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Advice on basic (free?) CRM for developing small organisation (CivicRM?)

Mick Patrick Founding member at Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative - BANZAI Posted 3 years ago

I'm involved in getting an organisation started in Edinburgh (Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative - BANZAI) which is developing among a group of interested locals, not yet at the stage of being incorporated in any way. BANZAI is itself spinning out of strengthening an existing loose collaborative group of neighbours in a particular area of streets (email and WhatsApp and Facebook groups).

As we get bigger the challenge of managing records of supporters and everything else going on is presenting itself. Shared spreadsheets / Google account / Mailchimp only go so far.

It's been suggested that we look around to see what's available in the way of some kind of (free) CRM system for non-profit / charitable groups. A team member mentioned CivicRM (in the context of having used it a number of years ago and finding it unwieldy at the time, but wondering if it's more mature now).

Is CivicRM free at any level?
Is it well regarded and supported?
What other systems should we be looking at ?

Any advice much appreciated.

Regards,

Mick

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Hywel Watts Staff PANEL

Business Analyst at various IT/CRM consulting roles 3 years ago

I did a LinkedIn Article for something similar where the first paragraph briefly covers "bespoke v managed services" which is something to consider for initial cost/efforts.

Donorfy does a free version (with some limitations) and there are also products like CiviCRMSpark that might be worth investigating or having a demo to see how you would get on with the system.

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Vicky Allsop Staff PANEL

Business Support Manager at Together Dementia Support 3 years ago

It might be worth looking at Microsoft Access if you really are small, you might need to find a tech person willing to support with the initial build (maybe talk to your local volunteers centre/VCSE support service and see if they can help - might be good to meals contacts with them anyway if you are new to the voluntary sector!).

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Lawrance Titterton Staff PANEL

CEO at NGO Business Services 3 years ago

Hi have implemented Salesforce for many small charities with the 10 free licenses that are offered. It is particularly good for growing charities because it has a lot of functionality that you may want at a future date. As mentioned elsewhere on the thread, it is not straight forward to set up out-of-the-box, but there is a great deal of free online support available.

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Monica Mihai Staff PANEL

Communications and Engagement Officer at Anna Freud Centre 3 years ago

Have you looked into Airtable? It's free as long as none of your bases contain more than 1,200 records and 2GB of attachments, and quite intuitive to use. It's also not officially a CRM but fulfills most of the same functions as a CRM.

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Luke Penwald Staff PANEL

Corporate Partnerships Manager at Hillingdon Hospitals Charity 3 years ago

My, my. There are a number of conversations in progress on this subject both here and elsewhere. I work for a tiny NHS charity and I'm also tasked with looking into this at the moment. I've used other CRMs before but we have similar budget restraints as you. We are leaning towards the free version of Donorfy. If you search them on YouTube you will find a really useful couple of introductory videos there but I've also spoken to them and found them very helpful.

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Zishan Hussain Staff PANEL

Participant, Consultant & Volunteer at Straight Path 3 years ago

Salesforce NPSP (Non profit success pack) is fab and free albeit quite basic OOB. Very powerful platform to expand on into though as the worlds market leading CRM but the free licences are for registered charities.

Donorfy is good alternative and Zoho CRM is an option too.

Salesforce would be the way to go if you plan to register and expand. It's a very competitve space and I wouldn't bother with anything old school as you'll hit limitations soon enough.

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Martin Thompson Staff PANEL

Director at MAST ICT 3 years ago

Hi Mick,

I suggest you have a look at the free version of Donorfy. You can store up to 500 people and organisations at no cost whatsoever.

It doesn't have all the features of the pro version, but it has still lots of good capabilities, including integration with Mailchimp.

You could be up and running in minutes - see https://donorfy.com/pricing

Martin.

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Pam Robinson Staff PANEL

CEO at Change of Scene 3 years ago

Salesforce have a free option for NFP and charities. We're just starting to implement it so can't tell you much more but I have heard many good things about it

Pam

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Bari Pollard Staff PANEL

Databses Manager at GMCVO Databases 3 years ago

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Hi Mick,

CiviCRM is Open Source and is free to download. However it does require certain server specifications and a level of technical knowledge to set it all up, which isn't free. For example hosting costs can be between £50-£100 per month and implementation fees can start from £2000 and run a lot higher depending on the level of support you need. However it does do a lot and can manage most areas of your business.

There is a much more affordable hosted version called CiviCRM Spark https://civicrm.org/spark which is around $15 per month for a Service as a Solution offering. Worth trying this out if you are interested. Not tied into any long term contracts etc.

If you do want a chat I am happy to help.

Cheers

Bari

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