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Winter Roots Podcast: Databases with Robin Allen LaPlante
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The Winter Roots podcast features thoughtful, practical conversations with nonprofit leaders about the nuts and bolts of nonprofit work.
Each conversation is shaped by real questions submitted by nonprofit professionals who participate in the Winter Roots learning community. The result is grounded, experience-based dialogue that reflects what people are actually wrestling with in their day-to-day work.
Winter Roots is a seasonal learning space rooted in reflection, shared wisdom, and humane approaches to nonprofit work. These podcast conversations are designed to stand on their own — whether you’re part of the Winter Roots community or discovering it for the first time!
Find out more about Winter Roots: https://www.harlownonprofitconsulting.com/the-way-we-work-winter2026
Connect with Abbey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlownonprofitconsulting/
Connect with Robin:
https://www.laplanteconsulting.net/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Support
00:00:01
Abbey Harlow
Welcome to the Winter Roots podcast. I'm Abby Harlow and I'm really glad you're here. Today's conversation is part of a broader winter gathering I host called Winter Roots and whether you're joining us through that space or finding this episode on its own, you're very welcome here and we're glad to have you.
00:00:21
Abbey Harlow
um Before we begin, i want to share that this session is supported by a sponsor. We're so thankful for the partnership of Little Green Light in supporting Winter Roots both as a series sponsor and for this session.
00:00:34
Abbey Harlow
Little Greenlight is an affordable donor management and fundraising software solution specifically built for the needs of small to midsize nonprofits. And you can try it for free at littlegreenlight.com.
00:00:46
Abbey Harlow
I also wanna take a minute to thank our other series sponsors, the Alchemist Foundation who support the stability and strength of local nonprofits and Front Porch Forum, which is Vermont's locally owned online space built to help neighbors connect and build community.
Introducing Robin Allen LaPlante
00:01:05
Abbey Harlow
Our guest today is Robin Allen LaPlante, and I'm going to share her bio, which is awesome. Robin is a musical theater nerd who loved rehearsing more than performing.
00:01:16
Abbey Harlow
Strange Bird founder leans into the spirit of collaboration and storytelling to help those who help others. The art of storytelling is crucial to demonstrating impact and engaging audiences. Her company is called Strange Birds Consulting, and they take the bird's eye view. helping to sort out both the big picture and the fine details. As a consultant, she empowers nonprofits with data informed communications and fundraising strategies.
00:01:45
Abbey Harlow
and leading operations in fundraising, digital performance production, integrated marketing communications, development operations, content creation, ticket sales, event management, and more. Over the last two decades in nonprofit administration, Robin has worked with young musicians, visual artists, circus performers, puppeteers, theater artists, and more in Pittsburgh, Boston, and across the state of Vermont.
00:02:09
Abbey Harlow
After she launched her consulting practice in 2020, she's helped develop strategic communications plans, advise and execute marketing tactics, fundraise through appeals, grants, events, and sponsorships, manage and report on data, and produce and execute online events.
00:02:26
Abbey Harlow
Some of Robin's clients include the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Circus Smircus, Vermont Youth Orchestra, Philadelphia Free Library Foundation, Atlantic Symphony, Upper Valley Humane Society, White River Ballet Academy, Theater in the Open, Puppet Showplace Theater, Friends of Mescoma, and others.
Winter Roots Community Questions
00:02:44
Abbey Harlow
She lives in a cabin in the woods in central Vermont with her family and a large dog, that sometimes accompanies her on Zoom meetings.
00:02:54
Abbey Harlow
And just a little bit about the questions that we're gonna be asking Robin today. um If Winter Roots is new to you, it's a free seasonal virtual learning space that brings together over 200 people from across the country who work in and alongside nonprofits. It's rooted in the belief that how we gather matters just as much as what we're learning. and the that the nonprofit sector needs more spaces that center care and connection alongside strategy and skill building. These conversations are one way we extend that gathering. So even if this podcast episode is your only point of entry, you're part of it.
00:03:30
Abbey Harlow
Hello. Hello. um This podcast is the nuts and bolts piece of Winter Roots. It's where we bring in people with deep expertise and invite participants to ask very real, very specific questions, because sometimes we just need the chance to pick someone else's brain and ask them a burning question.
