5 reasons why social causes should consider CRM

Image credit: 10ch

Fuze Nights are the one night in the month where the social impact sector takes a break, lets its hair down, and chills out with other cool folks who make the world a better place.

The 5 reasons

During our Fuze Night in July 2015, we explored the topic of relationship management and came up with the key reasons why a non-profit or a social cause might consider investing in a CRM (customer relationship management) system.

1. You’re already doing it

Let’s face it, relationship management is at the core of what a social cause does. A non-profit reaches out to stakeholders, beneficiaries and donors, while at the same time, builds on a history of interactions. It might not be as well defined as a process or an asset but you’re still doing it.

A systematic approach to relationship marketing, however, is a world of difference to using just your email and address book, especially if you are looking to scale and to spend more time delivering impact.

2. Improve the scalability of your cause

If you’re the founder of a social cause, organising your contacts might seem relatively simple. When a social cause becomes successful, however, scaling up might become a problem. Imagine the challenge it is to manage your own address and emails on your own.

Now imagine several people updating that with their interactions with your contacts. Go even further, and imagine they are all using their own address books and contact management processes. The complexity for social causes and non-profits increases as new team members, volunteers and advocates join the organisation as it scales up.

Without a well defined way of managing the interactions your team has with potential donors or beneficiaries, you’ll reduce your ability to make a difference as you become bogged down by a process that, with some investment of time to set up correctly, can yield benefits over the long term.

3. A permanent asset in a transient environment

Most social causes and non-profits suffer from a lack of consistency with staff and volunteers, which makes it even more important that your interactions with stakeholders is captured somewhere. A methodical approach to your relationship management system creates a permanent repository of an organization’s history in one place.

All the donor interactions and stakeholder discussions are captured for good in a valuable asset that can always be accessed by new team members and infrequent volunteers alike, regardless of how long they have been with your non-profit.

4. Don’t forget anything

In conclusion