Executive takeaway: During a procurement process, many Not for Profits underestimate the complexities of using, maintaining and updating their preferred Customer Management Systems (CRMs), especially when they lack internal IT development and support skills.

Not long ago, I reviewed the CRM of a mid-sized Not for Profit that had no internal IT capability nor a trained system administrator. Despite that, they had chosen an expensive platform that required significant configuration and ongoing specialist support just to meet fairly ordinary requirements.

By the time I was brought in, the organisation had already spent more than double their original budget and was still frustrated with the system.

Small changes were difficult. Staff confidence was low. And the organisation was carrying a level of complexity that it was never realistically going to manage well.

I see this regularly in the sector. The CRM is not always completely broken, but it can be too complicated for the organisation’s size, capability or maturity. And over time, that complexity turns into frustration.

If your team spends more time trying to manage the CRM than using it to support your stakeholders and services, then it is worth asking a simple question:

“Is this system too complex for our Not for Profit?”

What it looks like when a CRM is too complex

I’ve seen this complexity show up in various ways. Most of the time, it’s not about the functionality of the system, it’s whether your organisation can use, maintain and adapt the system without excessive external effort, cost or risk.

1. Small changes require specialist help

If you need a vendor, developer or highly specialised administrator every time you want to adjust a field, update a workflow, change a form or fix a report, the CRM may be too complex for your organisation. I often see Not for Profits where even minor changes result in costly invoices from their support partner.

2. Staff only use a fraction of the system

A complex CRM often ends up full of fields, reports and processes that most staff either do not understand or actively avoid. The result is that people only use a small part of the system, while the rest sits there, adding confusion. In these organisations, staff often keep their own spreadsheets or notes outside of the system because using the CRM properly feels harder than working around it.

I remember working with an association a few years ago that had chosen Salesforce as their CRM. Their prospecting team was using a spreadsheet to track potential members despite the fact that it was one of the few out-of-the-box features of the system.

3. The CRM has become fragile

When a CRM is heavily configured, poorly documented, and overly dependent on externals to try to fix it. One change can easily affect something else. A workflow stops behaving properly, an integration fails, or reporting suddenly looks wrong. If your team feels nervous every time a change is made, then the environment is probably carrying too much complexity.

4. The system does not match how your Not for Profit actually works

Some CRMs are built around assumptions that make sense in a corporate sales environment, but not in a Not for Profit. That might mean awkward terminology, workflows that do not reflect service delivery or member engagement, or reporting models that do not align to funding and compliance realities. When staff are constantly bending the system to fit the organisation, complexity increases quickly.

5. The CRM is slowing the organisation down

A good-fitting CRM should allow you adapt as services, funding models and reporting needs as they change. I have seen organisations hesitate on new opportunities because the system could not support the new workflow or reporting requirement without a major rework. When the CRM becomes a brake on change decisions, that is a strategic problem, not just a technology inconvenience.

 

What to do before you rush to replace your CRM

An overly complex CRM does not automatically mean you need a new one tomorrow. Sometimes the real problem is poor design, weak governance, lack of training, or years of unmanaged changes.

Before jumping into software selection, work out whether the issue is the product itself, the way it has been configured, or the organisation’s ability to support it properly.

That said, some systems were the wrong fit from the start. If the CRM needs too much effort, too much specialist support and too much money just to remain usable, then it may simply be too complex for your Not for Profit.

Most organisations do not need the most flexible, feature-full platform on the market. They need one that meets their requirements in a way that is sustainable and aligned to how they actually operate.

 

I regularly help Not for Profits review their CRMs. If you want a second opinion, let me know.

 

P.S. If you found this article helpful, you might want to read these too:

• All the things that can go wrong with a CRM implementation
• What’s the difference between a CRM and an AMS? 

 

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 major investments and risk mitigation.