Name: From Database to Donation Engine: How to Use Your Nonprofit CRM As a Fundraising Machine
Uploaded: 2025-04-24T19:30:41.283Z
Duration: 59 min 44 s
Description: From Database to Donation Engine: How to Use Your Nonprofit CRM As a Fundraising Machine

Transcript for "From Database to Donation Engine: How to Use Your Nonprofit CRM As a Fundraising Machine": Hey, everybody. Welcome today to our webinar. We are really glad that you're here. I know we have people coming in right now, and so just wanna say welcome to you. As you enter, We would love to know where you're joining us from. So typical webinar intro, welcome. Let us know where you're joining from today, maybe the organization that you work with. Go ahead and say that here in the chat, and, we would love to welcome you. We have folks from San Antonio, Dallas, NYC. I love it. Boise, Louisville, Florida. I wonder if we could get every single state, actually. That would be amazing. We've had a couple hundred people register, and so, got some folks from Illinois, myself here in Illinois, suburbs of Chicago. So, keep letting us know where you're joining from today. We're super glad that you are here, and we're excited for the next sixty minutes, spending some time with our good friend, Andrew Olsen, and talking through a handful of things that I think are gonna be really helpful as you look at how do I use my CRM to, to be a fundraising engine. And so we're gonna dive in. Before we do, I wanna talk through a couple things. Again, let's keep the chat going. And we got Nashville. We have Brenda from Minnesota, Mike from North Carolina. We got Allison from Tucson. I love it. So keep the chat going. We wanna interact. We wanna hear from you. Myself, I'll be in the chat. I'm sure Andrew will. And then, also, we have our amazing producer behind the scenes, Riley, who will be chatting as well. So keep the chat going. Second, ask any questions that you have. Okay? So you're gonna notice, on the top of the chat, you have q and a. You can submit questions there. So as we are going, submit your questions. We'll both answer as we go through the webinar, and, we'll have some time at the end. So make sure to submit questions, and you can also upvote questions. So if you go there and you're like, oh, I'm actually super interested in hearing thoughts on this question as well. You can upvote that question, and it will just move it up in order of priority for us to answer. So submit your questions. We're also gonna have some polls, so some way for us to really interact and talk with each other. So watch for those. We'll make sure to call those out. Yes. Today will be recorded, and you will get that sent out to you. And we have the slide deck for you as well. So if you go up into the docs tab above the messages, you can download the slide deck, get that there. There's also a resource we'll tell you about a little a little bit later, the CRM conversion playbook. So we'll talk through all of that, but we're just so glad that you're here. Thanks for taking some time to be with us today as we dive into, from database to donation engine. So how do you use your CRM as a fundraising machine? We're gonna be talking about all sorts of maybe ways that you think about a CRM that aren't, aren't putting fundraising at the center and some ways that you can actually change that thinking and start to use that tool in a really powerful way. And I keep saying we, because I am not the only person here. Today, we have on with us Andrew Olsen, and we are super excited about that. I'm gonna bring him on. How's it going? Hey. Hey, Scott. Good to be with you today. Hello, everyone. Super glad that you are here. We're gonna do some quick intros just so you know who we are, if you are unfamiliar, and then we're gonna dive in. Again, my name is Scott Holthouse, manager of campaigns and programs here at Virtuous. I've been in the, sorta nonprofit, tech space for the last, four and a half going on five years. And before that, was actually in, kinda in local ministries as well. So in the face sector, regarding nonprofit work and love, love being able to partner with organizations and really help to see technology increase impact and see it fuel mission. And so pumped to be here. I'll toss it over to Andrew for him to do a bit of an intro. Yeah. Hey. I'm Andrew Olsen. I'm the EVP of Fundraising Solutions at Dickerson Baker. We're a a philanthropic consulting firm that serves, the nonprofit industry. I've been doing this, kind of work for, like, twenty five years now. I don't do anything with technology other than I've been a user. And I I I started my career inside a children's hospital and actually had to, walk through a CRM transition. So I have some of the battle scars that maybe a lot of you have experienced as well, and I'm super excited to talk with you all day. Yeah. Awesome. Well, again, keep the, keep the chat going. If you didn't know, you can, throw gifts in the chat. It's one of my favorite things. You just saw my favorite webinar gift, which is a good hearty wave from Forrest Gump. So so feel free to share those. I'd love to just talk us through before you jump in, what we're gonna be talking about, where we're going, kinda paint the road map for us. So, we're going to be talking through first of all I love it, Susanna. That's awesome. Riley, amazing. I love it. Keep them going. Oh, the Elaine dancing gift is classic. So back to the agenda. We're gonna be talking through the wrong CRM priorities and what's holding you back. So first, we're gonna look at little bit of the negative. Right? Some things that we, might be getting wrong or thinking through in a way that that that isn't, having the the the main thing the main thing. Second, we're gonna look at how a CRM should actually support growth. So what should it actually do? How should it fuel that mission? How to evaluate your CRM impact beyond the features, and then we'll have some resources for you as well as time for q and a. So before we jump in, I know I mentioned the polls, and so we wanna give, the first poll a spin here. Riley's gonna go ahead and open that poll. And so what you're gonna see, is above the chat, you're gonna see a poll thing open up. There's gonna be a red dot, that you can actually click on that and start answering. And here's what we wanna know. What CRM are you currently using? So we would love to know, what CRM are you currently using? You'll see a list there, but go ahead and answer. If if it's not listed there, you can share in the chat, but it's just helpful to understand where you where where you at? What technology are you using? What platform were you on? Again, we're gonna be talking about how do you use this tool of yours to actually drive revenue, and grow it. And so the our goal is, obviously, we're here from Virtuous, and we want this content, to be so helpful for you, though, regardless of the platform that you're using. So, glad that you are here regardless of what you're using, and we're hoping to be super helpful for you, and talk through some of the tools. So, with that, we are gonna jump into, the wrong CRM priorities and what's holding you back, and I'm gonna toss it to Andrew, as we do that. Awesome. So, as Scott and I were were talking through this, I mean, there's really many of you probably dealt with