Empowering People with Information

Drug Free Pennsylvania, Inc

Drug Free Pennsylvania is a statewide organization which provides Pennsylvanians with resources and educational tools to effectively combat the progression and influence of illegal Drugs and Alcohol abuse in Pennsylvania. The biggest need which inspired the search for a comprehensive CRM was the disorganization of Constituent information. Constituent information was stored across:

  • Excel Spreadsheets
  • Databases
  • Social Media
  • Email Contacts
  • Email Marketing Software
  • Accounting Systems
  • Survey Software
  • Paper Forms

Bringing all of this data into a central location has been the central desire of the project. As the search for the right solution began additional objectives were added:

  • A system to manage all customer communications (Email, SMS, Mailings, Event Management, Automated Reminders)
  • Customized templates for Events and Emails
  • and Seamless Integration with Web Properties

CiviCRM was the only solution found which addressed the entire wishlist in a single software. Many other solutions were expensive and the additional features were also expensive add-ons. While it did require a lot of planning and work to implement this in a MultiSite WordPress environment with the desired customizations, the result is a reliable and integrated solution.

Organizational focus
Education
Public Health
Social Service
Organization type
Non Profit

Background

As we evaluated the various solutions these were our criteria which CiviCRM answered:

  • Central Constituent Relationship Management
  • Integrated Communications Tools (Email Marketing, SMS, Automated Reminders, Mailings and Groups)
  • Membership Management
  • Contribution Management
  • Integration with WordPress CMS
  • Event Management
  • Reporting
  • Easy Exporting of Data

Challenges

The biggest challenge in implementing this project was integrating it in a multisite WordPress environment. Customizations to CiviCRM program code was required to complete the project effectively. Many of these changes have been added to the CiviCRM core for inclusion in future versions. WordPress is the newest supported platform for CiviCRM so the development is ongoing.

Solution

At the end of the day CiviCRM offered the most complete solution and the most flexibility for customization. The other CRM's we considered either did not offer all of the solutions we wanted or the were offered as clumsy add-ons. All of the other CRM's we considered were paid solutions but they offered less in terms of functionality. Other CRM's we considered were:

  • Infusionsoft
  • Salesforce
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM

The project team was made up of three teams really. In house people, the third party integrator, and outside third party developers.

In-house:

  • Christie Wentz - Executive Director
  • Jennifer Schick - Program Director

Third Party Integrator

  • Arete Imagine Inc
  • Nathan Porter - President | Account Executive
  • Marisa Porter - Creative Director

Third Party Developer

  • Eileen McNaughton