00:03:46
Abbey Harlow
The questions you'll hear today were not written by me They were entirely sourced from the Winter Roots community. People who registered early shared what they most wanted to ask, specific, practical, sometimes thorny or complicated questions that were really fascinating for me to read and share with our podcast guests. um Across the season of all of these podcasts, I'm speaking with experts on topics like nonprofit programming, branding, recruiting and supporting leadership, grant writing and plan giving.
Nonprofit Databases and CRMs
00:04:17
Abbey Harlow
Each of these conversations is shaped by what this Winter Roots community is actively working through right now. So with that, let's begin. Hello, Robin.
00:04:29
Robin Allen LaPlante
Hi, thanks for having me.
00:04:31
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, we're very very glad you're here. Should we dive into some of these questions we got?
00:04:37
Robin Allen LaPlante
I love it. These questions were awesome.
00:04:40
Abbey Harlow
Okay, so let's let's go ahead. I'll i'll start off. um What databases and CRMs incorporate donor management, program management, volunteer management, class scheduling, and more?
00:04:55
Robin Allen LaPlante
So most of them. And then not all of them. And so before we get into the specifics of which which ones do which things, let's talk about how to how databases operate in general. So if you don't have a database yet, let's think about how you're probably tracking your data currently. And if you do have a database, let's talk about how you might have tracked things without it. And likely, that is some version of a spreadsheet, whether that's Excel or Google Sheets.
00:05:25
Robin Allen LaPlante
um you probably have lots of spreadsheets and spreadsheets that talk to each other and maybe some that don't talk to each other. um So if you imagine if you have all of your data in one Google sheet, for example, you might have put donor information on the first page of that workbook and then you might have class registrations on the second page of that workbook, and then you might have volunteer hours on the third page. And each page is independent of the other pages.
00:05:58
Robin Allen LaPlante
And the data doesn't always mix. And if you're tracking data over time, your spreadsheet either gets really long or really wide. And it's it's hard to see how that data changes over time. And it's hard to track that data in real time. It's hard to start to see sort of the crossover in the Venn diagrams that are your audience kind of of people.
00:06:25
Robin Allen LaPlante
So if you think of those spreadsheets, if you turn them in 3D and you so start to think about stacking them on top of each other, you can start to see how you can connect the cells of the data in a way that helps you see trends. So I think of these databases and these CRMs as having those layers. with the most basic layer being your people or your customers or your donors. And then you might have a layer. So you have that layer of, of those people and how you connect with them, their contact information or, or where you know them from.
00:07:03
Robin Allen LaPlante
And then you might have a layer on top of that, that has any donations they've made. And then you might have a layer on top of that, of any events or, or tickets that they've purchased to interact with your organization. You might have class registration, ah ah event attendance, any other constituency. And suddenly you can start to see how the data informs the other ah the other' sheets. um
00:07:36
Robin Allen LaPlante
Just a quick case study, when I was working with an organization in Boston, ah One of the things we learned is that people were most likely to give in the weeks, the six weeks after they engaged with this very public event um at our organization that we had several times during the year. So we learned that that was the right time to ask for a donation to ah to support our organization. You're able to start to see what actions yourors your donors take that inform other actions.
00:08:16
Robin Allen LaPlante
So when you ask which databases, most of them can track these multiple levels of engagement. and That's their whole reason for being. That's their whole how they operate. So some of them will be more specialized on different levels, depending on what kind of database they are. Some of them may have a specialized module for volunteer management, for example. um But if it doesn't, and you need that volunteer management, and you've got class scheduling, you might be able to track those volunteers in that class scheduling module, as long as you start to think about it in terms of layers and how those layers talk to each other. So there's no one perfect answer for any organization, but once you start to understand the structure of them and how they're all put together and the commonality between them, you start to see how one might fit your organization better than another. Does that make sense?
00:09:20
Abbey Harlow
That makes a lot of sense and I've never heard anybody talk about it in exactly that way. it's very was helpful for me, for sure, and I know it would be helpful for others.
00:09:28
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah.
