When looking for CRM options many nonprofits find themselves with two problems, and they both relate to customization. One, there are simply not that many CRM’s tailored to the unique needs and requirements of nonprofits, and two, many of the existing options are built on platforms that were constructed years ago. This means that while there are many add-on tools offered by your CRM vendor (for a few dollars more, plus ever-increasing annual maintenance hikes – no thank you very much), the platforms themselves make any customization difficult if it is offered at all. This means users are beholden to the vendor to come up with the add-on solution and left with only a one size fits all tool that may or may not truly meet the organization’s needs.
For example, a friend of mine who works for a nonprofit was asked to find a more robust solution to handle volunteer scheduling that would integrate with Raiser’s Edge. Keep in mind that from a marketing perspective vendors KNOW you want to hear the word integrate and so they threw it out – “Yes, our product integrates with RE,” and so she followed through with purchasing the very expensive solution, only to find out that in practice, integration meant that three fields imported over to RE. She was left to run reports out of one system and then manually enter it into RE, creating more work where there should have been less.
Integrating rigid, inflexible add-on solutions inevitably force staff to develop – pause for effect – the dreaded “workaround solution” – ahhhhh! Instead, nonprofits should be empowered by their CRM to internally create customized tools that reflect their own organic workflows and unique data gathering requirements.
The bottom line is that most nonprofit CRMs don’t have an open API that truly integrates with external products, and this is a question you should surely be asking if you are tasked with finding a new CRM for your nonprofit. This is where Nonprofit Vertical CRM is something of a breakthrough in the industry standard. It is completely customizable. If you want to build your own solution, proceed! And trust me, I don’t speak code – so it really does not require any sort of Developer level skill to execute. Or if you want to bring in another product, for instance, your organization uses Google for email organization-wide and wants it integrated into the system. No sweat.
Why is all of this significant? Because in the end being able to add and customize solutions in your CRM is what empowers your organization to maximize its’ donor stewardship opportunities. When you create solutions that work for your organization’s unique and specific needs you better capture donor and program data allowing you to be far more targeted in your outreach and communications. Nonprofits deserve more than one size fits all add-ons that work for vendors making the profit from them at the expense of thoughtfully meeting a vital need for the nonprofit. Customization should be a right, not a privilege. Power to the user!
For more information on Nonprofit Vertical CRM, Click here. Here is a quick video in our continuing “Nonprofit Vertical Setup Series” on beginning with Module and Field customization as a new user:
