Post on 30-Aug-2018
transcript
Agony & Ecstasy: Switching To New Online Fundraising Software
Clinton O'Brien Chief Operating Officer Engaging Networks
Jen Maceyko Client Services Director Firefly Partners
Walid Haddad Director, Development Operations Human Rights Watch
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What We Really Think:
- Plenty of Ecstasy
- Not so much Agony
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Purpose eCRM migration case study
Knowledge sharing & preparedness
Outcome Successful eCRM migration
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E-mail Broadcasts (e-newsletters, e-solicitations)
E-mail Signup
Donation Forms
Event/Dinner Registration Forms
Petitions
What is an eCRM? (Online Customer Relationship Management)
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Ease of Use
Friendly user experience
Flexible
Non-US centric/ International
Support
Why a new eCRM?
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Items to consider before migrating!
Who is going to use it?
Ease of use
Staff/Expertise
Support
Migration Support
Migration Schedule
Work continues
Backup System
Cost/Budget
Learning curve
& training period
Stay Focused
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Identify Stakeholders & Form a committee
Stakeholders Survey
Request For Proposal (RFP)
Review 6 RFPs, identify 3 for demonstration
Select the eCRM Vendor
eCRM Selection Process
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Phase I Nov. – Dec.
Identify your Stakeholders
Conduct a Survey
Draft an RFP
Migration Budget Approval
Phase II Jan. - Feb.
Identify eCRM Vendors
Send RFP
Phase III March - April
Review RFPs
Select 3 vendors for Interview & Demonstration
Select Finalist
Phase IV May - June
Selection Timeline
Contract Vetting & Negotiation
Sign Contract
Identify Consultant/Help
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Phase I July - Sept.
Strategize
Audit
Roles & Responsibilities
Timeline & Go Live
Merchant Processors
Database Cleanup
Phase II Oct. - Dec.
Import Database
Learn the tool
USD Donation Form
Email Template (newsletter)
Phase III Jan. - March
Int’l Donation Forms
More E-mail Templates
Connector w/ Database
Phase IV April
Migration Timeline
Archive Old eCRM
Monthly Sustainers Migration
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Identify primary decision maker(s)
Develop project plan A, B, and C
Expect unknowns
Assess, understand, adjust
Let people talk to each other
Migration (Project) Management
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Asked them about their experience of
selecting and migrating to new eCRM
software
Nine responses (n = 9)
All migrated to Engaging Networks
within the last 18 months
Survey of Engaging Networks clients
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Question 1:
Did you allocate enough time for selection & migration?
Allocated justenough time
Did not allocateenough time
Allocated moretime thanneeded
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Question 2:
What were the biggest challenges you encountered?
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Migrating data
Migrating live pages to new platform
Integration w/ another database
Selecting new software
OTHER
Creating new templates, building pages
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Quality Assurance (“QA”) – needing to test things before
they go live
Working through internal barriers, and transitional issues
Needed to figure out legal implications of operating in
different countries
Turned out we could not migrate some items such as
email reports from our old eCRM
Question 2:
What were the biggest challenges you encountered? (The four “Other” responses)
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Heeded consultant’s advice to pick software providing flexibility, to create fields as we dreamed them up
Set detailed requirements for integrating with our primary database
Created a thorough RFP that asked detailed questions of all vendors
Invited several providers in early, to see a wide range of capabilities
Did deep research on all alternative databases. We decided that ability to sync easily w/ Raiser’s Edge was our most important criterion
Made a huge chart to compare what each vendor could offer, for each feature
Significantly reduced our cost to send emails to supporters
Question 3: What went well during software selection process? (Things that our nonprofit did right)
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Did not make our detailed requirements fully understood
Did not spend enough time documenting our marketing needs for in-
depth reporting – this would have enabled us to set up our systems a bit
more intentionally
The time from RFP to implementation was painful
We had too many requirements at first and needed to scale back to
what was actually reasonable and within our budget
Did not realize that EN has such great capacity for developing custom
features, but thought it was more “plug-n-play” than it actually is
Question 4: What did NOT go so well during software selection process? (Things we did wrong or poorly)
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Took it slowly. One page at a time
Developed a content inventory and prioritized it
Gave ourselves a long time for process – double what was suggested
Hired a consultant to help with migrating. A definite plus and a must. Also we kept our old eCRM running as a backup
We did not rush it
We took advantage of training classes on the individual features
Utilized Josh Miller (Client Support Director); he’s a wealth of knowledge
Spent time with Charles Garner, our main Client Support contact
Question 5: What went well during software migration? (Things that our nonprofit did right)
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Exported data out of FirstClass, which is an email software.
