Regardless of their price tag or general popularity, from my experience, out-of-box commercial CRMs don’t work for Not for Profits.
Whenever a do a CRM scoping project for a client, I ask their staff what other CRMs we should consider as part of the project. It’s very common for me to hear them recommend companies like Hubspot, Sugar CRM and even Monday. However, they’re usually a poor investment for most Not for Profits.
Why do Not for Profits consider commercial CRMs?
Before I explain why, let’s talk about the attraction of such products.
Many CRM vendors offer discounted and sometimes even free licenses to Not for Profits. This is incredibly tempting when your budget is tight. However, free is NOT free!
I know organisations that decided to implement such systems only to realise later that they are spending way more on implementation and customisation costs than for the licensing costs of a purpose-built system for their sector.
What are sector-specific CRMs for Not for Profits?
Sector-specific CRMs can have many names, but ultimately, they are your primary data repository for your stakeholder information, whether it be clients or members or donors. And oftentimes, they also help you deliver at least some of your services.
These systems may focus on professional membership associations, fundraising charities or family service or NDIS providers as example.
CRMs that are built for specific Not for Profit sectors have already considered workflows and reporting needs that will reduce manual processes significantly for staff. Because these needs have been configured already, not only can you adopt best practices processes in your industry, but it also reduces your implementation costs.
Real Case Example:
Just recently, I went to market for a new CRM for a client, selecting three vendors that already had out-of-the-box solutions available for this Not-for-Profit sector. A fourth, well-known CRM vendor wanted to participate in the process.
However, they were unable to meet the demonstration timeframe because they would have to build their demo model from scratch. All the other vendors could simply modify their demo environment to meet these scenario requirements within an hour or two.
If there is such a significant difference in their demonstration preparation time, consider how much more time it might take to configure and customise the system for your needs. It won’t be cheap!
So, if you’re considering a new CRM, make sure you first consider the vendors that specialise in your sector rather than perhaps the better-known, out-of-the-box Commercial CRM.
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Association President, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT decisions, especially around investments.
If you found this article useful, you may be interested in this one: Why the greatest CRM can still fail to meet your needs
