Before You Get Started

Assess Your Needs

Before diving into a CRM implementation, start by clearly defining your nonprofit's specific requirements of the new system. Identify the key functionalities you need, such as donor management, volunteer tracking, event management, email marketing, and reporting capabilities. Understanding your unique needs will serve as a foundation for planning your implementation roadmap.

Learn What You Should Budget

When considering the budget for your CRM implementation, we recommend seeking insights from similar projects undertaken by organizations like yours. Reach out to your peers or consult with professionals like us to gather specific information. This approach is far more effective and accurate than trying to anticipate all the intricacies of your project and constructing an estimate from scratch.

During the initial stages of implementation, it can be challenging for you to foresee all the necessary components of the project. However, those who have already completed similar projects have likely uncovered those hidden costs.

By setting your budget based on real-world projects, you gain a valuable perspective to evaluate the estimates you receive when you begin to purchase software and services.

To transform your business and to achieve desired outcomes, it is also vital to consider costs beyond the solution and technical implementation services. It is wise to budget for change management to smooth the adoption process, account for time and resources necessary to building a consensus in the decisions, and redesign of your business processes to maximize how you leverage new powerful technologies. These efforts require an investment but will also have a far greater impact on your business than the tools themselves.

Get Aligned On Goals & Success Metrics

New technology is an opportunity to transform your business and to build for the future.

To align on goals, we recommend gathering your leadership in a room to discuss in depth what challenges you hope to solve. This is not just a technology discussion. Instead, think about what you are trying to achieve overall in your organization with the different points of view representing their business units.

Once you know what results you are reaching for, you will have a framework to make confident decisions about which technology and process improvements to invest in to advance your priorities.

Establish a Clear Decision-Making Process

Changing your CRM can be a massive undertaking. Establishing guiding principles grounded in the values of your organization and being clear about the factors on which you will base a decision are key. Strike a balance between including everyone at the table while also moving forward with decisions. Determine who has the authority to make decisions and who contributes to those decisions. Consider how you will solicit input and build buy-in among the stakeholders impacted by the changes.