This blog is a comprehensive guide to selecting the right CRM system for your charity’s specific needs. 

Charities have tons to do. Funding always needs applying for. Someone’s knocking on the door with urgent needs and that report must be written by the end of the day. Sorting out your data feels like a low priority and it’s so easy to just set up another spreadsheet. 

Organising your information well makes a massive difference to you and your service users. The right system will save you a lot of time. Your team will have the information they need at hand to do their jobs. Reporting on all your work and the impact you have becomes easy. 

But how do you choose the “right system”. There are lots of CRMs – it stands for “Customer Relationship Management” – which is going to unlock these benefits?  

We’ve been speaking to charities like yours every day for years, and we think there are five key questions which will help you clarify what you need. Because if you really know what you need, you’ll have a much better chance of finding a solution that works. 

Customer Relationship Management? We’re a charity – we don’t have customers… 

We know. Unfortunately, the term CRM has been imported from the world of business. You probably also don’t ‘manage relationships’ with the people you work with. You get alongside them, working with them, trying to help them deal with the situation they are in. We don’t particularly like the CRM term but the sense of it – trying to keep a track of what’s going on – is about right. 

1 – Why Do You Need A CRM? 

First of all: you may not. We’re firm fans of appropriate technology, and not “teching up” for the sake of it or because it’s the latest must-do fad. So before you get too far, take a step back and think: what is the problem we’re trying to solve? It’s easy to jump to the answer – more tech – before you’ve really got a grip on the question. And when you start asking around, you might find that different people in your organisation have different answers. So being explicit about this from the start will help to keep you focused and judge whether it’s worked later on. 

2 – Who Will Benefit? 

Lots of people will be affected if you’re going to bring in a new CRM system for your charity. Different people or roles will be affected differently and some people may be reluctant to change the way they work. 

So figuring out early on how different people will benefit will help you win them over. Help everyone to see how their life is going to be a bit better and their job a bit easier – and ultimately how it’s going to help your service users. 

This is a good time to try and find all the different sources of data and odd spreadsheets different people have, how they use them, and why they need them.  

3 – What Information Do You Need? 

Who or what is the information you keep about? You’ll have service users / members / beneficiaries. Maybe family details or other key relationships. You’ll have staff and volunteers. What about other supporters and staff in other agencies, the local Councilors? And then there’s your funders, trustees, random mailing lists, and probably more. 

You’ll need to keep different information about each category, and you’ll need to give some thought to your GDPR compliance here too – are you allowed to store this data? 

Setting this all out before you start looking for a system, even in fairly broad terms, will help you know whether the CRM systems you’re looking at can store all you need. 

4 – When Does It Need To Be In Place? 

Do you have any time pressures to get everything in place? The new financial year? Some new funding that’s going to need it there? Your Chair with a deadline? 

Start from the end and work backwards – team training, getting data into your system, building the system to your requirements, fully specifying what you need. How long might you need for each of these steps?  

You probably needed to start yesterday if you’re like most of us but getting a sense early on of the timescales and involvement needed will help your organisation plan the process. 

5 – How Much Will It Cost? 

The “piece of string” question. Most suppliers these days are a bit more transparent about their costs than they used to be. We’ve always been up-front about what Lamplight costs, but you get the information from others too more easily now. 

You’ll need to think about 

• Initial license and setup costs 

• The cost to you of staff time to get set up 

• Initial staff training 

• Time or costs of moving your data 

There will also be on-going costs 

• On-going licensing / hosting fees 

• Support and training costs 

• Your internal day-to-day system management costs 

• ‘MOT’ costs – whatever system you end up with will need occasional spring-cleaning and maintenance 

What else should you consider? 

We’ve written about this in much more detail. You can download it here. As you are talking to potential suppliers, you’ll want to think about other things too. This should be a long-term, collaborative relationship, not just another supplier. Do they ‘get’ you? Do they understand charities? Do their values match yours? 

Lots of CRMs are very business oriented. Do the assumption in the software match your organisation, or are you constantly going to be battling to adapt it to your charity? 

You’ll also need to think about information security, contracts, and so on. Look for ISO27001, and make sure you’re not locked in for ever. 

Choosing a CRM for your charity is a big deal, and you are likely to be living with it for a few years at least (we still work with some of our customers who signed up 20 years ago!). You’ll make a better choice if you can spend a bit of time at the beginning to make sure you are clear about what you need, and the benefits to your organisation and team. 

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash