Can you boost your charity performance with CRM?

Possible challenges

It’s important to acknowledge that CRM systems do present some challenges to charities.

Implementing them involves changing to existing practices and usually requires some training. It can involve cultural changes, because a central relationship data repository means staff no longer "own" specific donors or store contact histories in their own spreadsheets or contact management software.

Instead, data is designed to be shared with other staff, and it is only when they are willing to do this that it can be fully exploited.

There’s also a cost in introducing any new software. That includes the software, but it may also include integration with other systems such as email and consultancy fees. However, many CRM systems are cloud-based. That means that charities don’t need to buy, run, and maintain the software themselves, instead paying a monthly per-user fee.

This also makes it easy for staff to use the system even if they work mainly from home, and for the charity to add or remove users, paying only for the people who need to use the CRM system.

The success stats

So does all of this functionality make a difference to charity performance, despite possible organisational challenges and costs?

It appears that it does: charities using CRM software enjoy donor contribution growth of at least 20%, according to UKFundraising

Here a few specific examples of CRM helping charity performance:

• Chana Charity saw 25% more returning donations with its CRM
• GDST expanded its network in Ireland by 53% and increased its annual Gift Aid by 300%
• World Villages for Children saved £150,000 per year thanks to its CRM system, including £20,000 per year on direct debit transaction costs alone using a donation management feature.
• National Youth Choir of Scotland saved more than £21,000 a year on postage for renewals using donor management features in its CRM

So, although factors like the level of training required, acceptance of the new system by staff, and the degree of help provided by CRM consultancies undoubtedly affect the outcome, the answer to the question: "Can CRM systems really help improve charity performance?" seems to be: "Yes they can".