00:09:30
Abbey Harlow
um Great. So to says follow up with that, um when you actually have a database, how do you establish a simple database that doesn't require a dedicated person um and is easy to learn and maintain? And what is best for a small organization with maybe a couple staff members versus a larger organization that maybe has a staff member dedicated to the CRM?
00:09:59
Robin Allen LaPlante
That's a great question. Some databases require really specialized knowledge to operate. um and And you have to think about when you're choosing a database, what capacity your staff has to have that specialized knowledge. um and And then how do you integrate a system that helps you do your work?
00:10:21
Robin Allen LaPlante
That's a tool for everyone in your organization and not just the people that maybe understand how it works, how it works right? So I think of this as a correlation between customization to complexity.
00:10:38
Robin Allen LaPlante
So the more your database can be customized in real time, the more you can pull any customized report on any data point on any of those layers that I just talked about, um it it means it's the more complex complex it will be.
00:10:53
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm.
00:10:57
Robin Allen LaPlante
And the more complex it is, the more you're going to need specialized knowledge to figure out how to get the information out of it that you need to get out of it.
00:11:09
Robin Allen LaPlante
So, um you know, in in recent years, there's been kind of an explosion of CRMs that are online cloud-based CRMs that are just sort of plug and play.
00:11:22
Robin Allen LaPlante
And that's really, so you're you're looking at different levels of these CRMs. You've got really, really complex ones like your Salesforce and your BlackBaud that can do anything that you need it to do You can pinpoint very specific information, but as a result, the reporting and data management is super complex.
00:11:48
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:11:48
Robin Allen LaPlante
And then conversely, with you when you go with these um these third-party cloud-based modules, you can sort of open the database and jump right into it. And likely all of your staff can as well, but you lose a bit of that customization. You might not be able to report on every single data point in every single way, but the question is, did you need to?
00:12:14
Robin Allen LaPlante
Did you need to report on every minuscule data point or do you need the the basic like the basic reports to be able to be pulled, right?
00:12:20
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:12:26
Robin Allen LaPlante
You're still going be able to get bunts and sigh bunts, for example. You're still going to be able to pull like, okay, how many people bought tickets to this event and how many of them have made a donation so far and which ones haven't.
00:12:40
Robin Allen LaPlante
So you can still get your kind of customized basic reports. You're just not able to drill down to the, to the very, very fine reporting and querying functions that you might find in a really complex database.
00:12:54
Abbey Harlow
Thank
00:12:57
Robin Allen LaPlante
And so that's that's really what I want to make sure that my clients and organizations understand is that um find the right size for you in your life cycle, for the organization in your life in in your organization's life cycle.
Strategic Data Tracking
00:13:16
Robin Allen LaPlante
If you're a mid-size organization, um you you can get the work done and and and really take a step forward in your CRM when you're able to get one that is intuitive and and integrated in your staff.
00:13:34
Abbey Harlow
That's great. Thank you. And when we're thinking about
00:13:36
Robin Allen LaPlante
Mm-hmm.
00:13:38
Abbey Harlow
the different sizes and stages of organizations, specifically narrowing and zooming in on grassroots organizations and nonprofits that are just starting out maybe who have really small or minuscule budgets.
00:13:47
Robin Allen LaPlante
Mm-hmm.
00:13:53
Abbey Harlow
um How do they decide what's important enough to save in their databases and CRMs? And to your point, when is too much data too much?
00:14:06
Robin Allen LaPlante
this is such an important question and really an important question for organizations of every size. But a lot of my clients are getting their first database for the first time. And they're really starting to think about what do we track? And there can be the tendency to think, let's track everything.
00:14:29
Robin Allen LaPlante
We don't know when we might need to know it. um And the question that I want, that i want you to ask yourself and when you're deciding whether to track a piece of data or not is to what end?
00:14:31
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm.
00:14:43
Robin Allen LaPlante
Why am how or how am I going to use this data? Um, so one day, um you know, I worked with an organization that wanted to track every piece of information.
