Last week we had a really inspiring meeting about fundraising Donor Journeys and CiviCRM in London. Or I should say we had an unconference (check …..) . It took me a while to get to writing this blogpost as times are a bit busy but here we are!
So what is this about? It started with a blogpost about how MAF Norge (http://maf.no/) is using CiviCRM to enable them to reach their ambitious fundraising goals (check https://civicrm.org/blogs/erikhommel/civicrm-fundraising-maf-norway). I linked Martin from MAF with Owen Bowden from LLR (http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/) and linked them both with Ilja from Amnesty International Flanders (http://www.aivl.be/). MAF Norge came to CiviCon London last October, where they presented their dream about automated Donor Journeys in CiviCRM. They spoke with Owen and with Parvez from Veda Consulting (http://www.vedaconsulting.co.uk/veda-consulting/). We agreed it would be a good idea to go and visit Owen to swap stories and learn from each other.
So we did, and it turned into quite a meeting with MAF Norge, Decaid Consulting (http://www.decaidconsulting.co.uk/) who specialize in Donor Journeys, LLR, Oasis UK, Amnesty Flanders, Veda Consulting, CiviCooP (http://www.civicoop.org/) and St Ethelburgas (http://www.stethelburgas.org/) who kindly hosted us at short notice. Hurray for the CiviCRM community! We exchanged experiences and dreams, and agreed it was a very useful get together. And we decided there is now an informal 'CiviCRM interest group' for donor journeys.
I do not think I can even attempt to explain everything about Donor Journeys in one blogpost. I do know that I hear a lot of charities talking about customer journeys, donor journeys, sponsor journeys. And they all sound roughly the same. Rupert from Decaid Consulting did a wonderful presentation on the concept, MAF Norge explained what they have done and want to do, LLR and Veda explained what they have done and want to do. We all agreed that we would share our efforts and would like other charities using CiviCRM to share with us. And we would start with a couple of things that we felt will be useful or some of the parties involved need:
We agreed I would create a specific forum on the CiviCRM forums for 'Donor Journeys with CiviCRM' where we can share, ask and help.
As a group we will do a series of webinars on Donor Journeys with CiviCRM. There will be session of about 30-45 mins:
- Rupert Tappin from Decaid Consulting will do the initial one on the concept 'Donor Journey'
- Martin Aarflot or Steinar Sødal from MAF Norge on what they want to achieve in CiviCRM for their Donor Journeys
- Erik Hommel from CiviCooP on what you can do in CiviCRM with regards to Donor Journeys and what still needs to be done in CiviCRM
- whatever other sessions are derived from the first ones or the forum posts.
MAF Norge, CiviCooP, LLR and Veda Consulting will take a next step on the road towards Donor Journey automation. The next step as we see it now is to transform Scheduled Reminders into a Trigger-Action mechanism. More to follow!
From a personal point of view I was really proud to be part of this event and what will follow. As usual I was inspired by my ambitious and energetic friends from MAF Norge and really proud of the strength of the CiviCRM community!
If you as a charity want to know more please check the CiviCRM forum, react to this blogpost or drop me a line at mailto:erik.hommel@civicoop.org
Comments
Making CiviCRM more effective as a tool for delivering/managing a comms process/workflow and monitoring where contacts are in that workflow sounds like a hugely valuable step forward. I've just been working on how to provide some support for a membership development programme - providing useful on-screen information and communications tools for staff trying to recruit and retain members. Probably very similar in many ways to the idea of donor journeys. I'm hopeful that the work that's underway will be sufficiently flexible to support various different types of journey. Looking forward to seeing the next steps.