprofit CRM in response to how clients tell us they need technology to help them. If you want to see how some of our clients use our software, you can check out our clients' ideas on what’s possible with a nonprofit CRM.
Experience has taught us that most CRM shoppers have the same questions:
There are a lot of CRM vendors out there, and each one will have a different focus. Finding the technology that aligns with your focus is a tricky task made easier when you can answer these common questions.
Our goal has always been to make life easier for those trying to do good in the world. If we can help you narrow down the nonprofit CRM best for your charity, we’re a little closer to reaching that goal. So let’s take those questions, one by one, and give you the insider knowledge you need to be a smart shopper. At the end of this article, we will give you some downloadable tools that can help you organize your thoughts and data.
This is, for many nonprofits, the top-of-mind question. And the good news is that while CRM pricing varies, there are variables that you control that can change the cost within each vendor.
Start with a list of features that are most important to your nonprofit and the type of fundraising you do.
There are four essential functions you want in an off-the-shelf fundraising CRM:
Beyond that, you want to add features that will allow you to create a holistic, strategic fundraising campaign. So, consider if you’re going to want to add the following, or other tools:
CRM pricing is structured in a relatively standard way. For an in-depth look at how it’s structured (and how CharityEngine’s pricing is structured), you can read this article about what nonprofit CRMs cost.
As you can see, the number of contacts you have is a crucial figure in CRM pricing. So how can you prepare your contacts so your list is solid?
Best practices require a contact audit as your first step.
If your contacts are the core of your nonprofit outreach efforts, every contact must be valid, current, appropriate for outreach, and correct. When you’re moving, you don’t pack broken lamps or a throw pillow from 1972—you take what will be useful in your new house. Similarly, a contact audit makes sure your database is solid.
The added benefit of a contact audit is that you won’t be paying for contacts that won’t lead to donor engagement.
If you have millions of contacts, your team might not have the resources to perform the audit yourselves. In that case, it makes sense to call in some outside help. Many software vendors will provide this audit based on the number of contacts you have. We can also recommend some alternative resources if needed.
If, however, you have a more manageable number of contacts, it’s something an internal staff can do.
Here are the most important steps you should take:
Next, look at the number of emails you think you’ll send on a monthly basis. Assume you’ll send at least one email a week to all the donors on your culled list, so multiply your donors by four to get an idea of the minimum number of emails per month. This is a number you can adjust to change your price.
Finally, let’s talk about money! If your CRM includes a payment processor, this is the last significant variable in price. How much do you usually raise? Don’t fudge this number because these tiers are pretty specific. Blended rates can vary and usually fall between 2.1% and 5%, but can creep as high as 10% if there are a lot of middlemen.
But also, don’t overstate your expectations, or you’ll be paying for optimism! Any robust system can scale up if you are knocking fundraising out of the park.
As with everything, being a savvy shopper can pay off. Yes, there can be hidden fees, and they’re often hidden in payment processing. For an overview of where you might find them, check out this article on payment processing for nonprofits.
If you choose a payment processor that offers an included donation tool, you can avoid these fees.
Other fees and questions to investigate:
Vendors aren’t out to cheat you. But they’re for-profit companies, and you need to ask the right questions to make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for without incurring unnecessary expenses. Being an educated consumer helps you set an accurate budget and ensures you won’t run into surprises along the way!
As your nonprofit grows, robust technology is essential to your long-term success.
If you’re using spreadsheets and calculators for donor management and fundraising, it’s time to purchase a CRM. If you have a CRM but it’s standing in the way of what you want to accomplish, it’s time to start shopping. Or, maybe your CRM vendor is merging with another and you will have to switch systems.
And sometimes you realize that you are overcompensating for lackluster technology, or you’ve created workarounds for what should be pretty basic tasks. Sometimes you need to break up with your CRM...but that can cause anxiety.
What’s worrying you? Do any of these fears keep you up at night?
We hear from our clients that the same five challenges come up when thinking about switching CRMs. We decided to write down these common challenges and offer potential solutions!
Your fears are valid but not insurmountable. Talk to vendors and find the ones with the software and the customer service—and personalities!—most culturally aligned with what you need and want. There are CRMs explicitly built for nonprofits, and those tend to be the most closely aligned with what nonprofits look for.
You’re looking for a partner, so make sure you’re treated that way.
Okay, you’ve done your research, and list in hand, you’re ready to hit the (online, likely) road and start shopping.
But let’s make sure you’ve asked yourself and your staff the right questions:
These answers will help you narrow your search so you can find the best nonprofit CRM for your organization.
All CRM vendors worth a second look will conduct a discovery call with you to learn about your organization, then will schedule a customized demo to show you how their software can help you achieve your goals.
Let’s take a second to talk about how important the discovery call is. This is a chance for the vendor to learn all about your needs so they can prepare a thoughtful demonstration of their software solution. This is what you want to see in a good discovery call:
The discovery call is the first step of a long partnership, so make sure it meets or exceeds your expectations.
Use some downloadable tools to put your thoughts on paper. Start with a nonprofit CRM assessment to see what you’re currently spending and to document future initiatives. Then use the nonprofit CRM vendor comparison worksheet to compare three vendors side by side, with unweighted and weighted vendor fit scores. These are objective tools that can help you focus on finding the perfect fit.
Here are some questions you can ask potential vendors:
And, of course, go back to the spreadsheets, and match up your desired functionality with each vendor’s capabilities to find the best match.
If you’ve made it through all these steps, you have everything you need to find the right CRM. Let’s review what you’ve learned! You now know…
You’re in control. You’re ready.
Here are the next steps we recommend to take charge of your donor data and use it to engage effectively and raise more money.
Nonprofits exist to change the world. Don’t let technology stand in your way! Harness the power of the latest technology to make your life easier and your mission stronger.
