As the financial turmoil continues to effect people and businesses, Charities need to work increasly hard to ensure that they maintain their income levels in order to keep funding their projects and helping those in need. The most cost effective way to do this is to ensure that the relationship with existing supporters is maintained effectively. Unfortunately, a lot of charities have silos of information about their supporters which are not cross-referenced. For example, a charity might store information about somebody who wrote to their MP in support of one of their campaigns, totally separately to someone who gave on on-line, separately to someone who made a donation by post to someone who volunteered time.

This approach misses the fact that someone who has volunteered time, might also be willing to write to their PM or make a small donation. It also means that charities can't recognise their supporters adequately. I personally have had a number of standing orders setup with charities for years and at least two have never even sent me a Christmas e-mail to say thank you for my contribution. Obviously, one doesn't give to a charity for the recognition. However, it is a lot easier to stop giving to a charity that only ever takes one's money with no other communication. One chairty that I give to, Shelter, does ocassionally phone me up to say thank you although a main part of the conversation is to ask if I can give more money! However, at least they know I am giving them money! This encourages me that the charity is professionally run - they know where the money is coming from and it follows in mind that they know where it is going - i.e. they are spending it wisely.

Commercial businesses have gone a long way in the last ten years, to get to know their customers better and communicate with them more effectively. I think it is now time charities followed the lead. There needs to be better integration between on-line systems and off-line CRM systems, there needs to be more integration between systems used by different departments and a more holistic approach to communication with supporters no matter what kind of support the person has provided to the charity. In addition, there needs to be more time tools on-line for supporters to see all their activity they have taken with the charity throughout the year.

I am confident that all reputable charities know the people and situations that need their help and effectively address those needs. However, I feel some charities need to put in a little more time and effort into doing the same with their supports (i.e getting to know them better and making effective use of those who are willing to them reach their goals) and integrated information systems is a key to acheiving this.

Rant Over!

Happy New Year, Chris