It would not export all fields or categories that we used. This
required weeks of extra effort and workarounds. We never
did get it all
Did not allocate enough of our resources
It was difficult to stay on top of QA, and to ensure very
thorough QA of the key pieces before iterating them
Question 6: What did NOT go so well during software migration? (Things we did wrong, or poorly)
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A few items in our internal process that lingered on
months after migration was complete
Lack of staff to see the project through. Not enough
leadership, consultants and plain old help to make this
major change less stressful
I wasn't as involved as I could have been to verify all data
was migrated correctly with existing fields. Plus we
changed administrators at the end of the selection
process, just before the implementation process started
Question 6: What did NOT go so well during software migration? (Things we did wrong or poorly) - cont’d
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Delegate to a tech expert. Don't do it yourself. The learning curve is too
steep
Make sure that whoever is “in charge” is full-time on the project until
completion. Trying to fit it in with your regular (or expanded) workload
leads to not enough attention paid to either one
Take time internally to inventory your current systems and document your
needs and wants. Then resource the migration properly. Take the
opportunity to clean up bad data and build a robust sync. Have fun!
Make sure you are very clear about your reasons for switching software,
and check with three users of the new software to confirm that it really
meets your goals
Question 7: What is your biggest piece of advice for nonprofits considering switching software?
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Do your homework. Make sure you know what the software needs to do,
and ask questions about each platform to make an informed decision
Give yourself ample time. Make sure there are dedicated staff (more than
two people) to make it happen. Make sure your leadership is involved
Take your time in making a decision, be inclusive, and listen to opinions
and suggestions from all stakeholders
Discuss it with industry peers. Everyone will give you their 2 cents on
which platform is best. The one you choose may be unexpected
Make sure that you have a complete data map of all your existing data
and you know exactly how it should be mapped to the new system
Question 7: What is your biggest piece of advice for nonprofits considering switching software? Cont’d
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Our standard onboarding timeline is 11 weeks.
Many clients go over that, but we've done other
on-boardings in as little as three weeks. The
clients who on-board faster are the ones who
have had a lot of internal discussions in
advance, figuring out which data they want to
move over and assigning roles in the process.
Even before choosing our software, they've
asked us which payment gateways we integrate
with -- and started to figure out which gateway to
pick (if they need to change to a new one). I
highly recommend doing the internal research in
advance. It takes time, sure, but it's going to
take time no matter when you do it. Better to
take that time before you start implementing the
our software.
Advice from Amanda Foster
Director of Account Services Engaging Networks
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It's never too early to starting thinking
about data. Things like …Do you want to
bring over previous transactional data?
Or just static data? Is the data clean? Do
I want to keep records of former
supporters who have unsubscribed?
Thinking about those things will help
make the process go more smoothly.
Advice from Josh Miller
Director of Client Support Engaging Networks
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Q & A
Agony & Ecstasy: Switching To New Online Fundraising Software
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Agony & Ecstasy: Switching To New Online Fundraising Software
Clinton O'Brien Chief Operating Officer Engaging Networks email: clint@engagingnetworks.net
Jen Maceyko Client Services Director Firefly Partners email: jenm@fireflyparnters.com t: @fireflypartners
Walid Haddad Director, Development Operations Human Rights Watch email: haddadw@hrw.org t: @WalidGHaddad