Soapbox Engage Blog

For those hit by the news from Blackbaud last week that Convio Common Ground will be discontinued in 2014, the pressing question at hand is the same that any refugee faces: where to now?

In considering options, there are three important aspects of the move to take into account: 1) which CRM platform should be my new home?; 2) how will I move and who can help?; and 3) how will that CRM platform integrate with my website?

Which CRM platform should be my new home?

For this section, we're going to blatantly and unabashedly quote (plagiarize???) the Salesforce.com Foundation - every word of it, in fact:

• Affinaquest: Affinaquest is a powerful new way to manage data for fundraising, using the Salesforce.com platform.
• CauseView: CauseView is a cost-effective and intuitive way to develop, track, and maintain the long-term relationships necessary to sustain fundraising and engage volunteers.
• Nonprofit Starter Pack: Manage individual donors out-of-the-box on salesforce.com.
• roundCause: Specifically engineered for nonprofit fundraising and built on the world's best cloud based CRM and marketing automation systems, roundCause will help your organization grow prospects and revenue while reducing cost enterprise wide.

How will I move and who can help?

Some nonprofits will have the technical chops to move themselves. Most will want a tried and true guide to walk them through that process. As a web development firm that implements online integrations with Salesforce.com, we've had the pleasure of working with these fine Salesforce consultants and can recommend them without hesitation. For a full list of certified Salesforce.com Foundation consulting partners, go here.

• ENPIO: Good folks that we've had the pleasure of collaborating with to create a membership portal site. They've shown themselves to be particularly adept at speedy timelines to get an organization up and running pronto.
• Exponent Partners: Insanely smart and caring folks with an outstanding track record for massive projects and smaller scale implementations alike. They've got so much experience in the sector and with the tools, it's nuts. We've had the pleasure of working with them on a number of joint projects.
• Idealist Consulting: Crack crew of consultants under one umbrella. Brainy and talented. They've been contributing to the sector for eons and the sector is better for it. We've been impressed with their ability to match nonprofit clients with the right solution for them.

For those nonprofits located in D.C., you can also check out the good folks at 501cTech and Community IT Innovators, both of whom we've had the pleasure of working with on different membership organization site integrations.

Even more folks who can help

We got specific and named names of consulting firms that we’ve worked with on specific projects. There are others. Solid firms that do right by non-profits for their Salesforce needs. We just haven’t had the pleasure of working with them on a project yet.

Here’s an alphabetical list of Salesforce consultants we’ve totally been checking out from across the space:

• 907 Pine
• Cloud for Good
• KELL Partners
• Marc Baizman
• Swift River Consulting

2/20/13 UPDATE: Check out our Soapbox Engage Partners for a list of folks who can help with your migration to a new system.

How will that CRM platform integrate with my website?

You've got a world to change. Just because you're settling into a new CRM home doesn't mean that you want that home to be off the grid and closeted from the interwebs. You don't have time to shuttle data back and forth between your website and your CRM tool. It's 2012, baby. Those things should talk to one another.

There are a number of tools out there that serve as point solutions - tools that offer one or two functions that integrate with Salesforce.com in different ways. And many do their jobs quite well. There's also the possibility of spending custom dollars to custom build something. We'll leave it to others to share how you can knit together to those point solutions into a comprehensive whole and how to raise custom dollars for a custom solution. If you're looking for a solution beyond bits and pieces that leaves you with both arms and both legs, we'd offer this option:

• Soapbox Engage: Yep, this is us with 1) online donations; 2) event management, 3) a flexible and powerful form builder to submit to any object in Salesforce for petitions, contact us forms, email sign ups, applications, and much more; 4) easily created searchable directories of Salesforce data; 5) members-only portals, and; 5) coming at Dreamforce, the industry's only fully Salesforce.com-native email marketing tool - all integrating with Salesforce.com in real time and offered at nonprofit-friendly pricing. Our tools can either work alongside your existing website or we can build you a new website on our Non-Profit Soapbox platform to provide a fully integrated experience.

If you're interested in chatting with us about Soapbox Engage, hit us up! If you're a Salesforce consultant who wants to offer a great web interface for the cool stuff you're building, ditto!