Certification - October 2008 - (Page 28)

According to a 2006 survey by dotOrganize, more than 0 percent of small to medium-sized nonprofits said they store contact information in more than four different places, with more than 20 percent saying they store it in more than 10 places. Which programs did they use? • 8 percent used Excel. • 2 percent used a personal contact manager such as Outlook. • percent used loose slips of paper. service cycle, though efforts for each step will vary greatly and sometimes overlap. For nonprofits, marketing takes the form of outreach or communications. Most nonprofits engage in some kind of outreach efforts — such as direct mail, e-mail newsletters, ad buying or others — geared toward creating greater awareness of programs and services among clients, raising money, building advocacy efforts and growing general organizational support. A typical marketing process also involves measuring the results of these communications. Any process that moves a person from being merely interested to making a commitment, making a purchase or taking an action is a sales process. Nonprofits sell things, too, whether programs, products, services or ideas. A nonprofit sales process might focus on convincing a grant-maker to provide funds for a particular program, talking a client into attending a free event or persuading a legislator or a citizen to vote a particular way. The complexity of the sales process is proportionate to the size of the commitment. A free one-hour seminar or $25 donation would have a very short sales cycle, while a 10-week program or $1,000 donation would require a more complex process. Service at nonprofits consists of the delivery of programs and support to constituents. While this typically is the most important part of a nonprofit’s work, it’s too often left out of CRM discussions and tracked only through isolated applications. Some organizations have limited service components, such as responding to requests or requirements from funders, legislators, media, schools and other such constituents. For other organizations — such as food banks, health and wellness groups and legal services organizations — services comprise the bulk of their efforts. By including service processes as part of a CRM strategy, nonprofits can better recruit and serve their program participants, as well as include these clients as potential organizational supporters. Understanding the Process Mix The final step is prioritizing constituent groups and processes to get an idea of the mix as it will apply to a software solution. For example, consider a youth 28 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE October 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - October 2008

Certification - October 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Virtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Troubleshooting Academic Connection What We Like Look Ahead Elect IT: Technology and the Democratic Process Managing Relationships in the Nonprofit Realm Interface VoIP Technician: Answering the Call of the Network Inside Certification Ad Index Endtag

Certification - October 2008

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