Nonprofit Victory Bundle—CRM

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Nonprofit Victory Bundle

A CRM with simple automations and a nonprofit-focused data model.

Alissa Golbus

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Welcome to your nonprofit donor data management toolkit!

💡 Why You Need This

CRM templates are a dime a dozen, but nothing easily accessible and free understands that operating a nonprofit isn’t the same a operating a retail business:

Nonprofit databases are based around relationships—relationships between people, and associations between people and organizations—and your organization’s relationships between individuals and the households and/or organizations they belong to are related but not the same.

📊 Guide to the Interface and Data Model

Accounts

Each discrete entity your organization interacts with should have an Account record. Accounts come in two types:

Household⁠

and

Organization⁠

Households are made of people who live at the same address: partnered couples—married or not—and any children who live with them at least some of the time, roommates, etc.

Organizations are entities that exist separate from the people currently associated with them: retail businesses, other nonprofits, schools, etc.

👍🏽 Rule of Thumb 👍🏽

If every person currently associated with the account were to leave it,

and it would continue to exist,

it’s an Organization, not a Household.

In the

Accounts⁠

section, you can search, view, and edit your organization’s records on people and the relationships between them.

Always search your existing data before adding something!

Throughout the document, records highlighted in yellow are Contacts, blue are Households, and green are Organizations.

Any

Donations⁠

you receive are associated primarily with an Account, with a Contact designated as the Primary Contact (and recipient of hard credit for the donation).

Contacts

The people who make up Households and own and/or work for Organizations are

Contacts⁠

. Contacts can have their own email addresses and phone numbers...because they usually do. However, Addresses are separate...

Addresses

It’s much more likely for Contacts to share a mailing address than it is for them to share an email address—and it’s possible for Contacts to have multiple mailing addresses at different points in the year, for different types of mail, etc.

⁠

Addresses⁠

can be associated with multiple accounts of various types (some people live where they work and vice versa).

Connections

Contacts are connected to each other and to Accounts via Connections. Connections come in two types:

Affiliations⁠

, and

Relationships⁠

Affiliations are the Connections between people and organizations; Relationships are the Connections between people.

Tip: Don’t delete your Contact’s Affiliation after it’s no longer active;

their previous history with that Organization

is also worthwhile information to have.

To that end, greyed and struck out Affiliations have an end date and are not current.

Entering Data

To add a new Account, Address, or Connection, go to

Accounts⁠

, select the appropriate section, and SEARCH YOUR DATA before entering anything new.

To create a new Relationship Type, click the button above

Relationship Type⁠

Fundraising

Campaigns

In the

Campaigns⁠

section, you can keep records on your various fundraising efforts—the prospective donors you contact for each, the Donations you receive in response, and details about associated Campaign events.

Entering Data

To make one or more Contacts Members of a Campaign, go to

Add Campaign Members⁠

and filter the contacts view until only your desired Campaign Members are visible. Then, click the button for the appropriate Campaign.

Tip: There are two sliders like this →

000

⁠

above the Add Campaign Members table. Use them to filter Contacts by lifetime Donation amount.

To create a new Campaign, go to

Enter New Campaign⁠

Donations

Donations⁠

you can search and view information on Donations you have received.

Entering Data

To enter a donation payment, go to

Enter a Payment⁠

To enter a new pledge or completed donation, go to

Enter a Donation⁠

When you enter a Payment that reduces the Remaining Balance of the associated Donation to zero, the doc will automatically change its stage to “Closed Won” and make the Close Date the date of the last Payment.