this. Right? There there's a number of things you've got to consider when you're looking, at a CRM transition or getting your first CRM. I mean, I saw a couple people in the chat mentioning that their, their data is currently in Excel. So for you all, it's less of a transition. It's more of a let's do this the first time and let's do it right. And there are, a couple of those things. So first of all, one of the biggest hurdles that a lot of organizations have to overcome is the idea that IT should be driving your CRM decisions on their own. IT definitely has to be a part of the conversation. They need a seat at the table. But when you think about what the priorities of an IT department are, it is things like database uptime, security, making sure that that various different platforms talk to one another effectively. And and those are all important things, but at the end of the day, they don't actually help you maximize revenue, by doing those things. So if if we allow for IT by themselves to make decisions, it's if not that IT folks are bad people, it's that they have a different set of goals and objectives than than fundraisers and then sometimes organizational leaders do. And so we really would need to be mindful of that and and not set ourselves up to be stuck with a platform that functionally, works from a technical perspective, but doesn't actually help you deliver on revenue growth and retention and the things that that are really important, in your organization. The other the other thing, in this is really to understand, like, who is the customer. Like, your organization is the buyer of the of the platform. IT is going to be, sort of an organization, a team that's providing input and guidance that you have some boxes checked. But ultimately, the CRM is is your revenue generating engine if managed correctly. And so, those of you who are in revenue generation roles, whether you're a a chief philanthropy officer, an annual fund director, an event manager, whatever your your title is, you need a seat at the table and you really are, the primary customer for a CRM purchase. Because if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't really matter if it works for everybody else in the organization because it's not gonna achieve the organization's goals. Yeah. Well and I I think Andrew to the the I think why it's important that we start there too is, like, for some of the conversations that either people are having or or will have when it comes to, okay, either we need to get a CRM for the first time or maybe it's time to look at a new one. I think helping people understand to establish that at the front end and they have some of those conversations. Like, it's not that IT doesn't matter. It's not that finance doesn't matter. It's not that those people aren't involved in the conversation. But when you can set that up from the beginning and and agree on that framework, I feel like then it really makes the process have some guardrails to make decisions. It absolutely does. I think it allows you to first of all, it allows you to move further faster. It allows you to not have to, remake decisions or sort of relitigate things, down the road when you realize eventually, oh, wait. This isn't gonna work for my needs even though it might work for some of the other institutional, you know, needs and objectives. And really being able to to set that framework so that everyone in the organization is in alignment around not just that you need a new CRM, but what you actually need it to do. Right? Yeah. And another one of those, Scott, you mentioned it, a second ago is is sort of the finance side. Right? So one of the things that we often see again, my firm does, fundraising consulting. We we don't manage databases or build them or anything like that, but we are regularly engaging with organizations in how to effectively use their systems. So, we we often see and and I was telling Scott, offline a story of, an organization that we partner with that was going through a process like this. They were looking at a number of different CRM platforms, and their finance team really pushed for, NetSuite, which is a really sophisticated financial platform, but a terrible fundraising CRM. And and the reason that they pushed for this was they said, well, you know, we have so many different business lines, and all of our accounting needs to align to this. We we just need it all in one place. And so they they made that decision. It's been a year. And last week, they called and said, could you guys walk us through other CRM options again? Because now we understand, why you said not to go to NetSuite for a fundraising CRM. And what and I'm not trying to rag on NetSuite. It's actually a great platform for for finance. But the the reality is, again, like IT, if you are thinking about your CRM selection purely from the perspective of how does it align with my banking software, how does it, you know, connect with my my other financial reporting tools, that's only one leg of the stool. And and it's it's, I would argue, not the most important one. And so this is why, like Scott, you said, you know, that having those ground rules on the front end and knowing that all of these groups need to give input, but revenue generation really has to be if you're an organization that relies on charitable support, revenue generation has to be the thing that gets the primary CEP in this conversation. Yeah. And I think it I think, honestly, it speaks to again, like, we're we're there's no there's no villains in the conversation, but I think it also speaks to the general shift that I know we believe, when it that, like, when it comes to fundraising that we've seen to where it's no longer, hey, kind of one size fits all. We send out this mass communication, and then everyone comes to us. In which case, it makes sense that your CRM is is a kind of repository, you know, a a digital file and cabinet or whatever term you wanna use. But understanding that that's just we're in a fundamentally different spot, culturally and then certainly when it comes to fundraising. Like, it it means then, you know, the the functions that would be primarily reactive and primarily, ones that are receiving and storing and organizing that information, like, they're no longer maybe in the driver's seat in the decision because now we need to be proactive. We need to be responsive. We need to be able to not just say, hey. Come to us, but we're actually gonna know and understand you and go to you, and that really changes the game, which means it changes the tools, you know, needed for the game. Yeah. I mean, that's a this this really has nothing to do with CRM selection. But one of your points, you know, what we see particularly with with younger and more affluent givers right now is they expect you to know them as well as the commercial entities where where they shop and spend time and dollars. So if you, if if you can't, engage with them in a way that that lets them feel like you know them as well as Amazon or Nordstrom or Zappos or wherever else they shop, that actually dilutes your brand value. And and many, younger and more affluent donors will tell us that they are less likely to engage with a charity that doesn't treat them in those ways. And so you really do need a a CRM platform that's not just a filing