Defining Your Charity Database Needs

A lot has been said about what data can offer your organization. Whether on LinkedIn blogs, in board rooms, or at conferences there is a growing buzz about the power of data. This means that when looking for ways your organizations can take advantage, you will find a long list of possible tools and features. Frankly, the hype is real, but context is missing. 

Data can help you marketing towards key constituents, it can give you insights into what has and hasn’t worked in the past, and it can lead to leaps in automation that simplify processes for your team. However, there is a saying among data geeks, that is important here.  

“Garbage in garbage out.” 

Or in other words, no matter how fancy the juicer is, if your fruit has gone bad, you won’t like the product. So, it is often most important to talk about the less sexy/innovative appliance, the fridge. 

You need a GOOD Fridge 

Every single data-driven system you find needs a stable, well-designed, and clean database to function. We’ll talk more about cleanliness next month as we get into the season of Spring cleaning. But making sure that your data storage system fits your needs as an organization is just as important.  

Most Charities find that a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database suits them best. There has been an explosion of CRMs custom-built to suit the needs of those managing donor relationships.  

A list of basic features that any charity needs : 

• Ability to create Records corresponding to Donors / Contacts 

• Securely store important personal information about Constituents  

• Addresses / Contact Information

• Preferred method of communication 

• Whether a donor is deceased (along with the date of passing)  

• Ability to create records corresponding to specific Donations  

• These records should be able to track  

• Date a gift was made/posted 

• Payment method 

• Whether or not your organization has/will receipt the donation 

• What fund receives the money

• What campaign helped raise it 

• Ability to pull lists of specific records based on important criteria. 

• Ability to track interactions with the Donor

• Ability to generate tax code-compliant receipts  

Once these general needs are met, the next question is how to decide between the many options on the market.  

Why Defining your Needs Matters 

Identifying your goals/needs/limitations upfront will serve you well. Whether it is communicating with software providers or consultants that will be helping with data migration it is integral to be able to articulate your organization’s success criteria.  

From experience, I can say nothing is more frustrating than realizing halfway through a data transition that a new database does not meet a key need for a client.  

Once when helping one of our clients prepare data for movement from one database to the next, we found out there was no designated home for the customizable reports the entire team depended upon. This led to an additional 9 months of unplanned development where the reports were rebuilt from the ground up by the Software provider at the expense of both the client and the developers.  

This usually happens because there was:  

• A lack of clear definition around terms  

• No examples from one side or both of what outputs should/will look like 

• No written list of required features 

Essentially, a miscommunication during the sales process. 

So, make sure you have a clear list of what matters most to your organization. Then develop ways that these needs can be communicated and the database provider can demonstrate their ability to meet them. You are the customer, make sure you know you are getting what you want. 

Brainstorming your Needs and Goals  

It is helpful to brainstorm your needs and goals with your whole team, not just those with direct access to the database. Involve everyone affected by the inputs and outputs of the database, everyone’s insights are important.

Having said this, I think we have all experienced the “Brainstorming” sessions where everyone sits around a conference table and blankly stares at a whiteboard. Eliciting thoughtful feedback on something as abstract and technical as a database can be difficult.  

Here are some questions to get the feedback flowing: 

• What are the outputs that could help your team? Examples could include reports, segmented lists, automated reminders, etc. 

• By framing the question as what the team would like to receive it helps answer the silent question of “How will this help me?”. It also provides the opportunity to reverse engineer what you need from what needs to get done. 

• Is there anything that you are currently tracking outside of your database? Would it make sense to keep it all in one space?  

• By highlighting the spreadsheet proliferation that every organization experiences. It can help you highlight key pieces of data that are getting lost in file folders and are not living in plain view.  

• Are there any problems with your current database that the team constantly runs into?  

• By letting your team vent about current pain points you can highlight potential areas for growth and some of the data steps that might be required.  

• Has your team heard about any new innovations in the space, that could help their work? 

• By opening the space up to pie-in-the-sky ideas you can start to see future opportunities that are not obvious. Having these future opportunities listed out now provides you with the chance to make sure your data foundation is something that can support that growth. 

Review this list with your team to find patterns and themes of what matters most to them and their process. This helps pair down what is hopefully an extensive list of possibilities to the core things your team needs. It also leaves you with a wide variety of goals that align with your team. 

Noting your resource limitations 

Now that the fun part is done, the next step is to rain on the parade. We would all love the ability to get the best possible system on market, with the most customization, the best analytics tools, and complete integration with external applications.

However, there are some key limitations to consider: 

• Budget 

• This is of course the largest consideration in our sector as finding donations for administrative infrastructure can be difficult. So, make sure you have a clear budget for what your organization can afford. 

• Technical Expertise 

• Some systems are more user-friendly but less customizable, and some CRMs require coding experience but will provide you with anything your heart desires. Knowing your team and the internal technical experience should be a factor when identifying a CRM that meets your user needs.  

• Work Hours Available 

• No database is completely automated and upkeep costs (work hours) are something to consider.  

• For example, a database that tracks all donor networks may be your pie-in-the-sky goal. This would provide incredible data and opportunities for designing Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. But the number of hours it would take to keep the relationships accurate could mean that you are seeing no return on investment. 

With a list of needs, goals, and limitations you are well on your way to finding the data system that works for your team.  

Review with Experts and Colleagues 

Next, it is time to translate your needs, goals, and limitations into database features. This is the part of the process where reaching out to experts and colleagues can be the most fruitful.  

For example, your organization may have identified Major donors as a huge focus. This could translate into a couple of different database options. Better tools for moves management, a way to track personal connections between major donors, or better tools for prospecting and identifying potential major donors are all useful options. Finding out which one of these tools will most benefit your process requires finding those that have experience with them.  

By networking with a wide variety of people on what they have found helpful you can expand your team's experience to include the experience of the sector. Highlighting what has worked for organizations like your own.  

Conferences provide an amazing space to do this. You will find many people asking the same questions you are. Additionally reaching out to consultants with experience across multiple organizations can provide distilled information that takes what works best from multiple sources.  

But either way creating a list of needs, goals, and limitations that you can clearly communicate to vendors allows you to avoid some of the biggest pitfalls in selecting a new database. Building on those internally defined criteria with external experience then helps you strengthen your experience with what has been learned by colleagues across the sector. 

If you have further questions regarding this journey reach out to our team of experts!