Reports

Go to

Reports⁠

to view basic reports on your donors:

To see all Open Pledges, go to

Open Pledges⁠

To see Accounts that donated Last Year But Unfortunately Not This, go to

LYBUNT⁠

To see Accounts that have donated Some Year But Unfortunately Not This, go to

SYBUNT⁠

To see total Donations by Campaign, go to

By Campaign⁠

To see total Donations by Quarter, go to

By Quarter⁠

Basic Moves Management

You should record your donor interactions whenever possible—make notes on what you discussed, details you learn about their lives and families, why they love what your nonprofit does, etc. As your organization grows, you will use this information in increasingly complex ways—right now, focus on capturing what data you can, and over time you’ll see how your unique workflow guides the types of information you collect and the way you personalize this doc.

Entering Data

To make notes on an interaction with a donor, go to

Log a Donor Interaction⁠

🤖 Automations

Make Household Name Account Name

Accounts come in two types:

Household⁠

and

Organization⁠

. Organization names are entered manually into the Account Name field, while Household names are generated formulaically based on the contacts listed in the record—this automation copies the Household Name to the Account Name.

When a row in

Account⁠

is changed,

If the row type is

Household⁠

AND (the row Account Name is blank OR different from the Household Name),

Copy the Household Name to the Account Name field of that row.

Mark Affiliation Former When End Date Added

It is important to maintain data on your constituents’

affiliations⁠

to different organizations in your database, and distinguishing between current and former associations is key. Former affiliations are greyed and struck out throughout the database.

When the End Date column of a row in the

Affiliation⁠

table has changed,

If the End Date is not blank OR the End Date is before Today,

Then check the Former box on that row.

Create Household Record for Contacts Without Household

The top-level record types in this database are

Accounts⁠

and

Campaigns⁠

. Contacts are all associated with a single Household, either alone or with other contacts; because donation information is connected to Households/Organizations and not Contacts, all Contacts must have a Household.

Every weekday (Monday–Friday),

Filter the Contact table to generate the list of Contacts not associated with an account,

And for each, add a row to the Account table, with the account type “Household,” and add that Contact to the Contacts field of that row,

Then modify that Contact to include a lookup to the Household created for it.

Mark Donation Closed Won When Remaining Balance=$0

Always keep track of the status of your pledges, which will often be paid off in installments.

When the row is changed,

If the Remaining Balance is $0.00, the Donation stage is Pledged, and the Close Date is blank,

Mark the Donation Closed Won, and make the Close Date the date of the final payment.

📖 Glossary

Account The top-tier level of record in this database; either a Household or an Organization.

Affiliation A Connection between a Contact and an Organization.

Close Date The date on which the Donor Account submitted the final payment toward that donation.

Closed Lost The Donation is Closed (i.e. no further payment outstanding), and the total Donation Amount will not be received.

Closed Won The Donation is Closed, and the total Donation Amount has been received.

CRM Customer Relationship Management (retail) or Constituent Relationship Management (nonprofit); usually refers to a CRM system, a suite of software-based tools for recording and reporting on your interpersonal and financial transactions with your customer or donor base.

Hard Credit Attribution given to a donor for donations on which they’re listed as Primary Contact.

Household A group of people who live at the same address: partnered couples—married or not—and any children who live with them at least some of the time), roommates, etc.

LYBUNT Last Year But Unfortunately Not This; all Accounts that donated to you last year, but haven’t yet this year.

Organization A legal entity that exists separate from the people currently associated with it (e.g. retail business, another nonprofit, school, etc.).

Pledge A promise from a Donor Household or Organization to give your nonprofit money/gifts in kind/etc. that has yet to be fulfilled.

Pledge Date The date on which the Donor Account promises the donation. (If the Donation is paid in full upfront, the Close Date and Pledge Date are the same.)

Relationship A Connection between two Contacts.

Soft Credit Attribution given to a donor for donations you receive due to their influence that they didn’t give you directly (e.g. donations made in their honor, matching donations from their employer, etc.).

SYBUNT Some Year But Unfortunately Not This; all Accounts that have ever donated to you in the past, but haven’t yet this year.

Welcome to your nonprofit donor data management toolkit!

💡 Why You Need This

📊 Guide to the Interface and Data Model

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