cabinet, but it allows you to actually look at the behavior of each individual in your CRM and begin to craft, journeys for them and messaging for them and strategies that that don't treat them as number 4,724 in the CRM, but that treat them like Scott. Yeah. And so that's why really finding a platform that is fundraising first, that is responsive, that that looks at the this perspective from that of the donor versus from any other, you know, area of of the business is really critical as we move forward. Yeah. %. Hey. Real quick before we jump, there was a a question that that I can kinda answer quickly. It says, hey. Does Virtuous have its own mass level email capabilities? Right now, we use our CRM for data storage, but we also use an outside email platform. Yes. We do have full email capabilities. And one of the things that, again, is really powerful is being able to then tie an ability to mass email. And when I say mass email, I don't mean just send one thing to your whole database, but to, you know, but to send really specific targeted segmented emails. So whether that is your whole database for a big announcement or it's, hey. I wanna email everyone who gave through this method to this specific initiative on this year or whatever. You know? We're able to tag in multiple ways, build different segments, and then, like Andrew was saying, really kind of personalize that communication through built in email tools. So wanted to make sure to answer that, you know, before we continue here. Yeah. You know, there's there's actually sort of a a secondary benefit to that, that maybe doesn't get talked about as much. But just the the cognitive load that gets removed from the fundraiser when everything is self contained in one platform. Right? Because when I when I was doing this work on the front lines, we had a CRM, I had, an email platform, I had a separate platform for donation pages. I mean, it was like nine different things that you had to manage. Right? And I've been doing this long enough that some of those systems don't even exist anymore. But having everything in one place in a seamless integration, I suspect saves a significant amount of time and effort on the part of the actual fundraisers doing the work every day. Yeah. Yeah. I actually was just talking to, somebody who leads fundraising for zoological society earlier, and, they use Virtuous. And one of the things she mentioned was they love being able to actually open up a donor's profile and see, oh, they received this email. They clicked and opened it, or they clicked on this link or there. Because, you know, leading up to a meeting with a major donor, for instance, or whatever the situation is, they can understand that stuff in real time and then know, hey. This can help shape shape and and frame the the conversation. Yeah. For sure. Alright. So I wanna talk a little bit about sort of the three key functions that every nonprofit, has to has to execute. And this is really taken from, my my friend Alan Clayton who just wrote the book, Great Fundraising Organizations. I stole this from him, but it's absolutely applicable here. And and so, you know, what what he talks about is the the three key functions. First of all, there's revenue generation. This is your your fundraising, your donor engagement, the things that you do that actually drive revenue into the organization. Then there's the counting of the revenue. Right? This is your finance and accounting folks. It's making sure that revenue gets into the right fund codes, it gets into the right accounts, all those sort of things. And then the the last is spending the revenue on programs, operations, other initiatives. And the the reason why I wanted to share this is because in a lot of CRM selection discussions and RFP processes, the the focus is on number two and number three. Right? When we look at this for for some of our clients and we we get some of these RFPs and and they ask us to review them, I often see a lot about technical specifications. I see a lot about finance. I see a lot about distribution things and very little about revenue generation. But, you know, what what I kinda the the snarky part of me says, you can't do two and three or you do it at a much lower level if you don't maximize number one. Right? If if that's not the primary focus and we don't really drive towards, yes, check the boxes on security and and connectivity and those other things. But if you have two or three systems and one is really dialed in for fundraising but not as much for those other things, I would say that that you have a much greater chance of being successful as an organization and personally as a fundraiser by selecting that platform, versus saying, well, wait a minute. I'm gonna go with this one that's just completely dialed in for finance integration, but doesn't give me any of the tools that I need in order to be a proactive responsive fundraiser. Yeah. Yeah. And, again, it's like it's it's it's framing the conversation in the way that, I think makes sense for for the way donors behave today because there's probably a day where this order would be reversed, understandably. But I certainly and I think a lot of people on here, would agree or maybe disagree, which let us know in the chat. We'll get a little conversation going. But that that this is the order that that we see in importance. And then once you establish that understanding, then, okay. Now what do we need for this? And, again, it's not to minimize two and three because the, yeah, the the the reality is, like, that that's just so important. That's where things like integrations and and, you know, abilities and that and all that stuff come into wherever your platform is. But framing the conversation with this way, I think, is so helpful. Yeah. And I think as you as you go through a selection process, you know, Scott, you talked about having this conversation on the front end. I I think it's really important to to sort of create a a rubric, you know, a framework for your organization to determine what are the things that are most important for us. You know? And and you may be in a in a, you know, life cycle where revenue generation is less important, and you might have to make a different decision because of that. But if not, this allows you to all be on the same page and make sure that you're sort of working from the same marching orders as you evaluate platforms and as you make those decisions. Yeah. %. Alright. We are gonna talk through so how a CRM should actually support growth. So there's a little bit of understanding. Hey. Maybe some either mistakes or or or ways to think about your tool that don't support, fundraising, that don't support growth. But we want to make sure, like, okay. So now what? How do you frame that conversation? What does it look like to have a responsive understanding and and framework in place to then actually have this conversation and change maybe how you're using your tool, change your behaviors and the internal processes, or, you know, look at at changing a tool as well. So, Andrew, do you wanna do you wanna lead us through as we jump into this section? I will. Yeah. And I think it's important. Right? So we've been talking about changing the tool. Right? But you're you're so right that part of this is also, like, when you do that, it