00:14:51
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:15:01
Robin Allen LaPlante
And we spent so much time tracking what, um, what instrument a child played in their school band and who their school band teacher was and who the principal of that school was, um,
00:15:15
Robin Allen LaPlante
And we never actually communicated with those people. We never used that information. The information that we did use could have been um as easily managed by saying, what state you know what state did most of our constituents come from? So if there's not a clear plan to use that data, then then think about whether you whether you really need it. So then the ways that I encourage my clients and and and people to think about this is think about your strategies for engagement currently and where you'd like them to be in the next five years.
00:15:56
Robin Allen LaPlante
Some of the questions I might ask are, are there new programs that you're planning to implement? Are you curious about how people are finding out about your organization?
00:16:07
Robin Allen LaPlante
Are you wanting to track your constituents and participants closer and find out where they go after they interact with you.
00:16:14
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:16:16
Robin Allen LaPlante
I work with a lot of education organizations and one of the ah pain points is how do we track our alumni after they've engaged with us?
00:16:27
Robin Allen LaPlante
How do we track where they go after us? After they have moved out of mom and dad's house and gone to college, how do we keep track of their email? How do we keep track of where they go after that?
00:16:41
Robin Allen LaPlante
And often that is bigger than just your CRM. It's bigger than creating a custom field. It's also, how are we going to ask them those questions?
00:16:51
Robin Allen LaPlante
Where are you? Where are you going to college? When when are you graduating, right? So how develop those plans for tracking one or two or three data set data sets that you have a clear plan for how you want to use it
00:17:09
Abbey Harlow
Hmm.
00:17:11
Robin Allen LaPlante
And i always, I feel that that should be data that you want to use for revenue or engagement.
Resources for Database Transition
00:17:20
Robin Allen LaPlante
If you're just tracking it to feel good about it, I'm not sure that it's useful data unless it's data that you're going to use in later storytelling or for engagement. for revenue, to get new constituents, to get new donors, to, to kind of build, build your story.
00:17:45
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. It's a very clear sort of structure for how to begin that conversation about what what you need to track.
00:17:51
Robin Allen LaPlante
Mm-hmm.
00:17:54
Abbey Harlow
um Thank you. ah to And again, to that point, when organizations are thinking, okay, we're ready to do things, collect data, um maybe change what we're looking at, and we are ready to to shift into a new database or CRM.
00:18:16
Abbey Harlow
Are there resources available to help those nonprofits when they're ready to migrate all of that information and all of those processes?
00:18:25
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah. um So ah here's me raising my hand. i am always willing to have a conversation about database selection. I'm always willing to have that conversation completely. Just we can have a half an hour. You can tell me what you're thinking about. ah Reach out to me. I always say that databases for me are like Pokemon. I want to catch them all. So yeah.
00:18:53
Robin Allen LaPlante
I love to talk about databases and CRMs and how to organize your development operations for your organization, what questions you have, what you're thinking about.
00:19:03
Robin Allen LaPlante
I i won't guarantee you that I have the answers, but I'm willing to have the conversation because I love that conversation. um other Other resources are, you know, TechSoup is great.
00:19:16
Robin Allen LaPlante
You can find Little Green Light often there and with discounts, They have additional supports to help with things like QuickBooks integration and the data migration. So TechSoup is a great place.
00:19:28
Robin Allen LaPlante
If you don't know it, get in there because it's fantastic. Local community foundations. You know, I'm in Vermont. Allie, you're in Vermont. um Abby, you're in Vermont too.
00:19:38
Abbey Harlow
That's all right, close enough. Okay.
00:19:40
Robin Allen LaPlante
where
00:19:41
Abbey Harlow
and
00:19:42
Robin Allen LaPlante
are and So I don't know if you know, are and the the Special and Urgent Needs Fund, I think that would that um works for things like this. um And the the databases that you're migrating to, has they have a team to support you in the process and you should use them, ask them all of your questions And that's part of the implementation cost. So it's it's not free, but you have to take ah as much advantage of them. They are the subject experts on their database. So that's another important resource to think about.
00:20:20
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, that's a lot of great places to get started. um are Are there any free or low cost platforms that can be used by ah development communications and programs teams to manage clients and donors and an engagement and all of that? um If so, what what are they? What are some of your favorites?
