6-step guide to choosing the right CRM for charities

A good starting point is to outline what you wish to deliver and achieve with a charity CRM. Setting clear goals from the outset is therefore essential to understand how you want a CRM to support the growth of your charity, while also making it easier to choose a suitable provider later in the decision-making process. At this point, it is crucial to engage key stakeholders across your organisation to flag their ideas and concerns.

Although these goals may differ depending on your priorities, these could include:

Gaining a clear view of your processes

If this is your first CRM, you may currently be using a paper-based system or referring to several pieces of software such as Excel spreadsheets for different areas of your charity. This can lead to you not having the 360 vision you require to fully understand the different areas of your charity that make up your day-to-day processes. With a charity CRM, this data will be available in a centralised location which provides you with the opportunity to swiftly access the information and make informed decisions.

Increasing donations

A CRM can provide a full insight into your fundraising activities. A key part of this is understanding your donor’s behaviour via their interactions with your charity as it provides you with valuable insights to create content and organise events that are more likely to encourage them to donate. Personalising your messages in line with your donor’s interests is key to reaching your donation targets.

Integrating your processes

Integrating a CRM with other pieces of software can bring key areas of your not for profit closer together. These integrations can include applications such as your website, social media accounts and marketing automation platforms. For example, if a donation is made via your website, this can then trigger an automated ‘thank you’ message to be sent to the respective donor’s email address. The donor’s details will also be stored within the CRM, which will assist with personalising any future email marketing campaigns. 

Producing accurate reports

Reports are imperative for any charity organisation as you need to outline where you are performing well and which areas need improving. Key stakeholders can be provided with permissions to the CRM to access the data they require and create reports at any time. As several members of staff can view this data, the accountability of providing reports can be shared across your organisation, which could save valuable time that can be prioritised elsewhere.

Prioritising security

Protecting the data of your charity and those affiliated with it from potential threats is essential. This will require adhering to security regulations such as ISO 27001 and GDPR, as failing to do so can lead to sizeable fines and a detrimental impact on your reputation. A suitable CRM will provide you with the ability to store any security related documents in a centralised source of truth, while offering software upgrades and backups to ensure your organisation remains safe.

It’s important to identify the tools and skillsets currently available in your charity, as this will help shed light on how a new CRM system will have maximum impact and support your team.

An initial approach is to run audits, while actively seeking the feedback and opinions of your members of staff on where improvements could be made. Although this isn’t necessarily a one size fits all approach, we recommend breaking this audit down into the following areas:

1. Digital skills audit

How is your charity currently structured to successfully adopt a digital approach? Does your charity have a clear digital strategy? If so, do your members of staff have the skillset to use this technology on a day-to-day basis? Questions such as these should be high on your agenda to deter whether your charity is digitally savvy enough, while identifying where specific training may be required for key stakeholders.

For many charities, digitisation is a big obstacle. The ‘Digital Skills Report’ found that digital skills were cited as a barrier to innovation among approximately half (48%) of charity workers [2].

With this in mind, it’s crucial to prioritise your digital infrastructure. Adopting an online, charity CRM system with a provider that offers customer training and support might be a suitable option if you need help getting your team up to speed. 

2. Software audit

Once you have an idea of where you are digitally in your organisation, we recommend taking a closer look at the software you currently use. Do you have a CRM system that doesn’t meet your requirements? Is your current CRM actually built for charities with the unique functionality requirements needed for fundraising? Are you getting by on Microsoft software? Are you storing your donor’s details on Excel spreadsheets? And how is your current software limiting the efficiency, security and quality of the work you are doing?

Whatever your current approach, evaluating your software will provide a clearer idea of what improvements and support you require from a new CRM.

3. Staff survey

Gaining feedback from your staff is essential. Do they feel that they have the adequate skills to manage a CRM? Are there certain areas that they want a new CRM to improve? Do they have concerns about how a new CRM would change work practices? Regardless of the feedback, take it on board and ensure everyone is aligned before a final decision is made.

Once this information is clear, you can also consider ‘stakeholder mapping’, whereby you devise a visual representation of all stakeholders associated with the project. This will outline who is accountable for certain areas and how they can intertwine with others, essentially mapping out everyone who can either benefit or contribute to the management of the CRM.

The clearer your vision at this stage, the more prepared you will be further along the process.

If you have followed the previous steps, you should now have a general understanding of your current resources and your long-term goals.

At this point, it’s time to dig deeper into exactly what your charity requires. One method of achieving this is to adopt the ‘jobs-to-be-done framework’, whereby you put yourself in scenarios that improve your charity for the benefit of your supporters. This can be broken down into the following segments:

• “When I __” – the problem
• “That’s why I want __” – the solution
• “So I can __” – the prospect’s goal

To put this into practice, an example could be:

This scenario outlines a problem, a solution and a long-term goal. The answer to this could be a CRM module that specialises in event management and/or email automation functionality. By repeating this process with different obstacles you currently face, you will gain knowledge of specific features and solutions that your charity requires.