requires change behavior. Right? It requires you to do things differently than you have in the past. And and even to be prepared for that going into a transition like this, because if you if you simply purchase a new platform and continue to do things the same way you've always done it, you're likely not to get the results that you hope for in a transition. So just be mindful that, like, when you do this, there there is a complete sort of change management process that has to happen. It's not just about plugging in a new system and unplugging the old one. Yep. When we look at sort of oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No. Real quick. We we we got another question. Doug asked, following up from the mass email, what about SMS capabilities of the communication channels? Yes. SMS as well, Other communicated communications, even down to direct mail and automating that and, lots of communication, channels available. So just wanted to answer that real quick before we moved on. Cool. Alright. So what are those components of a a really responsive fundraising approach? The first, and I this should be no surprise to anybody that this is number one here, is does the platform help you to to better know your donors? What motivates them? What drives them? And where they are in their life cycle and journey with you? Right? So, with what we're seeing in today's marketplace, like, retention is king. And if your platform doesn't make it really easy for you to understand how to retain donors and and be able to activate that, that's gonna be a big challenge for you. The next one is increasing our average gift or average value. Right? So that's not just about saying, well, last month this person gave $50 so let's ask him for 55. Right? What we find, my colleagues and I as we go through this work and we're we're, you know, helping organizations to build fundraising offers that that elevate giving is the the dollar amount is the really the last thing to think about. It's really about understanding someone's passions and motivations so that you can then align your messaging and your offers with what's actually important to that support. Right? So if, you know, if Scott and I are both on a donor file, let's say it's an animal, an animal shelter, And, Scott loves dogs, but I am a parakeet guy. If you send Scott a package about, you know, your parakeet rescue program, you might get a gift from him, but you'd be much like much more likely to get a gift and to get a larger gift if Scott told you in a survey, hey. I love dogs. I have three dogs. Here's their names. Here's their ages. All that kind of stuff. You'll know he's passionate about that. Right? And if you can warehouse that data in your CRM in a way that you can get at it and use it to, to create content that aligns with those passions and then feed that narrative back to Scott in the next appeal or the next newsletter, you have such a higher likelihood of not just getting another gift, but of getting significantly larger gifts over time. So really that's how I would want you to think about, you know, does does your system not just allow you to see the dollar amount and project a future amount based on that, but really understand how to marry that with the right offers and with the right, data coming back from from really first party information from your supporter. And even if you're not surveying, your constituents, if you are emailing and mailing regularly and have different, focuses in those campaigns, you can actually track that data at this level as well and say, well, wait a minute. Every time, every time we we send Sarah a package that's focused on this, she's responsive to that, but she's not responsive to anything else. Maybe when we ask her to upgrade, we should focus on that area that that we can see that she clearly gives to. So those are the sort of things when we talk about increasing average gift that are that go much beyond sort of the ask strategy. Yeah. I I think too, one of the things that I've noticed just generally generationally, when you look at, from millennials to Gen z to, like, some of maybe the the younger up and coming generations is that that personalization is the there's not a world in which that doesn't exist that those generations know. That has been the experience. And so, you know, understanding those things and then be able to communicate to them and know that and be able to, like, tailor and speak to that and just honestly provide even impact stories, all of that is massive when it comes to, growing that relationship. And I think that as well, it's like sometimes you think about those up and coming generations and the initial reactions, well, they're not involved. They don't give. They don't. And the reality is, no. They just really care about what they care about. And so knowing that, understanding that, and then being able to communicate that, I think, is especially crucial when you think of the next, you know, the the wealth transfer happening and just the the the next generation of donors. Yeah. It really is. I mean, I so a couple of points on that. First of all, these these emerging generations. Right? What we see is that they both want to be deeply known, but they also want to engage anonymously. And that's a big challenge for organizations. Right? So you you have to have the tools and and frameworks to understand that and to allow people to consume information across your platform, social media, your website, your email program, whatever it might be. But do enough work in the background of cataloging that information and capturing data points and capturing what we refer to as kind of exhaust data. Right? It's not necessarily transaction information, but it might be information that shows you preference and intention. And and then, like Scott said, be able to use that in campaigns in the future so that even if someone doesn't want to be publicly known, and and, you know, talked about in support of your organization, they feel like you and they have a deep relationship and you know them as a person. That's gonna be really critical moving forward. Yep. Donor acquisition, I think is another big one. Right? So we're seeing a lot of changes in in the acquisition environment. And, one of the things that I think is really important about whatever platform someone might be using, for for their CRM is is really being able to not just see the people who've already given to you, but to see those other audiences. So whether that's, people who subscribe to your email but haven't given, your volunteers, could be, patient families or or, you know, people who have come into your thrift shop or whatever it might be where there's not a financial relationship with them yet, but there's some other sort of connection. And to be able to to use that data and understand that in order to drive your outreach so that you can convert more of those people into first time and ongoing donors versus just looking at it and saying I have givers and non givers. Right? And if if I don't have enough information, I can't catalog it in the right ways, I'm not gonna be able to message to them uniquely and and say, oh, because you've been a faithful volunteer or because your family has been, you know, served by our organization, whatever it might be. It's those, you know, sort of nuanced language points that actually help people realize they get me. And and and they they get me better than any of the other charities that I support. And so because of that, I wanna give to them. So having a platform that allows you to do that, not just today, but in the future is gonna be essential. