Nonprofits have a unique challenge. They have all the same requirements as a for-profit business but limited resources to accomplish them. This often means a volunteer staff or a very small number of paid employees. Communication between employees, donors, events and more can often get lost in translation without a consistent staff or business process in place. This is where a CRM system comes into play.
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CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It comes in software form and essentially allows your nonprofit to track every interaction the nonprofit has with anyone outside of the organization. A CRM system for nonprofits can track:
- Fundraising efforts
- Sponsors and their demographics
- Member information and levels
- All volunteering opportunities and volunteers who are currently working
- Communication with individuals
- Upcoming events along with past event information and planning
- Contacts with any partner organization, donors, sponsors and influencers
- And much more
While every business needs to track interactions with customers, for nonprofits tracking is critical to raising donations. A CRM helps you track and maintain the relationships that keep your nonprofit successful. By keeping donor, sponsor and volunteer information in your CRM system, you will be able to get to know the people who are interested in your nonprofit and build relationships with them to help your nonprofit grow. It can also help you track what your volunteers are doing and give you the ability to call on them for big volunteer events.
These relationships take no personal time to manage as a CRM system automatically sends messages, thank yous and invitations depending on the information you have entered into the system for each person. Sending these regular messages to people and groups in your CRM can solicit more donations and volunteers for the nonprofit as well. If a donor is receiving regular messages about what is going with the nonprofit, they will be more likely to donate again in the future. Likewise, volunteers who feel like they are part of the nonprofit will be ready to volunteer at future events.
The ease of use and efficiency of a CRM ensures you will not miss any opportunity. With so many people circling in and out of your nonprofit, a CRM is a perfect central place for volunteers and staff alike to get information about the relationships you are building. You can add different security levels and information ladders so different users only see certain information. Without having to educate all volunteers and staff repeatedly on different missions and opportunities in the works, your nonprofit will save time and money that is better spent on growing the organization.
