Legacy nonprofit constituent relationship management (CRM) software can feel like a digital filing cabinet—a place to store information, but not a tool that actively helps you work. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A truly effective CRM is more than a database; it’s a mission-critical partner that should be at the center of your work. It’s the essential tool that helps you understand your supporters, demonstrate your impact, and make smarter decisions that secure your future success.

In this guide, explore some considerations that help you evaluate your current or potential CRM—that way, you’ll be able to make the most of your nonprofit’s digital transformation efforts.

1. Integration Across Your Tech Stack

Your nonprofit likely uses a variety of specialized tools for processing donations, sending marketing campaigns, and managing volunteers.  Without a connected system, you’ll be left with “data silos,” which are isolated pockets of information that force your team into redundant, error-prone manual entry. This makes it nearly impossible to get a complete picture of a supporter’s engagement.

A great CRM should act as that central hub, linking all your other software together to create a single source of truth. A well-integrated ecosystem might look like this: 

  • Donation platforms automatically create or update donor records in the CRM the moment a gift is made.
  • Marketing tools pull contact lists directly from the CRM and sync engagement data (like opens and clicks) back to each contact’s record.
  • Volunteer management software syncs schedules and logs hours to each profile, providing a comprehensive view of a supporter’s involvement.

To determine if your CRM integrates with your existing tech stack, look at its website and sales resources. Most CRMs have a searchable marketplace or integrations page that provides information about the solutions they already integrate with and how to build a new one.

2. Mission-Specific Customization and Reporting

Many CRMs are built for business needs, but nonprofits have a fundamentally different model. Your CRM must be able to accommodate nonprofit needs, capturing your unique data and turning it into actionable insights.

Primarily, your CRM should allow for deep customization. This means going beyond standard contact fields to build custom objects, fields, and relationship lookups that model your specific programs. For example, let’s say a youth mentorship program needs to track the three-way relationship between a mentored youth, their volunteer mentor, and the corporate partner sponsoring the program. This would require a custom object to link the three records, which complex CRMs can achieve for you.

However, that customization is only valuable if your CRM can translate your data into clear, actionable insights. According to UpMetrics’ guide to impact measurement, “understanding the impact of programs, initiatives, and interventions allows organizations to learn what strategies work best and make data-driven decisions to improve their approach.” A powerful reporting engine is the tool that makes this possible, allowing you to easily see fundraising trends, track progress toward your program goals, and report impact metrics.

3. User Accessibility and Team Adoption

A primary reason that expensive CRM implementations fail is poor user adoption. A system that is clunky, confusing, or difficult to navigate will quickly be abandoned in favor of old, familiar spreadsheets.

To ensure your CRM becomes a true asset, it needs to be intuitive for everyone on your team, from your IT professionals to team members with limited tech literacy. Beyond the software itself, successful adoption depends on:

  • Responsive and accessible customer support from the vendor. Even with a great internal champion, you will eventually run into technical issues that require help from the software vendor. Before you commit to a CRM, it’s a great idea to test the vendor’s customer support. During your evaluation process, ask about the average response time for a support ticket and other training resources you can turn to for FAQs. 
  • Developing a clear onboarding and training plan. According to Heller Consulting, it’s much easier to get buy-in for a new CRM if fundraisers and operations teams have user-friendly manuals to follow. These plans explain the “why” behind the new system and how it will ultimately make everyone’s jobs easier and more impactful. 
  • Having an internal “CRM champion.” This person isn’t necessarily your most technical employee, but they are a patient teacher and a power user who can answer quick questions. Identify this champion before rolling out the rest of your efforts so they can serve as a resource.

The ultimate goal is to find a CRM that makes your staff’s jobs easier, not one that frustrates them. Investing in a tool your team will enjoy using is a critical part of successful change management and fostering a healthy, data-driven culture.

4. Scalability and Total Cost of Ownership

A CRM is often a long-term, pricey investment, so it’s wise to evaluate your solution based on your 3-to-5-year tech strategic plan and budget. After all, when a CRM consumes more resources than it delivers in value, it becomes a financial drain that diverts funds directly from your mission. Evaluate your CRM’s costs, such as:

  • Time costs from manual workarounds and data transformations, as well as opportunity costs of the fundraising you could be doing with the right stack. 
  • Recurring fees for per-user licenses, data storage, and add-on features.
  • Ancillary fees, such as the cost of essential third-party integrations or hiring a consultant for specialist or complex tasks (such as fractional CIO services).
  • One-time fees for implementation, data migration, and initial staff training.

It’s equally important to determine what the CRM adds in value. Work with your team to calculate the return on investment (ROI) by estimating the value of staff hours saved through automation. Additionally, measure the direct financial gains from improved donor retention rates and more effective, targeted fundraising campaigns made possible by better data.

Thinking about these factors as part of your strategic planning ensures you’re making a sustainable overhead investment that will serve your mission for years to come. Work with your financial team to ensure your bases are covered, both for short-term and long-term costs.

Once you’ve evaluated your CRM on these core pillars, work with teams across your nonprofit to choose the best fit. Since your CRM will impact almost every aspect of your operations, all key decision-makers should be looped in. That way, everyone can be satisfied with your choice and be empowered to achieve more for your mission.

About the Author:

Lyndal Cairns has worked at the intersection of nonprofits and technology for most of her career, building strategic marketing programs and managing data-driven campaigns at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Nonprofit Technology Network, InfluxData, and others. She leads Heller’s marketing efforts and is excited to position Team Heller as the partner of choice for nonprofit and education technology leaders.

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