10 Things I Wish I'd Known Earlier in My Nonprofit Fundraising Data Career
- Fundraising CRMs for the most part are all the same. Each software maker calls their particular features by different names, but at the core they're all the same. There are only so many ways to build a relational database.
- Identifying patterns and similarities between CRMs is the number one indicator of system-agnostic fundraising CRM success.
- Don't get scared by big words and strange names. Each software maker puts their own stink on their fundraising CRM. Everyone wants to be unique right? Don't let a company's desire to be unique back you into the inaction corner.
- Test twice, implement once. As a theatre student at Central Michigan University I studied costume design under Doris J. Ramsey. She taught me so much not only about costumes, but about life in general too. One of the most valuable lessons she taught me (by letting me make mistakes) was to measure twice and cut once. Stellar advice for fundraising data management.
- You don't need to know all the answers, but you need to know where to find answers when you need them. As a young fundraising data consultant and trainer, I put pressure on myself to know the answer to every question that had even the remotest chance of coming up during a work session. I wouldn't go so far as to say this pressure was a waste of time, but it certainly held me back from being my best in the moment.
- Speaking of questions and answers...the moment you think you've heard every question you can possibly hear about a particular system or process, you'll get a zinger that you didn't see coming. Stay prepared and top of game by staying appropriately immersed in your niche on the regular.
- Everything will take longer than you think it will take until you are totally in sync with a system and the data living in that system which, depending on your unique situation, may take a minute or two. Plan ahead and give yourself enough time to build up a comfort level so you don't burn out before you really get cooking.
- The absolute best, most efficient way to get comfy and cozy with a new system is to pull the system statistics. Translation...the number of each record type in the system. Most importantly the number of constituents, gifts, campaigns, funds, and appeals. Again, remember the system you're working in may call these - super technical word warning - things by different names. These stats will give you a quick assessment of how the system is structured.
- The best way to see the system statistics in action is to study a constituent record. Most, if not all, other record types live on a constituent record.
- You know more than you give yourself credit for. Simple concept. Sometimes hard to apply.
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