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say, again, in the effort of our our goal today is how can we how can you walk away with some value, some next steps? I would think about these three things and ask yourself, okay. How can we when it comes to, you know, knowing our donors and what drives them, how can we get better at this? What information do we have to better understand this? But then also to understand how do we utilize this. So whether that is segmenting or creating lists or, like, think through that and maybe make some notes for next steps around ways. And and and this and that can be overwhelming when you think of what we have, this many donors and doing that is such maybe just start with one. Like, one recent initiative and say, we are going to tag or categorize everybody who gave to this, and now we're gonna have a specific follow-up that's going to speak to the impact, the next steps, all of that. I think that that's kind of a a next step and something, hopefully, that people can do if you're at the spot of saying, hey. We have our tool. We're set here. So what could we do to to grow and smooth this? Yeah. And I would actually suggest, like, you know, you you could do that right now. But then also as you plan for your next fiscal year, I would have those conversations really early because you may find that, oh, I I have a place for that data, but it's not currently there. Right? Or it's in the system, but it's maybe not queryable. So there there are different challenges like that that often when we go to use more than transaction data in our CRM, we find that it's maybe not exactly where we need it to be or our gift processing team doesn't know that it needs to be updated and things like that. So that that I think is is really important. It's it's worth the prep time upfront so that you don't get halfway through a campaign and realize, oh, I can't actually do what I was hoping to do. And now this test or this initiative is scuttled because we don't have what we need, where we need it in an accessible format. Yeah. Hey. We had a couple questions I just wanna speak to real quick. Corey asked, this was a virtuous specific question, so I'm just gonna answer it quickly. But a way to export upcoming tasks, to Excel. So similar to how queries work, which is a a feature in Virtuous. And so, single and one off tasks can't be, but they're you can export recurring and automated, tasks. And then Rachel asked about learning automations. So understanding that automations in your CRM might be tricky and and, you know, jumping on how do you learn those one on one support. And so, our academy, our support center, obviously, those are kind of self learning. We do do some training and new customer onboarding, but then there is one on one training. I know her goal is not to incur fee. There is one on one training. There is a cost there, but a few of those other options, should provide some some ways to learn and and jump into that. So just wanna answer those before we kept going. For sure. So, Scott, you had mentioned early on, a resource that that we're gonna share with folks. But I think, you know, it it it I think feeds into this. One of the things that we find is usually really challenging in this process of determining what your next CRM is, is that if I went on to seven different CRM platform websites, I'd probably get lost in all the feature checklists and they go, oh, it does this, it does that. Like they all might look and seem like they do the same, but it's really about like getting below that and and understanding how it's built. And and one of the things that I think is really important is understanding who built it. Right? Because there are lots of smart technology people in this world. They're way smarter than that. Right? But one of the things that I really value about our sector is having people in the seat doing the work who used to do the work in the seats on the front lines. Right? Exactly. Because the the more the closer you are to the donor, the closer you are to the program recipient, the closer you are to having to make budget, if we're gonna be honest, the more likely it is that you're gonna design things that solve those needs. And I think that's one of the the critical gaps that we see with platforms is if they're not designed by fundraisers for fundraisers, they rarely actually meet the needs of the fundraiser. Yeah. And that's that's one of the things that is really important to us. And, you know, even some of the the answers to these questions, they're they're from people who have sat in the seat and felt those frustrations. And, you know, for us, it's not a matter of, hey. Can we can we build a really great product? I mean, it what fuels us is is actually growing global generosity by $10,000,000,000. Dollars. That's the big audacious, you know, goal that we have. And but there's a lot of people who have, again, yeah, felt the pain and the frustration of I wanna do these things, but I can't. And my tool is not allowing me to. And we certainly are, you know, a a fundraiser first tool and something. But even our organization really understanding some of those pain points and those needs. And so, actually, speaking of, we do have another poll here. So I know we mentioned we'd have these throughout. So if you were dozing off, hopefully, you weren't because me and Andrew are super engaging and fun to listen to. But if you were, it's okay. It's your wake up call. We have a poll here. We want would love to know kinda what's your biggest frustration with your CRM today. And so you will see these options as you open that poll, and respond. So go ahead, click that poll button, but we just love to get an idea of where are you at, what are you struggling with, what are some things even as we go on throughout today, we'd love to know what can we speak to, what can we, you know, help, either in giving advice on or, you know, seeing man, how can we how could we we use our current tool, to to impact this? So I'm actually gonna share the results here. So, Andrew, you can look at these. We can look at these in real time, and see. Rose says my own lack of how to use it effectively. That is important. I think we're we'll speak to that a little bit, but, adopting and and human behavior, being able to actually know the tool and and dive in is super important. But I think that it's, yeah, I think it's really helpful for us to see kind of where others are at, and it looks like inadequate or complex reporting is a big time, big time thing and something that people are working through. You know, the other option, issues with certain fields not being queryable. You know, Melanie shared in the chat, but, yeah, keep answering because this is super helpful for us to understand as we kinda keep diving in. So any comments on this, Andrew, before I take this off this No. Well, I I was gonna say, I have clients all the time that ask us to spin up reports that should be available in their CRM because it's difficult. So