Boosting Nonprofit CRM Adoption at Your Organization

You’ve invested in your CRM to streamline your nonprofit’s operations and help better execute on your mission. Great! But if your team is hesitant to use the system consistently, those benefits will remain out of reach. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry — you’re not alone! Let’s take a look at some common CRM roadblocks for nonprofits and practical steps for boosting nonprofit CRM adoption once implementation is completed.

Why Nonprofits Face Unique Adoption Challenges

Limited Resources: Smaller budgets and lean teams often mean less time and dedicated staff for in-depth training or ongoing support.

It’s Customized: Nonprofits often have long-standing (though perhaps inefficient) processes. It works for their specific needs, making the switch to new technology seem daunting.

Benefit isn’t Obvious: Team members may not see the immediate connection between your CRM and their day-to-day tasks.

Strategies for Success

Start with the “Why”

Don’t just tell your team to use your CRM; paint a picture of how it will make their lives easier and impact your mission as they use it more. Highlight success stories and real-life examples of how your CRM:

• Helps foster real connections with constituents
• Makes it simple to track and manage your work
• Gives real-time insights for better decision making

It’s Not Set in Stone

Be flexible! Regularly gather feedback and be willing to adapt processes and configurations within your CRM to better suit your team’s needs. By continuing your research and finding better ways to utilize the system, you’ll have more options for adapting. This shows your commitment and will foster a sense of ownership.

Training is Not a One-Time Event

Offer role-specific training sessions that focus on the features relevant to each team member. Make resources like short videos, cheat sheets, and a CRM “help desk” easily accessible for anyone currently in the organization or anyone new who may need them later. Refresh resources as the technology changes and you discover better ways to use it.

Find Your Champions

Identify tech-savvy, quick learners on your staff. Get them excited and empowered to be your CRM evangelists. Make sure they are first to know about new discoveries and improvements so they can pass the word. Peer encouragement can be invaluable for driving adoption.

Celebrate the Wins

Give shout-outs for your CRM success stories in meetings and group chats. Share how your CRM helped land that big grant or streamlined a tedious reporting process. Acknowledge the effort your staff is putting into embracing the change.

Know When to Get Help

Managing a CRM instance can easily be a full time job. If you’re wearing multiple hats at your organization it might not be realistic for you to function as a CRM admin at the level you’d like. That’s ok! It’s important to identify when to ask for help. There are partners like us at BackOffice Thinking who are here to help. Let us know!

Leadership Matters

Leaders set the tone. If management consistently uses your CRM and speaks positively about it, it goes a long way in encouraging the rest of the team to follow suit.

Wrapping Up

The journey to full CRM adoption takes time after implementation, but the payoff for your mission is worth it! With a focus on communication, a little help from your friends, and a celebratory spirit, you’ll transform skeptical users into passionate changemakers. We’re here to help with ongoing support. Contact us to talk about how we can help with adoption and managing your technology.