Open Tech Calendar

There is a plethora of Customer Relationship Management systems and e-campaigning technology on offer. Many are built with charities and campaigning organisations in mind, and others can be adapted to suit them. Deciding which CRM is suitable for your organisation can be a confusing and lengthy process.

This event is an opportunity for you to hear from some CRM experts, ask questions and use the technology hands-on.

Short presentations will be followed by an opportunity to try out the products and ask the experts specific questions related to your organisations' needs. The event is predominantly aimed at charities, campaigners, community groups and small businesses, but is open to anyone with an interest.

Introduction (Emily MacLoud)
Emily MacLoud is a UX Designer who works in the social sector. She is drawn to design thinking for its structured, human-centered, value-driven approach to messy problems.

CRMs are the lifeblood of any organisation. But there are so many options out there... How do you choose the right one? Emily will take you through the 3 CRM Commandments to stick by when designing these complex systems and some practical exercises you can run with your team to find the best solution to suit you.

CRMs presented include:

CiviCRM (presented by Veda Consulting)
CiviCRM includes Direct Debit integration. Veda also created an extension to allow Gift Aid submissions to be submitted online to the HMRC, and more recently a GDPR extension which aims to enable charities/organisations to manage their supporters in a GDPR compliant manner.

Time to Spare (Tom Neill)
Time to Spare is a CRM built to help charities manage their members and volunteers, and to collaborate with other organisations in the social sector. Time to Spare gives charities the option to easily share their projects, statistics and impact with Local Authorities and grant-making foundations. As part of that, if you're based in Camden or Barking & Dagenham, you can get access to up to 5 user accounts for free (if you ask us for an invite).

Makerble (Matt Kepple)
Makerble is a versatile CRM tool where each of your contacts can optionally become users. This means that you can easily mobilise supporters by enabling them to log their offline campaigning actions, spur each other on with comments and likes on each other's progress, and maintain an up-to-date activity summary for each of your campaigning targets whether they're MPs, corporations, media or influencers.

Donorfy (Lucy Hunter)
Donorfy is a fundraising CRM in the cloud for charities great and small. A donor database which integrates with other best-of-breed applications in the cloud, it's smart, powerful and affordable.

Engaging Networks (Keira Roth)
Engaging Networks is an eCRM used by not-for-profits all around the world. Engaging Networks drives charities' email and action pages and connect directly to their CRM via API and can provide a full database of record. Engaging Networks promotes the use of good data to create good supporter experiences. Because email tools, donation, campaigns and events pages are all linked you can build enticing and intuitive supporter journeys.

NationBuilder (Chris Riklin)
NationBuilder is a community engagement designed for individuals or organisations that need to lead, engage, and mobilise a community of supporters at scale. The platform includes a supporter database and workflow tools (CRM), fully integrated websites and actions pages (CMS), targeted and personalised emailing tools, and a finances/ donation suite in an all-in-one integrated system.

PolicyMogul (Seena Shah)
PolicyMogul is a software platform for public affairs professionals and those trying to influence policy. PolicyMogul allows users to monitor work progress, log activities, assign tasks, track and share documentation, events and contacts, and communicate with relevant parliamentarians.