I'm not surprised to see that one leading the pack. I I think it's interesting that, you know, sort of the the limited automation and lack of personalization are there as well. And I I think that just speaks to what you said, you know, the the expectations of the giver are so different today and and are so amplified that I think we're gonna have to really live in those two spaces as we move forward. Yeah. Yeah. We'll keep this Here's a little question I'm speak to real quick. So so someone asked about how much people are leaning on text messages to generate revenue. I can tell you in our business with our clients, we're seeing a a very, significant uptick in in SMS, activity and both for direct revenue generation, but also we're finding that it aids and supports and helps increase revenue generation in other channels as well. So, I'm I'm pretty bullish on on text messaging. I think it's something that if you're not doing, you should be, and you should at least be testing. Yeah. Yeah. And and I think being able to test and understand because, like like, you know, like everyone, they're different. And so some people it's like you will get me right away on text, and other people are like, don't please don't text me. I have 348 unread text messages, and you will be the three hundred and forty ninth. So, yeah. You know, I think, I think that that that's super helpful. Awesome. Well, hey. Let's keep going here. We're gonna pull this down. We'll leave the poll open for another minute or two, and so go ahead and answer, as you'd like. But we wanna jump back in and start to speak to, how to evaluate CRM impact beyond features. So looking at, like, how do you know if your tool is really working for you? What's the impact that it's making beyond just the features? But actually diving into some, you know, some questions that people, for people to be able to ask and to understand. So we wanna jump into this first one here, Andrew, if we could, in talking through, how the CRM helps us to better understand or engage our donors. Yeah. So, I mean, this is another like, we've talked about this already, but if first of all, if it's difficult to get data out of your platform and actually see information, that's not going to be helpful. Secondly, though, if if you don't have the ability to to capture and catalog information on the donor record, that is more than just transaction data. Right? This is so important, you know, because the the most powerful information you're ever gonna get about a donor is going to come from the donor directly. Right? No amount of wealth screening, of a pending data, of looking at transaction history, none of that is going to compare what to a donor saying to you, this is why I give to you and this is what's most important to me. And so if you can't get at that information effectively in your platform, you're you're gonna have a much more difficult time building a a lasting relationship with supporters. Yeah. Alright. The next one, will it make donor segmentation, personalization, and donor journey building easier? So, I will tell you that I I used to use a a Sage CRM, platform back in in the day when I was doing this work front lines, and it would take multiple days to build segmentation and to create personalization. And often, we would have to outsource the personalization to a vendor who could do it for us because we couldn't do it inside the platform. I I know that there are other platforms today that have very similar challenges, and I know that because we have to do some of that work for for some organizations. There's no reason that should be the case. Right? Like, these are table stakes in our business. And and so platforms that aren't designed to help you do this easily and quickly are are just sapping resources for me. Right? Whether it's hours in your day, hours in someone else's day, dollars that could be going to program or salary or somewhere else that are going to an outside, contractor to to do this sort of thing for you. Like, all of those things have a cost, and it's not just a dollar cost. It's an impact cost. It's an opportunity cost because the faster you can do this with the more updated data with which you can do it, the better results you'll get in in the market in your next fundraising campaign. So if if that's difficult, you you're gonna raise less money. Yeah. Can it track major donor relationships and forecast opportunities? I know this one's a really big one. That's a it's a big one. It's a huge one for for us in our business because so much of our work is in major gifts and capital campaigns. And and, you know, we were one of my colleagues, Steve Trotman, I think he's actually on the the, webinar with us right now. He and I were just talking this morning about some challenges with one of his clients where their entire system is built solely for mass marketing. And so everything they do is designed to be done for the $25 giver. And and the challenge with that is sometimes you need to be talking to people who who are gonna give $5.06, and 7 figure gifts. Right? And so if your if your system is not designed, holistically to account for donor relationships at every level, you're gonna tap out and you're gonna end up with gift officers that have hidden spreadsheets, that have, you know, access tables somewhere on their hard drive with, quote, unquote, their donors in them and their information. And and then you're gonna you know, there's gonna be all sorts of issues of data integrity, updating information, not updating information, lost opportunity. There's so many challenges when we force our people to work around our system instead of being able to work within the system that, you know, it's it's one of the biggest challenges we see with with CRM platforms because most are not designed with with the ability to flex easily between both levels of audiences. Yeah. Yeah. I think yeah. That that you know, we call it the gift to ask pipeline, but being able to understand forecast, like, how I just just have to see that big picture, but then then to manage it, track those relationship, really think through is is, I know, such a a huge thing for people to then be able to, have that greater clarity. Well, and even to be able to do things like have a native integration with a a wealth screening platform. Right? So that, you know, you see all the other stuff that's that's donor reported and that's transaction reported. And then you also see, oh, wait a minute. Within the last sixty days, this donor sold their business. Like, then that is a a a material change in that person's capacity right there. Right? So those are the things that, you know, if your CRM doesn't have those sort of things, it doesn't allow you that level of vision, into a a donor's, overall sort of, engagement with you that you just you end having to do that work outside or it doesn't get done. Yeah. Absolutely. Alright. Next, does it break down data silos across fundraising, marketing, and events? Yeah. That's an interesting one. Right? Again, in my past life and with other organizations that we serve, oftentimes what I hear is, I can do this much in my CRM, but I have to buy the next module in order to do that. Or I had to buy a different CRM. I know of one organization. They're they're probably a $10,000,000 organization, so