Evaluating A CRM
Webinar
Managing a nonprofit community center, like a YMCA or JCC, involves various complex tasks — from membership management and child care programming to fitness programs and fundraising. Given the multitude of responsibilities, choosing the most effective membership management software is a pivotal decision. YMCA administrators require robust and reliable tools that can streamline operations, enhance member engagement, and simplify day-to-day management.
While there are many CRM solutions for membership management to choose from, each has its own set of features that makes it unique in the marketplace. The key is to align with a solution that empowers your organization—a comprehensive platform designed to streamline your daily operations today and adapt alongside you as you grow.
But first, what exactly is a CRM? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, a system designed to handle all interactions and relationships between your YMCA and its constituents—breaking the siloed barriers of who they are or how much they interact with your community center.
Traction Rec is the leading CRM solution in the nonprofit recreational management space and is built on the Salesforce platform, the world’s #1 CRM. It is an all-encompassing program and member management software solution that streamlines the everyday operations of a YMCA, JCC, or any recreational center.
Membership management software is the system used to store, manage, and interpret your organization’s member data. While the word “membership” is used, community centers like YMCAs and JCCs include people beyond their traditional annual paying members in their operational planning. Having a full 360-degree view of constituents—with a single source of truth—is critical to the health and future of an organization’s long-term growth.
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“Constituent”: a definition
A constituent is anyone who interacts with your organization. YMCAs refer to this group as a “member community.” Constituents can include annual members, donors, volunteers, program participants and registrants or anyone else engaged with your organization.
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Yes. And you want it to. Gone are the days of your different teams keeping track of each individual member through separate spreadsheets or systems. Your business teams may want to use different tools, but your CRM should integrate all of those tools together and provide a single, centralized view of a member. A CRM solution will keep your operations streamlined and efficient because you'll have all the information you need in one place.
How many places would you have to currently make an email address update for an individual? If the answer is two or more places, your current system is hindering you—not helping you.
In today’s automated marketplace, consumers expect a high level of service. If a member requests an email address update, they expect that change to be reflected throughout your system. But if it’s only changed in your database—and they’re still getting marketing emails—they may lose trust in your brand. Even worse, imagine this happening with a major donor's contact info. You wouldn’t want them wondering if their donation was being handled with the same inefficiencies.
And let’s address security here. With data regulations constantly changing, many jurisdictions now require you to be able to hide or completely remove a customer's data if requested. How confident are you that your current system could support that? If you’re not confident that you could fulfill this need—it’s just one of many features you should be looking for when upgrading your membership management software.
In short, it should have everything to allow your organization to run smoothly. This includes any of the day-to-day tasks and bigger picture operations:
Membership and program registration
Office management
Customer management
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Your CEO asks, "How many leads did we have in the last 30 days, and how many of them joined the fitness center, signed up for camp or enrolled in preschool?" What would you say?
Old you (and most people): “I’ll look into that and get you those numbers right away!” Meanwhile… sends off a flurry of emails to various departments. Takes a swig of coffee desperately hoping someone comes back with some semblance of an accurate guess.
New you: “You’ll notice on the dashboard that we had X leads in the last month. Here they are segmented by days, weeks, and activities. With most of these leads signing up on Tuesdays, I’d say our free muffin promotion is working well. Perhaps we could try donuts next month? I’ll email you this report right now.”
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And boom goes the dynamite. You’ve just been promoted.
This is an example of prospect management using member management software but really, any of your processes—including program management and others—can be handled in the same way. Having a real time view of all your operations in one place will evolve your organization into a true data-driven agency.
If you haven't looked at new software for several years, start by thinking about what’s changed in your business. Are your old processes still relevant to your new way of serving members? What’s working, and what do you need to update or change? What has changed in the last couple years that your current software can no longer support? These are some of the questions that will get you on track to finding the right solution.
Need a nudge? Check out more on Crafting your digital strategy: A blueprint for YMCAs and nonprofits. Having a list of these requirements will guide you in choosing the best membership management software for your organization.
Once you know what you need to run your organization well, take a look at what you’re currently doing:
If these questions start to overwhelm, that’s ok! This is often a very large technology initiative and you’ll want a team of experts to work alongside you. Which brings us to…
One of the most important things to think about is who do you want to work with? The team behind the software is just as important as the software itself. You want to be confident that every individual—from sales to development—stands behind their product with confidence in its features and functionality.
These folks should be collaborative partners in your adoption of a CRM solution, recognizing that your success is mutually beneficial. The easiest way to find out if a company aligns with your organization is to ask about their values and whether they’ve had successful partnerships with similar organizations. Still unsure? Talk to their customers.
Pro tip when interviewing potential technology partners. Ask them about their favorite newly-released features. Their answers will give you a sense of how innovative their solution is, and it might also inspire you to make some process updates.
A final consideration (for now): your technology should improve regularly and deliver more value to you in year three of your relationship than it did in year one. Look for solutions and partners that have consistent new releases (ideally multiple times per year) and dedicated innovation teams that develop and test new products.
Once you’ve taken a deep dive into your existing technology, mapped out your business requirements, analyzed your software options, and put your trust in a collaborative partner, it’s time to commit to all the due diligence you’ve invested.
Ultimately, choosing the best membership management software is about envisioning what will make life easier for everyone at your unique organization. Change is hard but you’ve done most of the research already so we know you’ve got this. Now let's talk about maximizing impact and building your technology roadmap for your YMCA's success.
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