00:20:48
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah. My favorite, my absolute favorite for that entry level low cost first database is Little Greenlight. It's so easy to open up and um and just plug and play. It's easy to get in and just start using. They have great training resources. um You know, you you do a a five session free training um program with them and you are good to go. You've got all of the information you need. um
00:21:20
Robin Allen LaPlante
And as I mentioned, it's available with a discount on TechSoup and some organizations can even get it for free with that with that TechSoup discount. And so full disclosure, I know Little Green Light is a sponsor of this podcast, but i i have no relationship with Little Green Light and Little Green Light is
00:21:33
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:21:41
Robin Allen LaPlante
probably my most recommended database. um So highly recommend that one. That's so, and then there's others that you may have heard of like GiveButter or DonorBox.
00:21:55
Robin Allen LaPlante
I think FundraiseUp is one that just came up in a conversation. So largely these are are platforms that allow you to set up forms, um donation forms, online forms, and they might have a kind of a CRM light attached to it.
00:22:14
Abbey Harlow
Hmm.
00:22:14
Robin Allen LaPlante
um So going back to the first thing we talked about, that database with all of the different layers, you're talking about ah a CRM that really has only one layer then, right?
00:22:26
Robin Allen LaPlante
they They make a donation on your website and then you have their contact information and their their donor they're giving history. um You're not able to track a whole lot, but it is a good starting point for a very small organization.
00:22:43
Robin Allen LaPlante
Often those are, ah there's very low subscription cost.
00:22:45
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:22:49
Robin Allen LaPlante
If, if any um it's mostly just the, the merchant service, like the credit card fees and, and there might be a small fee on each donation that helps to run the platform for you.
00:23:03
Robin Allen LaPlante
So that's, that's a great, those are great ones for start point. um You know, So you can kind of compare those to little green light.
00:23:14
Robin Allen LaPlante
um And then there's some larger databases that have um a free nonprofit pack.
00:23:25
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:23:27
Robin Allen LaPlante
Most of my experience with those are organizations that are trying to move away from them. And we're getting into the complexity versus customization.
00:23:38
Robin Allen LaPlante
If they're giving you the free pack for their large complex database, there's a lot of build out that comes with that. And so it becomes really complex.
00:23:50
Robin Allen LaPlante
And most of the clients that I've found that have jumped into those have found that they needed someone that that was their full-time job.
00:23:54
Abbey Harlow
Thank
00:24:01
Robin Allen LaPlante
And that makes it not free anymore. If you're if you're putting that amount of staff resource on your database, um it's taking a lot of your resources that could go to your programs and to your communications. So um that's that's, I i want to hedge on not saying the the platform name, but I think you probably know what I'm talking about.
00:24:28
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, yeah, that's a really great point that um is it is important for nonprofits and everyone to think about when they're when they're picking what works best for them is how much time will it take?
00:24:42
Robin Allen LaPlante
Right.
00:24:43
Abbey Harlow
to set up and learn. um Moving on to ah another question, what what are some best practices for entering volunteer time as in-kind donations um in a CRM?
00:24:59
Robin Allen LaPlante
So this is a, this is a good question and um I can't really answer it fully. And I think um this question, you'll want to talk to an accountant about how to really track volunteer time and how to recognize volunteer time.
Volunteer Time and Data Management
00:25:15
Robin Allen LaPlante
So let's talk about in-kind donations first. So when someone someone donates an item to your organization, the best practice is to acknowledge the item and not the value, right? So, so your receipt to the donor says, thank you for your donation of a toaster oven, or, you know, thank you for your donation of um a can of, of,
00:25:37
Robin Allen LaPlante
beans or whatever it is that you're donating.
00:25:38
Abbey Harlow
Thank
00:25:40
Robin Allen LaPlante
And then the donor makes the call on the fair market value on the items value, right? For their tax records. That said, you want, you'll want to assign a fair market value to the item in your CRM so that you're tracking how much in in-kind donations you're receiving, right?
00:26:01
Robin Allen LaPlante
But when it comes to time and services, that donation becomes tricky. So as I said, I recommend speaking to an accountant about tracking the value and recognizing time as an in-kind donation.