they have the budget to have good tools. And and they came to us and said, we have a completely different CRM for volunteers because we can't get our fundraising CRM to talk to our original, volunteer CRM, and there's nowhere to put volunteer data because every record has to have a financial transaction. Right? Yeah. And so, you know, that again, it just makes everybody's work harder. It makes it really difficult to look at the total relationship that you have with a supporter. So if you've got a major donor who's a volunteer, who sits on a campaign committee, who also, you know, buys three tables at your events and you have to spend 2 hours to figure all of that out because you don't have it all in one place, like, that's just, again, a waste of your precious time, and also makes it much more likely that somewhere we're gonna screw up in that relationship. Yeah. Yeah. What would that two hours look like, you know, sitting down for a meal with that donor? Or Yep. You know, calling that donor and five others, to be able to actually connect in that way, I think, that that's a that's a great place. I'll tell you a real story on this. I was with a client several years ago. They had just received a big gift from from a a donor couple that had supported them for a long time. And so they you know, we looked them up in the in the CRM. So, okay, we're gonna call and thank him right while we're all sitting here. So called and, got his wife on the phone. Said we'd like to talk to to Jim and wanna thank him for the the generous gift that he just made. And his wife said, well, why don't you just go downstairs? It's Thursday. It's his volunteer day. Don't you know that? And sure enough, he was in the building. He was just in a different database because volunteers sat outside the CRM. Right? Yeah. And so it's it's those sort of things where it's like, not only did we waste a few minutes, but we got egg on our face because now the donor's like, wait a minute. We gave you $25,000, and you don't even know that we're in your office today? Yeah. Like, that's the missed opportunity. Big time. Alright. We have one more question here, but there's a couple of q and a, pieces I wanna hit on just super quick, that people ask. Can you query for click data in Virtuous? The answer is yes. You can. So that one's simple and quick. Margaret asked, does Virtuous come with, yearly donor donation statements, the one huge requirement for the IRS yearly for nonprofits? Yes. It makes sending those out very simple, and you're able to do that. Does Virtuase sync integrate with Sage and Tack accounting software? Yes. And so we have integrations built there. It's where it's, a really seamless sync. And then do the segmentation features you've talked about only apply to email SMS or available for print mailings as well? Available for print mailings. In fact, I talked to a customer a few weeks ago who saw their spend on direct mail increase to 13 to one. So for every dollar spent on direct mail, they were raising $13 because they were able to understand better who actually responds to this, and then they were able to lower their costs and actually increase the mailings to the people that it was registering with, which then saw their their donations increase. So, just wanted to answer those super quick, and then we can we can talk through our last question here, which is, will it help automate manual tasks freeing up time for donor relationships? Little little bit of what we just mentioned. Absolutely. I mean, I I cannot tell you. You probably hear it all the time, but, like, the number of fundraisers who say things to me like, yeah. I had to work over the weekend. I had to work Saturday. I had to stay here an extra two hours last night. I had to do this. I had to do that because all of these things are manual. Right? I I was on a call today with someone who was telling us about something that should be a very simple, you know, I'm not gonna say it's a one button fix in other systems, but it's fairly simple. And and instead, they were having to spend two or three hours to cobble data together from multiple systems. So, like, those things have a real cost whether it it shows up on a p and l or not. And oftentimes, the real cost is in each of your lives and not just in in somebody's bank account. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, next, we're looking at okay. So how do you align your CRM strategy with fundraising goals? You know, from from making the shift to rethinking CRM selection. We do have a resource I'm gonna mention here next. But, Andrew, any commentary on this before we jump into the CRM conversion guide we have for people? Yeah. I mean, I I have the luxury of not being a CRM person. So, I I can be pretty bullish on this and say, if your organization exists on donor revenue, then your primary objective has to be fundraising. Like Yeah. There's nothing else more important because without those rep those dollars raised, you can't achieve mission. You can't support any other department in your organization. Like, nothing matters if you're not maximizing your revenue because that's the fuel that lets everything else happen. And so when I when I think about this and when I counsel our clients, like, there's there's very few instances where I would say align with anything else other than your fundraising goals. Right? It really has to be driven from that. Yeah. Well, like I mentioned, the transition for CRM, some of you may be approaching those conversations, thinking about them, having them in the midst of them. And so we just wanna provide a resource. You know? That that is a big undertaking. We understand that. But there's also some some guidelines and some paths you can walk down for some best practices. So we have the CRM conversion playbook. If you go up to the docs tab, you will see that. You can download it here. We also have a link that Riley just put in the chat. Riley, thank you so much for that. You can download it there as well. But, really, it's walking through what does a CRM conversion look like, all the way from evaluation to human adoption, to leading the people change, to implementation, to how do you measure success, all of that. So we'd love to give that to you. Love for you to download that today. And we did have, we do have a few other questions here. Keep them coming. We're gonna answer those in just a minute. But, obviously, you know, from our perspective, we really believe, as we've talked today, like, the world of fundraising has changed. It's very different. Personalized experiences are the norm. One size fits all spray and pray, is of the days of the past, and really that two way understanding is so important. And so for us, we really believe in responsive fundraising. What we believe is possible is actually a way where you are proactive and where you are not just sitting and waiting, but you are engaging regularly with donors. And so responsive fundraising, I know some of you are virtuous users, and so you're like, okay. I've heard this before, but some of you aren't. And so what is that? Well, first, it's listening, like we've talked about today. Understanding your donors and each person and and who they are and why they care and why why they're connecting with your organization, what motivates them and moves them, and