Philip King featured on Frogloop

Frogloop recently published an interview with Artez’s Philip King – someone we’re quite big fans of:
Nonprofit CRM Trends Plus How to Choose an eCRM

On choosing an eCRM, Philip’s advice is to make the following considerations:

• “Ask about [the vendor's] client retention rate: I think this is key.”
• “Understand what their total cost/dollar will be this year, and for the next few years. When I say ‘total cost’ be sure you’re getting not just the prices of the technology, but also any consulting or professional services you’ll need to include.”
• “Make sure you are talking not just to references who are using their solution, but also references who have left their solution.” [Ed. note: This is a good one! -- i On Nonprofits] 
• “Understand what happens if for any reason the nonprofit wants to switch vendors in the future.”
• “Understand who owns the data. Make your potential vendor prove they are open to data imports and exports without having to purchase expensive additional APIs.”
• “Ask about their throughput: how many transactions per second can they handle.”
• “Ask about security: are they PCI Compliant (you can look this up on Wikipedia), and if so what level?”

The rest of the interview is also a great read, in which Philip discusses how to measure the effectiveness of online fundraising, which are the biggest tech trends he’s seeing on the horizon, and more.

What we’re reading, week of 6/9

From nonprofitCRM.org…
When is a good time to start a CRM project?
This is an interesting chart, applying the Organizational Lifecycle Model to the adoption of CRM by nonprofits. Anand Sethupathy describes each of the lifecycle stages and the outlook for CRM projects undertaken within them. this is worth a look – is there a better or worse time to implement a CRM system? If so, does this post accurately describe it?

From Step-by-Step Fundraising…
Recession Proof Fundraising
Anisha Robinson Keeys writes about steps nonprofits can take to protect their donation streams during a harsh economic climate. Are these steps necessary? I recall a conversation with Philip and Shane at Artez where they were both confident that a recession would not impact charitable giving at nearly the level that people are worried about, so I’d be interested to hear what they have to say in response to this post.

From The Raiser’s Razor…
Philanthropassion Contest
Jeremy Gregg is offering prizes, charitable gifts, and free publicity to whomever can offering the best answer to the question, “What drives your philanthropassion?” Check the blog for details, and state your case! Readers are already discussing their own responses in the comments section.

What we’re reading, week of 5/28

From Giving in a Digital World…
Online Fundraising and the Hype Cycle
Very interesting post exploring the hype cycle of technology adoption (as laid out by Gartner) applied to online fundraising. Do you think this is an accurate model? Bryan makes a few speculations about where specific technologies lie on the cycle right now. If this model is accurate, is his assessment correct? Could different sectors, geographical regions, or demographics be experiencing different parts of the cycle for these technologies?

From NonprofitCRM.org…
What does a CRM Implementation cost?
A blogger from the nonprofit arm of Salesforce outline the different areas of expense organizations need to consider in order to arrive at the total cost of ownership for their chosen CRM. Anand, the blogger, is looking for commenters to contribute to this list of considerations: “If you are a CRM consultant or have done a CRM project for your organization, please shout out some of the other major cost factors you have faced in the implementation process.”

From NTEN…
Sharing is Caring, but it’s Also Hard: Why Your Audience Won’t Comment on Your Blog
The situation is not as gloomy as Holly suggests! She does raise some interesting points, though – for the non-”digital natives,” the nuances of holding a public conversation can change a community member’s mind about participating in discussion online. She offers several strategies for organizations to make it easier for their donors and members to engage in the social web.