CRM - Getting Started (Part 3)

CRM! It's all about service. What can you do to better serve your constituents? You need to look at all your touch points with your constituents. What are constituents asking of you, and how can you deliver what they need promptly and accurately? In the non-profit world, understanding your constituent personally is paramount. After all, they are giving you their time and money! That's highly personal.

CRM Quotes:
"CRM is a business philosophy, not a set of technologies. [...] provide a single view of the customer across the enterprise"
Read the whole article... click here.

"Leading organizations have begun to understand the importance of discerning the impact of all employees on the most critical organizational outcomes."
Read the whole article... click here. (Specifically, read page 11, re: Disney.)

Tip #4:
Don't do it all at once. A good first step is tracking communications with donors. That means entering a log entry after every communication with donors. Relationships can only be built over numerous dialogues. Documentation builds understanding and knowledge. For example, if the donor requests a change in their gift or designation, a detailed communication log entry could help other staff members understand what happened and gain insight into the donor's likes and dislikes.
Read more...
And more...

Tip #5:
Make sure you have data policies in place. Data quality is absolutely critical to any CRM initiative. Your organization needs to decide how to best capture information and where and how to store it in a consistent manner. Being consistent will allow everyone to know where the data is and it will allow the information to be analyzed. Oh, yes, I almost forgot, regular training sessions are necessary for everyone to follow the policies.
Read more... "Data Quality Begins With Data Entry"

Read Part 1, click here.
Read Part 2, click here.

Text Messaging

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Did you know that Andar can send a text message to a cell phone? A text message is really a short e-mail. For example, if your cell phone number is 212-555-1212 and your cell provider is Bell, then you could e-mail 2125551212@txt.bell.ca and the e-mail will be sent to your cell phone as a text message. Every vendor would have a different e-mail host name. You could setup a new e-mail type called "Text Message" and setup a pecking order on a mailing list to send text messages to those that have text messaging and send plain e-mails to the rest. Note that only plain text messages up to 180 characters are allowed. Keep in mind, unsolicited text messages are often considered spam and furthermore, the cell user is often charged a fee per text message received.

Web Security: SSL and https

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SSL stands for secure socket layer, and https (specifically the 's' at the end) indicates to the person accessing your web page that the information is secured (through SSL). What does this mean? Many people think that because they have an SSL security certificate, their server is secured. Wrong! SSL (and https) means that the data is encrypted before it is sent across the Internet and decrypted once it gets to the other end. As the data flows through the Internet, it actually jumps and skips through dozens of computer systems. SSL ensures that nobody can read the data as it flows through their systems. SSL does not say anything about the systems at either end. It does not mean that your server or the donor's computer is secured. The web user's workstation could be infected with spyware that captures all their keystrokes (for example, when they type passwords) and sends them to some hacker who will use them to log in to the user's bank account. Similarly, a hacker could break in to your server and store (unmentionable) files on your server.

Helix, Microsoft, and many other vendors publish documents to assist you in "hardening" your servers. Hardening means stripping your servers to the bare bones, removing and uninstalling everything that is not absolutely necessary. You should not leave anything that could be used by hackers to break in, just as you wouldn't want to leave an axe next to your front door. Hardening also involves proper firewall configurations, password policies, service pack installation procedures, and proper housekeeping.

Read more... (pages 15 through 24)
And more...

There's Gold In Them There Hills...

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Do you know who your largest givers are? Are you losing your donors? Do you have large donors that have not increased their gifts lately? You may have potential donors in your database that you may not know about. Andar's Data Mining tool can dig through your database and pull out accounts you may not have known you had. Specifically, the DMO "Pattern" tab allows you to pick out individuals with particular giving patterns such as an increasing, decreasing or unchanging gift by a certain percentage and amount range. You can also combine this with the "Prospect" tab to identify those donors with close ties to your organization, those with greatest capacity to give or an inclination to give, or even a user-defined donor rating. You could even go further by adding individual selection by interest levels.

Read about patterns...
Read about prospecting...
Read about interests...

Lest We Forget

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November 11 - Lieut-Col. John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS during the First World War, while on the battlefields in Flanders, Belgium. The scarlet poppy quickly became the symbol for soldiers who died in battle.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
    In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
    In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

Read more...

Watch the video "A Pittance of Time"

Friday Morning Coffee Break - Archive