Our not for profit expert, Shaf Mansour, highlights the importance of this approach:

“As a not for profit organisation, it’s important to take a step back and analyse how you can reach your full potential. This involves putting yourself in the shoes of your supporters and service users. Otherwise, how can you meet their expectations? Adopting methods such as the ‘jobs-to-be-done framework’ can enable you to do this, as you can effectively apply their interests to uncover any deficiencies your charity may currently be experiencing. Once you identify any weaknesses, treat this as an opportunity. Planning how to overcome these weaknesses as part of your CRM strategy and improve your processes over the long term will ultimately benefit them.”

Find out more about how to avoid choosing the wrong charity CRM

Another detail to consider when choosing a charity CRM is whether you need an on-premise or cloud-based solution.

Before this decision can be made, it’s important to know the differences between the two.

On-premise CRM – Also known as ‘on-site CRM’, this is a method where an organisation buys licences and installs the CRM on servers located within their building. This approach usually requires an in-house I.T. department, who will then manage the general maintenance of the CRM which includes updates, back-ups and security procedures.

Cloud CRM – Also referred to as ‘software as a service’ (SaaS), unlike on-premise systems, cloud software is hosted on the CRM provider’s servers and can be accessed remotely, providing that the customer has access to the internet.

With hybrid and remote working becoming more prevalent in recent years, it’s no surprise that migrating workloads to the cloud was one of the top priorities for companies in 2021 [3]. Regarding CRM software, a recent survey of 500 companies found that 63% preferred their CRM system to be cloud-based, with 98% open to the idea [4].

Although these statistics point towards embracing a cloud CRM, professionals could make a case for investing in either approach. For example, it could be argued that the benefits of adopting cloud software are that there are no expenses associated with hardware and that less maintenance is required. Alternatively, the case could be made that choosing an on-premise system would provide you with more control surrounding the timing of updates and upgrades.

It’s therefore important to understand the potential benefits that each approach offers and how these could align with your charity.

As a not for profit, you’ll want to justify your expenses and seek a CRM solution that offers a balance of good value for money with meeting your long-term requirements. For this reason, setting a realistic budget is paramount.

When evaluating CRM costs, it’s important to understand that while many of these will be transparent, it is very likely that there will be additional costs. Not factoring in all potential costs could see you go over budget, quickly!

Transparent costs involved in implementing a charity CRM generally include:

• Needs analysis and provider selection
• Baseline system costs
• Hosting
• Training
• Migration
• Customisation
• Integrations

In addition to these are the additional costs, which can include:

• Provider support
• Consultancy (if you choose to go down this route)
• Ongoing customisation
• Ongoing staff training

It is crucial that you are aware of these costs, so that you can query them from the outset. With this knowledge, you will have a clear idea of what the overall cost of the CRM will be and if it meets your budget. You can then break down the CRM features by putting them into categories of desirability such as:

Necessities – features that you must have

Potentials – features that you could ideally have

Non-essentials – features that aren’t required

This approach will allow you to prioritise essential features when negotiating with potential suppliers, which will also help you to avoid inflated costs and a bloated system.

Armed with the knowledge covered in the previous steps, you can use this information to prepare for comparing providers and choosing one that suits your requirements.

A key word at this stage is ‘trust’. A CRM system is a partnership between two organisations, so you must be confident that the respective provider has a sound understanding of your goals and objectives. Speaking with them directly and finding out more about their product and services is a good start. We also recommend doing the following research:

Provider history

Find out how long the respective provider has been trading, how old their product is and whether it specialises in your niche area. Generally, companies that are well established are more likely to offer a reliable solution that potentially caters for your specific charity-related requirements. Also, make sure the supplier is financially stable, you don’t want to invest in a solution that will not be around in a few years time!

System updates

Question when the platform last had an update and how often updates are released. If this is frequent, it’s a strong sign that the supplier is constantly looking to improve the platform and fix any bugs from the outset. One scenario you want to avoid is a provider that releases updates without fixing potential bugs as this will cause you inevitable problems over the long term.

Security

Data security is essential to both you and your supporters. If this is breached, it can cause repercussions that could lead to irreparable damage to your charity’s reputation. Ensuring that a supplier offers product security is therefore vital, especially in line with GDPR responsibilities. In this instance, it’s advisable that you look at customer reviews to get an unbiased opinion.

User experience

As you must be comfortable using a respective platform, it would be advisable to see it in action before you make a decision. Most software providers offer free, no-obligation demos, enabling you to make comparisons between different platforms.

The importance of user experience has been highlighted by ‘SuperOffice’, who asked new prospects “What do you consider to be important when choosing a new CRM?”. Based on more than 1,000 responses, 86% of these cited that user-friendliness as their most important factor when choosing a new system [5].

Implementation process

Although CRM suppliers will usually set out a timeline for implementation, it doesn’t always go to plan. Due to unanticipated obstacles, timelines can be extended. While this is common, you want to avoid suppliers that have a history of consistently missing implementation deadlines through their own inadequacies. For this reason, it is wise to refer to customer reviews and discussion forums to get an impartial opinion. If the feeling is generally negative, then that respective provider should be avoided.

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