The Challenge
Lack of Data Insight
Before switching to Virtuous, International Mission Board (IMB) did not have the data integration or user-friendly system they needed to grow their fundraising. Their previous platform was challenging to use, without offering much insight into data.
“Fundraisers weren’t really pulling a lot of reports from the previous CRM,” says Shade Perkins, Giving Engagement Analyst. “Only a few people really felt comfortable. In that system, you just kind of looked at it for what it was. It was so large, it was hard to see all of what was going on.”
Their previous software simply didn’t have the capacity for the clear data insight and automations that the team at IMB needed. They switched to Virtuous in 2018.
How We Helped
Better Insights, User-Friendly
Now, with Virtuous, each member of the team has clearer insight into the data. “We’ve been able to clean up our data in ways that I don’t think we were able to in our previous system. I feel more comfortable pulling reports in Virtuous,” says Shade.
Gift officers can get deeper into their data, customizing their views and dashboards, and managing their own tasks and portfolios.
In Virtuous, gift officers don’t need someone else to pull their reports. “I think Virtuous is significantly more user-friendly than our previous CRM. It’s easy to onboard team members and I find that it’s very intuitive for most people,” says Shade. “Virtuous allows you to thrive even if you’re not a CRM expert.”
Automation
Automation allows the IMB team to track donor behavior more precisely, without adding back-office tedium. “I really appreciate automation and what it can do,” says Shade. The team tags all givers based on criteria for new, lapsed, and relapsed donors. Whenever those thresholds are met, actions are triggered, and they also use automation in a “new givers” email series.
IMB has a robust major giving program and uses Virtuous automation to keep gift officers on top of their portfolios.
“We use Virtuous to notify our gift officers when people in their portfolios have recently given. We also notify people if others in certain regions give gifts of certain sizes, using it to help as a prospecting tool.”
– Shade Perkins, Giving Engagement Analyst
Constantly Improving
Over the three years IMB has used Virtuous, they’ve seen the platform grow and improve. “We’ve seen some of the requests we’ve made be implemented,” says Shade. “It’s meaningful to know that when we’re submitting a feature request it’s not just going into the abyss and we’ll never see it again. Virtuous cares enough to close the loop, to let us know that these things have been implemented or that they are priorities.”
Thanks to IMB’s feedback, Virtuous has added or adjusted features, including attaching multiple documents to a planned gift, customizing citations, adding custom fields to receipt templates, and tracking task completion.
“I think Virtuous is significantly more user-friendly than our previous CRM. It’s easy to onboard team members and I find that it’s very intuitive for most people. Virtuous allows you to thrive even if you’re not a CRM expert.”
– Shade Perkins, Giving Engagement Analyst