then you connect. We know giving is so personal. Right? And that means the way you engage should be as well, and it should both honor that and know that and connect with donors in a way that's contextual, collaborative, that's two way. From there, you suggest then. So I know, who you are. I know what you care about, and so I can understand here's maybe the next step that makes sense for you. Being able to suggest that to people, and that's where some of that segmentation and tags and queries and understanding who's who comes in. And then from there, learning. So taking all of those first three movements and learning and understanding that information, when you do that in what you see on the screen, the circle, it allows you to get better and better every time and allows you to really then, fundraise in a way that's that's, really built for the modern donor and for for the donors, today. And so for us, it's more than just a database like we've talked about. Right? It's more than just a a virtual filing cabinet. It's a platform, a whole platform built for personal connections, donor, engagement, and really growing giving, in your organization. So we, would love to open up some time for q and a. I know I have a question here about, individual fundraising, automations, and and, you know, can you, kind of allow those to connect to third party? It's kind of a big question, meaning, you know, the the answer is kinda dependent on the nature of the individual fundraising. So if you mean, like, p two p, that's kind of one thing. But a lot of teams utilize automation in parallel with PDP, PDP, and other, integrations to kind of increase retention from those donors. So they've come in through maybe a, you know, peer to peer campaign, but then how do you nurture and connect with those? So there's probably more that we need to have context around to answer that well. So I know I just kinda stumbled through that, but, I think that's it as far as q and a that we have in here. But we do have another poll here. Now listen. I know a lot of you are virtuous users, so this may not be for you. But for those of you who aren't and are interested in having a conversation, we'd love to know, if you'd like a demo of virtuous. So if you're already using the platform, that's a kind of a different route you can go. You don't have to answer yes to this one, but you connect with support or customer success. But for those of you who aren't and you wanna connect with our team and understand this platform a bit more, I know we had some great questions. And so we'd love to be able to answer those in-depth and to be able to maybe see what this looks like for you and your organization. So we'll leave that up for another minute here. But Andrew would also love for you to just share some ways, that people that you may be able to help and engage for those who who wanna connect with you and your team. Yeah. Thanks, Scott. So, I mean, our our firm, does a number of different things, but where we add the most value most often is helping organizations identify people who aren't yet giving at a high level and activate a first time major gift. So think about, you know, the the the hundred dollar donor that's sitting in your CRM right now and and finding an opportunity to to move them to $10,000 or $5,000 or a hundred thousand. And so, if if that's a priority for your organization, that's one of the things that I think we do best in the marketplace, and we'd love to talk to you about it. It's awesome. So we are gonna actually open up a fresh poll. So, man, if you were like if you're I'd well, I'll tell you what. If you're waiting to answer the virtuous demo one, you have five more seconds we'll give it. We'd love for you to answer that, but I would love to open up one here where you can connect with the Dickerson Baker team. Just love. Can't can't say enough about, Andrew and the team there and the heart that they have, the way that they, really seek to serve and partner with your organization. And, so would highly recommend, that you reach out and connect with them. So that poll's open there. We're gonna leave that up here for a little bit. And so answer that. Let us know. He and the team would love to connect. Now we're wrap we're wrapping up here a couple more minutes, but wanted to let you know of our responsive nonprofit summit coming up June. This is a virtual conference that's free for you. So, it's gonna be two half days. Andrew's gonna be there speaking. We have another 30 plus people, and this is really our chance to dive into a lot of what we talked about today even and and go further and deeper on it. A ton of different tracks that you can take, but we're gonna have some, amazing people speaking. So register. Again, this is free for you. So we'd love for you to attend. I'll be cohosting, with Carly, Berna from our team as well as John and Becky from we are for good. So, maybe you're like, that's why I'm not gonna register because this webinar was no good. But, hopefully, that's not the case, and you're like, hey. We'd love to see and hear a little bit more of me, but really more of people like Andrew who can, really speak into your organization. So go ahead and register. We would love for you to be there. And then finally, we have a survey that we'd love to open up here. Just understanding how did you kinda learn and grow from this webinar. We would love for your feedback, so go ahead and fill that out. We'll leave that open for the next minute or two. But this just helps us shape this content and make sure it's really helpful for you, valuable, and gives you a chance to give us any feedback. So please go ahead and fill that out. We'll leave that up. Andrew, any last closing words or anything you like to share before we wrap up today? You know, I it wasn't really not really on topic for this, but I I think we we can't not talk about the fact that, like, we're in really challenging times as an industry. Right? What I wanna just encourage you all with is we talk to donors all day long, on behalf of our clients. And what we're seeing is that only about 15 to 18% of donors are saying that they're gonna stop giving or they're gonna pull back this year. The majority of supporters in the conversations we have and surveys and discussions have said, we know that it's hard. We actually have more capacity, so we're gonna continue to give or and we're maybe even gonna give more. So I just wanna encourage you all. I'm certain that you're having lots of conversations with boards and c suite executives about, like, what should we expect. And I want you to know that a lot of donors are saying even though the economy is negatively impacting them, they still plan to give. So, hopefully, that's encouraging to folks. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, thank you all for being on here today. Again, the recording will be sent out. The The slides will be sent out, and we'll send, the resources that we mentioned as well today. So we just so appreciate it. We hope that it's been helpful. We're gonna continue to have these. Again, if you if you love jumping into virtual and learning from the comfort of your home, sign up for R and S. We'd love to see you there. But thanks so much for being with us today, and we will see you next time. Thanks, y'all. Good to be with you.