1. Finding the Right CRM for Your Organization
Presented by Michelle Reagan
Adaptive Sports Partners of the North Country

2. Background
After several years of having to maintain different databases, we decided to find a solution that would allow us to have all our contacts, our donors, our members and our events in one database. After a lot of research on different CRMs, we found one that was the perfect fit for our organization . Learn how we have made this decision, what variables we took into consideration (cost, features, limitations/modifications, use), which CRMs we researched, and how you might use our journey to find the perfect Customer Relationship Management System for your organization

3. Goals
1. Learn what to look for in choosing a CRM 2. Be give a broad overview of some of the CRMs available to you 3. Learn why we chose our CRM over its competitors

4. Do some legwork before looking at solutions
Why do we need a new system?
The current system isn’t customizable
The current system is difficult to administer
The current system doesn’t meet all our needs.
The current system doesn’t have the reporting features we need
We can’t afford our current system
The current system doesn’t meet privacy requirements.

5. Consider the following questions and document the reasoning for each.
Do you need a cloud-based service? Or do you want to have something physically installed on machines? What are the confidentiality standards that need to be met? What is the technical capacity of the users, and what does the new software need to address? How many users will you have?

6. Consider the following questions and document the reasoning for each.
What does your current software allow you to do that you need to keep? And what does it not allow you to do? What are your ongoing expectations for a vendor relationship? Do you need this software to interface with other software packages? How many programs will the new data system support? What timing/budget constraints do you have? How could implementation be phased?

7. Learn what to look for in choosing a CRM
Just need the basics
Growing organization – can’t be pricy
Easy to setup and use
Fundraising events
Needs to be free
Needs to track all constituents
Needs to integrate with and website
Needs to be configurable
Needs to categorize donors
Need to be able to access on the go

8. Learn what to look for in choosing a CRM
Ease of adding and tracking donations
Managing donor information
Social media integration
Prospecting and proposals
Permissions
Mail-merges
ing
Querying
Reporting
Payment and website integration
Tracking events
Customization
Integration
Support
Ease of use
Ease Installation and maintenance or good support
Reviews

12. Learn why we chose our CRM over its competitors
Memberships Events Donors Contacts integration Forms Price Payment integration Support

20. Adaptive Sports Partners of the North Country

21. Resources
A Consumers Guide to Low-Cost DMS – by NTEN Buyer's Guide to Fundraising Software – Bloomerang Making Wise Decisions - makingwisedecisions.shcowell.org