Introduction to CRM & CMS

What are these letters? Constituent Relationship Management Use CRM to track and contact your campaign’s supporters. Content Management System Use a CMS to edit your Web site without a lot of tricky coding.

CRM: Relationship Management Single online place for supporter tools. Send (bulk and targeted). Fundraising & contribution processing. Event planning, calendars, RSVPs. Petition signature drives, list growth. Letter writing to local reps & news outlets. Track the sources of incoming supporters. Sometimes includes a CMS (more later).

CRM: Exactly Who and What  Adding members in bulk.  Setting up Web signup forms.  Pulling lists.  Producing fundraising reports.  Tracking list growth and sources.  Maintaining membership lists.  Grouping members as volunteer, constituencies, super-volunteers.  Working online presences into field plan. Typical Tasks...

Look & Feel of CRM

Screenshots of CRMs

Stuff from your CRM… …suddenly appears on your Web site.

Smells Like Content Management Some parts of a CRM system can be like a cms

CMS: Content Management Easy way of building new Web pages. Only use basic HTML. Keep page content separate from design. Content is stored in a database. Automatically build indexes of pages. Non-technical staff can make updates. Page templates run the show. Almost kinda sorta like a blog.

CMS: What and How  It takes some time to get everything setup and looking pretty.  Be aware of your CMS before you design your site (or be ready to make compromises).  As you design pages, think of the worst possible scenarios that can come from database-supplied content (long titles, character sets, etc.).  Learn some CSS.  The best sites mix database driven content with good old hand-coding. Worth noting... Tons of Open Source options. Could be part of a CRM package. Build your own. Use blog software as your CMS.

CRM & CMS: Pros Complicated programming done by someone else. Proven software (cough, cough). Quickly handle reporting requests. Security. All functinality and data are in one place. PERFEC T!

CRM & CMS: Cons Can be expensive. Usually requires a few days startup time. Can be tricky to merge some tools with design of your existing Web site. Could be difficult to combine CRM database with existing campaign database. All functionality and data are in one place.

CRM & CMS Your questions Our amusing stories

CRM & CMS By: Aaron Myers & Judith Freeman