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  • 1.  CRM Recommendations

    Posted 4 days ago
    Hi,

    Does anyone have any recommendations for a good CRM to use?

    I work for a pretty small non-profit with a pretty small staff. Right now, all of our data for shops sales, membership, ticket sales, donations, vendor fees, etc. are in different places and we don't have great profiles for our donors/customers. It's becoming more difficult to analyze our data and stay organized. We're trying to reduce the number of platforms we use and focus on one better designed for fundraising and membership management.

    I've looked at a few different platforms and some of the most all-encompassing platforms are a little pricier, but a lot of the free or cheaper platforms seem to only target one of the needs. Please let me know if anyone has any recommendations.

    Thanks,
    Emily


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    Emily Ward

    Museum Co-Manager, Programs and Collections

    Ximenez-Fatio House Museum

    Office: 904-829-3575 ext.506

    www.ximenezfatiohouse.org



  • 2.  RE: CRM Recommendations

    Posted yesterday

    Hi Emily,

    I work at the El Paso Museum of Art in El Paso, Texas. We are part of a group of museums operated by the City, and we recently transitioned all of our museums to Doubleknot. We have been very happy with the change.

    Previously, EPMA was the only museum in our portfolio using a CRM. We had been using Altru by Blackbaud, which we found to be clunky, expensive, and primarily useful for memberships and class registrations.

    With Doubleknot, we've been able to consolidate several platforms into one system. We now manage memberships, class registrations, donations, sales, and email marketing through a single platform. It also includes a mailing tool similar to Constant Contact, which allowed us to eliminate several separate systems. Doubleknot also offers ticketing functionality, although we don't currently use that feature since admission to our museum is free.

    We are also in the process of implementing Doubleknot's tour reservation platform, which has been much easier to use and should significantly streamline our tour scheduling process.

    One of the things we've appreciated most is their implementation support. Their team works with you step by step throughout the training and onboarding process, making the transition much smoother.

    Having used Altru, Little Green Light, and now Doubleknot, I personally find Doubleknot to be the easiest and most intuitive of the three systems.

    I hope that helps! Please feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions about our experience.



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    Josephine Jimarez-Howard
    Community Engagement Coordinator
    El Paso Museum of Art
    El Paso TX
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  • 3.  RE: CRM Recommendations

    Posted 11 hours ago

    Hello!

    I'm not sure if this would be helpful for you but my team is also a small (but mighty) crew and handle most of our operations in house (no out-sourcing of contractors or freelancers, etc.) save for our bookkeeper. After multiple demos, we've landed on Bloomerang as the best CRM for us. It handles our membership, program ticketing, donations, and vendor fees. The only thing that doesn't live in Bloomerang is our shop merchandise (managed through Square). Bloomerang is also fairly user-friendly than other platforms, the team picked up on how to manage our different areas pretty quickly (ex. I handle ticketing as Program Manager, my colleague handles donations, fees, and membership, and our director reviews the analytics).  



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    Khamry Varfley MBA
    Curator and Program Manager
    Providence RI
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