Connection Café: A New Era in Constituent Relationship Management Solutions

	A New Era in Constituent Relationship Management Solutions
	Posted by Gene Austin at Jun 13, 2008 04:00 PM CDT Categories: Content Management, Data Integration, Nonprofit Trends, Technology

Two years ago we embarked on a research project with hundreds of clients and non-clients alike to look at how the market has evolved and what nonprofits expected as the 21st Century was unfolding. The strategy and creativity of our clients, combined with our pioneering products that empower nonprofits to use the Internet to drive results, was clearly providing new and innovative ways for nonprofits to engage constituents. While it is clear the world is evolving, you told us time and again that you wished that your donor management systems would evolve as well. In short, nonprofits want a modern constituent management system that encompasses all the media that their constituents are involved with – the Web, direct marketing, events, social media and other channels.

The feedback is clear - the traditional, proprietary, on-premise donor database vendors have created a system in which the value proposition is backward. Donor management systems have become a “cost of doing business” versus an engagement mechanism to help you truly build and manage relationships.

Today, working with the Force.com platform from salesforce.com, our clients, partners and the market, we introduced the Charter Program for a new constituent relationship management system that recognizes today’s world and tomorrow’s promise. Code-named Aikido, this modern offering recognizes several key elements we heard from the market:
1)    constituent management is a multi-channel endeavor,
2)    organizations are managing more constituencies and channels than ever before,
3)    nonprofits need more openness from their donor database/constituent management systems so that they integrate easily with leading online constituent relationship management tools like Convio’s,
4)    nonprofits need affordable, full-featured solutions that have a pricing structure that matches their operational needs, and
5)    organizations need scalability and flexibility, while at the same time reducing the IT costs, burdens and headaches of the legacy approach.

The Aikido project not only delivers on those needs, it expands the choice and options for the nonprofit community. Because we have developed Aikido on top of the Force.com platform, clients will be able to access one of the technology industry's largest networks of developers and consultants to help you create and deliver business applications that meet your needs. Combined with the expertise and experience of Convio, the nonprofits we serve and the community of Convio Fusion Partners and salesforce.com developers, the Aikido project makes it easier to translate your ideas and needs into deployed applications in less time. We think our approach, which puts you in control, is the right move for the world we live in.

The Aikido Charter Program represents the latest in innovative ideas and technologies that is changing the way nonprofits access, share and derive value from their most important constituent information regardless of the channel in which the interaction occurs. We believe this is a milestone day for the industry. We invite you to learn more by signing up for updates on the Charter Program and Aikido at http://www.convio.com/crm.

We look forward to sharing more as we proceed and as always, we welcome your feedback and insight.

Gene