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What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

  • 1.  What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-01-2023 01:29 PM

    We are a small to mid-size cultural heritage organization with a (largely online) library and museum, which is free. We are looking for a new CRM system that can help manage donors, general audiences, limited event registration, and (hopefully) email marketing.

    I have seen past postings from as recently as December of 2021 but I was wondering if anyone has any new recommendations. We are considering Every Action, Charity Engine, Bloomerang, and Neon. Is anyone using any of these and could provide feedback on their experience? Also, we currently use MailChimp for our email marketing platform and are debating whether to keep it and have it integrate with our new CRM system or fully adopt whatever email platform is built into the CRM system we choose. Any insights, feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!



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    Tim Ternes
    Director of Programming
    Hill Museum and Manuscript Library
    Collegeville MN
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  • 2.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-02-2023 08:08 AM

    There are several options. PastPerfect is a collections database that includes a donor component. That said, our institution uses PastPerfect for collections information and uses Donor Perfect for the donor database.

     

    Ellen E. Endslow

    Director of Collections/Curator

    Chester County History Center

    225 N. High Street

    West Chester, PA  19380

    610-692-4066 x257

     

    Appointments for potential museum donations can be made on March 30, 31 and June 29, 30.

     

    Hybrid Book Discussions

    March 9 – William Still: The Underground Railroad and the Angel at Philadelphia by William C. Kashatus

    May 11 – Ida Tarbell: Portrait of a Muckraker by Kathleen Brady

    www.MyCCHC.org  for details

     




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-02-2023 09:56 AM

    Hubspot has a basic CRM platform that allows you to grow and expand from a database to marketing and sales. I found this one to be the easiest to learn how to use and integrate with outlook. Good Luck!



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    Megan Chusid
    Owner's Representative
    New York NY
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-02-2023 10:46 AM

    We just switched to Wild Apricot from Blackbaud's eTapestry. It was the best all-in-one platform for our small museum. It consists of our website, member / donor database, programs with the option to set attendance limits which was a key for us, as well as our email platform. We also considered Bloomerang which is really similar. We choose Wild Apricot because it had the option to set capacity limits on our programs. 

    WildApricot.com

    Good luck!

    Tamara Herring

    Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage

    MorrisHeritageCenter.org



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    Tamara Herring
    Executive Director
    Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage
    Ridgeland SC
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-02-2023 12:42 PM

    We're a mid-sized art museum, about $10M in operating size. We recently moved from Balckbaud to Tessitura. So far so good. We're using CatalogIt for collections management. That said, I don't think the two overlap and talk to one another. But the new website coming this year will hub them both together. I'm not sure if that helps at all, but good luck with your migration.



    ------------------------------
    Matthew Isble
    Exhibit Designer & Founder of MuseumTrade.org
    misble@crockerartmuseum.org
    Crocker Art Museum
    Sacramento CA
    misble@crockerartmuseum.org
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-02-2023 08:22 PM

    I'd recommend you at least consider Tessitura in your evaluation. We've seen several organizations with disjointed systems gain tremendous benefits with a unified CRM, ticketing, membership, fundraising, and email marketing platform.

    (Of course, it's entirely possible that Tessitura is too expensive -- but worth asking the question, at least.)

    Let me know if you need an introduction to someone there.



    ------------------------------
    Chris Steins
    Urban Insight
    https://www.urbaninsight.com/
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-03-2023 10:23 AM

    Thank you, Chris, and all of those who have responded. The advice is much appreciated. I have sent an inquiry to Tessitura and am waiting for a response. Our biggest concern is price but I agree it is worth exploring. Chris, if you have a contact at Tessitura who would be able to help us understand if it could be an option from a budgetary standpoint, I would welcome the introduction. 



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    Tim Ternes
    Director, The Saint John´s Bib
    Hill Museum and Manuscript Library
    Collegeville MN
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-03-2023 06:51 PM

    Hi @Tim Ternes

    I work with @Chris Steins and we'd be happy to introduce you to someone at Tessitura. Please feel free to email us at: skelly(at)urbaninsight.com and steins(at)urbaninsight.com and we'll make the connection.

    Have a great weekend.

    Thanks,

    Josh



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    Joshua Skelly MBA
    CEO
    Urban Insight
    Los Angeles CA
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-06-2023 10:47 AM

    Hi Tim,

    One other option I don't see mentioned that can do what you need & more is Veevart, which we switched to about 9 months ago. It handles fundraising, membership, ticketing, rentals, accounting, gift shop/pos, and integrates with Mailchimp. I believe it's a lower cost than Tessitura. Good luck!



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    Sean St. Marie
    Administrative Coordinator
    Emily Dickinson Museum
    Amherst MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 03-06-2023 01:41 PM

    A couple other options to look at would be Charityproud (https://www.charityproud.org/) and Salesforce (https://www.salesforce.org/nonprofit/). I'm happy to make an introduction on either. I'll note that Saleforce can seem a bit big, but it can do everything. Plus you get 10 seats for free as a nonprofit. They'll try to sell you add-ons, which you don't need. I'm also happy to talk through the decision making process if you like.



    ------------------------------
    Patrick Larkin
    Consultant
    York SC
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 16 days ago

    Hi Tim! I came on here with the exact same question and it was nice to see a familiar name :-) I am curious which CRM/POS system you went with? And if you would recommend that system now that you've used it for a bit? -- Catherine Shotick 



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    Catherine Shotick
    Director
    Westerly Museum of American Impressionism
    Westerly RI
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 13 days ago

    Hello, Catherine.  It is great to also see a familiar name.  I sent you a direct reply sharing what system we purchased and how things are going. 

     

    Tim Ternes
    HMML




    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 16 days ago

    Hi Tim,

    I am more than happy to discuss how our MIT (Museum Innovation Technology) Platform might be able to assist. It's the only all-in-one solution out there. With over 60 different features, you can have the system tailored exactly to your needs. 

    Best, 



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    Jovan Harmon
    BDM
    Hidonix Inc.
    Milano
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: What's the perfect CRM for a mid-sized cultural heritage organization?

    Posted 13 days ago
    Edited by Richard Osgood 13 days ago

    Tim, 

    Our team would highly recommend DONOR VIEW.  It's spectacular for tracking donors - far superior in doing searches and histories than our previous platform, and much less expensive. It can also do your e-mail newsletters, event ticketing, tracking volunteer time (they can log in to do if you wish) and some smaller online auctions.  I am sure it can do far more than I am familiar with.. but as CEO of a smaller museum (budget $1.5M, 90K annual guests) - I just know when we left that 'industry standard platform' we saved money and became far more nimble in tracking and interacting with our donors, members and volunteers. One of the best moves we've made in the last half dozen years. 

    Home | DonorView - The Ultimate Nonprofit Management Software

    Good luck! 



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    Richard Osgood
    President & CEO 
    Door County Maritime Museum - Sturgeon Bay
    Sturgeon Bay WI
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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