276. Donor Data Matters: How to Rock Your Next CRM Implementation at Your Organization - Chris Campbell

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Overview

Meet Chris. This former major gift officer turned leader of data integrity at the OSU Foundation is talking through the org's CRM Implementation and what a project of this scale entails. This Project Director for the successful implementation of a comprehensive advancement CRM went live in January, and we're chatting preparations, team involvement, and why communication is the bedrock of a successful launch.
 

💡Learn

  • Early research & how to find the right platform

  • How to staff up & plan for a project of this size

  • Implementation tips & myths dispelled

  • How to maximize the data that’s already in your CRM


     

Today’s Guest

Chris Campbell, Senior Associate Vice President of Information Strategy, OSU Foundation

We can’t reach out to people and find what they’re passionate about if we can’t connect with them. And that really is kind of the heart of having a modern CRM.
— Chris Campbell, Senior Associate Vice President of Information Strategy, OSU Foundation

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode highlights

  • Chris’s story and journey to where he is today (4:30)

  • Overview of CRMs (9:45)

  • Beginning to find the right platform + technology for your organization (12:00)

  • Get to know the market, and get to know yourself as an organization (16:00)

  • The process of migrating donor data (21:00)

  • 4 tracks of data migration and implementation of a new CRM (23:00)

  • Maximizing the data that is already in your CRM (25:00)

  • A powerful moment of philanthropy in Chris’s life (28:00)

  • Chris’s One Good Thing: Every business is a people business. (31:00)

powerful quotes

“Someone early on told me if you're comfortable, you're not learning, you're not growing. And so that kind of pushed me into take some of these opportunities.” -Chris

“A lot of people have the question of, can we afford it? Can you afford not to do it?” -Chris

“The core tenet for me for a CRM is really having a 360 degree view of the people that love your institution.” -Chris

“We can't reach out to people and find what they're passionate about if we can't connect with them. And that really is kind of the heart of having a modern CRM.” -Chris

“We were kind of affordable at a luxury of kind of knowing and having a little bit more of a runway.” -Chris

“To me, it's really just about talking and getting out and meeting your peers and the partners in the space and really having those conversations and then starting to hone in.” -Chris

“Step one outside of getting to know the market is get to know yourself.” -Chris

“Don't just focus on the technology, focus on these companies and the people at these companies. I will tell you some of our most most important decisions, were as much about what we saw and heard and dealing with these organizations that were possible vendors as what the technology could do.” -Chris

“There's the customizing the CRM to best fit what your organization looks like, but then there's the bringing over 60 years or however old the OSU Foundation is now. Folks have data. And I think to me, that's what feels most overwhelming.” -Jon

“One track was the functional implementation, right? Configuring the platform, those sprints so we hit it was an agile project, we use the agile methodology to implement this this solution. Those Sprint's were not led by technical members, they were led by functional end users.” -Chris

“it clearly comes down to leadership and communication. But breaking this project into those Sprint's and those workflows.” -Chris

“The first step and really understanding what data you do have and whether or not it's good and whether or not is valuable is to begin to report on it.” -Chris

“Data or information by itself is nothing, but taking it and using it strategically to make business decisions to make your work better, is the whole point.” -Chris

Questions to talk through 👇

  1. What's the size of your database?

  2. How many constituents?

  3. What other platforms are you integrating with?

  4. Are you using a marketing an email to a marketing automation tool?

  5. Do you have a data warehouse?

Questions to get to know yourself 👇

  1. What do you have?

  2. What's your stack right now?

  3. Where do you need to go to?

4 Tracks of Data Migration and Implementation of a New CRM 👇

  1. Functional Implementation

  2. Technical Sprint

  3. Integration Sprint

  4. Reporting or Business Intelligence Sprint

connect with Chris

LinkedIn

connect with oklahoma state foundation

Website / Instagram

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Chris Campbell, OSU Foundation, We Are For Good Podcast

Julie Confer, Becky Endicott, Jonathan McCoy & Chris Campbell

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Chris Campbell, OSU Foundation, CRM Implementation, We Are For Good Podcast
Chris Campbell, OSU Foundation, CRM Implementation, We Are For Good Podcast
Chris Campbell, OSU Foundation, CRM Implementation, We Are For Good Podcast
Chris Campbell, OSU Foundation, CRM Implementation, We Are For Good Podcast
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