Customer Story:
Vision Foundation
Saving on valuable resources and significantly improving donor relationship processes with Charity CRM
Vision Foundation is London’s leading sight loss charity, supporting the city’s most suitable projects for both blind and partially sighted people. Since being initially established as ‘The Greater London Fund for the Blind’ in 1921, Vision Foundation have contributed more than £30million to sight loss organisations that work to inform, include, and empower London’s visually impaired community.
Focused on their mission, the organisation has now opted to switch their database system to Access Charity CRM. Chris Sutton, Database Manager for Vision Foundation, details how this decision has enabled them to make the most of their data, while simplifying their day-to-day donor relationship management tasks.
Access Charity CRM
Key takeaways
- Saved on time and costs
- Ability to upload files in bulk
- Clear data insight across all departments
- Ability to make informed decisions
- Can manage all data within a central location
- Positive experience with the Support team
What challenges were faced?
Prior to Vision Foundation switching to Charity CRM, they had been undergoing a merger with ‘Fight For Sight’. The challenge? Fight For Sight were using a dated version of Raiser’s Edge, a server-based solution that took up physical office space, in addition to incurring costs for the required hardware and maintenance costs.
“The main advantage of Charity CRM over the solution we had at ‘Fight for Sight’ was that it was a modern application in the cloud and ‘Fight for Sight’ was operating with a much older version of Raiser’s Edge.
The fact that we had two different charities, one which was operating with a modern cloud-based solution versus one which used an old, server-based solution made the decision quite easy to opt for the modern option.
What impact did this have?
Since making the decisive switch to Charity CRM, Vision Foundation has been able to see a clear distinction between a server-based solution in comparison to a cloud approach. They have therefore been able to reap the benefits of a cloud-based system that is hosted by Access; cutting down costs, freeing up valuable time, while taking unnecessary stress away from the team.
“Having the server-based solution meant that we had to have an area of the office dedicated to host the server. We also had the costs associated with maintaining that server. It was basically taking up a meeting room.
“In addition to the physical hardware, we also had to pay our IT partner to maintain the server with upgrades and general support. Running Charity CRM in the cloud means that we don't have any of those concerns. It sits in the cloud, with Access' job ensuring that it runs efficiently.
Running Charity CRM in the cloud has simplified all of our worries and concerns, while allowing us to concentrate on fundraising rather than looking after a piece of hardware. Also, we’re now able to turn the server room into a meeting room!
Which features have been highlights?
I’ve been particularly impressed with the bulk data tool facility. This tool allows me to update and insert records into the CRM in bulk, and that's particularly useful when it comes to integrating information such as flow of data payments, contacts, and consents from external data sources. You tend to have a lot of this information in any organisation, but especially in a charity.
“I’ve also been impressed by the flexibility and dynamism of Charity CRM’s data tools as we base most of our operations around the data tool interface. This allows us to put procedures in place to prepare files that we can then upload and bulk into Charity CRM. And as you can imagine, this saves a substantial amount of time and removes human error altogether, which helps us to increase the accuracy of our data.”
What advantages has Access Charity CRM offered?
One of the main advantages has been the ability to share data around the organisation to make sure that we're not working in silos. For example, if a donor contact comes into one part of the organisation, it can be flagged to a staff member from another part of the organisation – enabling us to work out connections between organisations and donors, and even donors and donors.
“But the main advantage is that we’re now able to have up-to-date information relating to all of our donors and payments. This is a real advantage when you're talking to donors or wish to make informed decisions by viewing your strategies and past actions.
“We're then able to share this information around our team members, allowing us to ‘data mine’ it by looking for opportunities that lie underneath the surface. For example, if someone pops up and subscribes to our newsletter, who has got an email address that belongs to a company, and a corporate which might be on the other side of the database, then we're able to write reports and ‘mine’ that data to try and link those two together.
“We can then say ‘hey, that newsletter sign up will go into the individual Giving team, but we want to alert the corporate fundraisers too’. This means that we can stay on top of this by acknowledging these sign-ups as and when they occur.”
What would be the impact of not having Charity CRM in place?
If we had a less accessible CRM, then we wouldn’t be able to experience these advantages. Our information wouldn’t be as up-to-date, and our team’s time would be focused on data-admin tasks, rather than those related to fundraising.
What are your favourite Charity CRM features?
What I’m keen to make the most out of is Charity CRM’s streamlined functionality. Previously, we would have exported data from the CRM into Excel, made our data cuts, and then imported it back into the system.
"Now we are able to do this within a central location, which will inevitably speed up our processes, while making our practices consistent across the board. We’re now in the process of getting into the habit of engaging with the features and functionality within the CRM itself."
How would you like to see AI implemented in Charity CRM?
“I think the main area for AI assistance would be where data mining is concerned.
“It would be great if AI could look into the propensity of our donors to see if there are any patterns within the data where it could detect the traits that lead to someone leaving a legacy, or at least inquiring about a legacy. So, it would be a case of asking AI to look at information such as donor profiles, their giving patterns, and their geographic demographics, and pinpointing who would be the most suitable to include for a respective campaign.”
Would you recommend Access Charity CRM?
Yes, I certainly would! I've really benefitted from working closely with my Customer Success Manager, but more importantly, I found the Support team to be really effective.
“I think when you're working with any sort of software, the support is key to making sure you can solve your problems and understand something that you may struggle to understand. One of best experiences I've had with Access, and especially with the Charity CRM team, is the working relationship we’ve had with the Support team. I’ve particularly been impressed by the speed in which they solved our queries."
Do you have any advice for other charities who are thinking about working with Access?
“There are two main points I would emphasise.
“Firstly, make sure that you're making use of the data tools and fully understanding how they can really help your charity, especially those bulk upload tools. Instead of trying to use a power drill to nail in a nail, leverage both the Customer Success and Support team to fully understand the system and make the most out of what you’re paying for!
“It's worth either getting the staff on board or making sure you leverage your Customer Success Manager and the Support team to ensure you're using some of those features.”