Heller Consulting on Constituent Relationship Management

Heller Consulting recently released a thought-provoking report that explores the ways in which nonprofits are approaching Constituent Relationship Management (CRM). Based on interviews with 30 larger nonprofits, “Insights into CRM for Nonprofits” asserts that there are three common but divergent views of CRM: as a system for managing information, as a service for improving relationships with constituents and as an overarching strategy that has the potential to transform a nonprofit’s operations.

The team at Heller argues that, if leveraged as a strategy, CRM can do more than help reduce information siloing within an organization. It can also lead to increased transparency between an organization and its constituents. Though the report is based on interviews with large organizations, it’s chock-full of advice for staffers from smaller organizations just starting to explore a CRM system to manage their data. The study also considers some of the risk inherent in adopting a new CRM stategy, and provides useful perspective on achieving organization-wide buy-in.

The whole thing is worth reading-- you can download the report for free here.

The good folks at Heller also have a good blog post up today called "Nonprofit CRM--What's It To Ya?" that rounds up a few industry experts' takes on the issue, including Idealware's own Laura Quinn. It's a great post, and a good entry to the report. Check it out here.