Systems Run the Work: CRMs
Databases are about two things. They hold a true record of every gift and they give you reports you can trust. When either one breaks, fundraising feels it first.
The Pattern.
The move to the new system was supposed to be done months ago. The old one is still running every day, because the new one is not ready. The two systems do not agree on how many donors you have. The person who knew where everything lived has left, and the vendor answers in words your team cannot act on. Year-end is coming and no one wants to make the call.
What we Take Out FirSt.
We slow the rush to go live. Moving in the busiest giving season puts every gift at risk, so we set a date the team can make. We stop the freeze until the data is right, because a final export locks in whatever is wrong right now. We fix what came over wrong at the source, like donor preferences that changed in the move. We settle what a donor level means before anyone re-codes a single record.
What we build
- Record rules your team follows, written down
- Cleanup of duplicates and old data, done by us
- A check that what moved over matches what you had
- Reports that match your audited numbers by fiscal year, with lapsed and returning donors tested
- Giving pages that land gifts in the right place
- Guides and training for the person who will own the system next
One voice talks to the vendor, so your team does not have to.
Erin Peshoff is the Founder of Vivid Operational Advisors. She has spent thirty years inside nonprofit operations, helped raise over $100 million for institutional missions, and built Vivid around the operating discipline most strategic engagements skip.