00:26:15
Robin Allen LaPlante
But if you use a CRM to track your volunteers, you're using that CRM to track when they sign up and what their commitment is and whether or not they attended that commitment, what the time frame was of that commitment, there's no reason that that CRM can't help you report on that time that was donated by those people and and could also help you track the expense saved by having volunteers to do some of this, help with some of this work.
00:26:50
Abbey Harlow
so
00:26:52
Robin Allen LaPlante
So if that's important to your organization, some CRMs have dedicated modules for volunteer tracking. Some some might not, um but that doesn't mean you couldn't still track that that volunteer time using perhaps an event section or a class registration section where you would just call a class or an event, you know, volunteering on such and such a date and put the the people that you that volunteered.
00:27:26
Robin Allen LaPlante
um And ideally, that would link back to their record So that when you're calling to thank people for their gifts, you can also call and thank them for the time that they spent with your organization and build relationships that way.
00:27:42
Abbey Harlow
Oh, that's a great tip there. um
00:27:44
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah.
00:27:47
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, so for the next question, we're sort of zinging around different topics just to keep you on your toes a little bit. um who In terms of database management, um who manages them and how frequently?
00:28:01
Abbey Harlow
how How can organizations plan to avoid the classic pitfall of too many chefs in the kitchen when it comes to data and constituent management?
00:28:12
Robin Allen LaPlante
Right. So, and we just talked about how we don't really, you know, we can't really afford to have just one person focus on the database, right?
00:28:20
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:28:22
Robin Allen LaPlante
But even aside from that, with small organizations, a CRM is really only useful as long as it's being used, as long as it's integrated into the organization. um and and that, you know,
00:28:36
Robin Allen LaPlante
And the more cooks in the kitchen, the more pans in the pie, to use a different metaphor, the messier things can become, right? So first and foremost, document, document, document.
00:28:49
Robin Allen LaPlante
So write down how you're doing things, like to the most ah specific level, like click on this button and find this on the left-hand menu, third from the top, or wherever right So that you are um being very specific about how you are performing a task in the database, whether that's entering a donation, whether that's setting up tickets for setting up you know your ticketing for a subscription, or whether you're setting up a volunteer ah program.
00:29:26
Abbey Harlow
Hmm.
00:29:27
Robin Allen LaPlante
So and when you document, you are you are serving two per purposes with that. One is how to do it ah again in the future. So you can hand this to someone and they can do it in the future, right?
00:29:43
Robin Allen LaPlante
But the other thing that this serves that I think people don't think about is it's sort of an archive of how it was done previously. So if you needed to go back and find this data, this documentation would tell you, okay, this is how it was entered.
00:29:56
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:30:01
Robin Allen LaPlante
This is how I entered it. And so this is how I'm going to report on it. or how I'm going to analyze it. or if you find out later, oh gosh, I don't want to track it that way actually at at all.
00:30:14
Robin Allen LaPlante
You can go back and make a global change to that data as long as you know where that data is in the first place. um Some other things that you can do to kind of manage your data in real time, have a power users group.
00:30:31
Robin Allen LaPlante
So these are the people that are in the data on a regular basis and they are tasked with managing those business decisions.
00:30:39
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:30:41
Robin Allen LaPlante
So I think a lot of people think, well, I'm going to get the CRM. I'm going to put it in the way they tell me to. And then it's just there, but it's sort of a living, breathing thing.
00:30:55
Robin Allen LaPlante
Um, uh, That data, you need to continually make choices about how you're going to track data, how you're going to use data, and and tracking if there are problems in the data or if there's data that needs to be cleaned up so that it stays useful long term.
00:31:18
Robin Allen LaPlante
And then you really do want to make sure that every member of staff is receiving at least introductory level training in the database so that they feel empowered to use it.
00:31:30
Robin Allen LaPlante
And maybe training looks different for your development coordinator as it does for your like senior program director.
00:31:31
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:31:38
Robin Allen LaPlante
Maybe training is different for your executive director as it is for you know um a marketing manager. but But make sure that everyone is getting in and at least understands how the data operates.
00:31:54
Robin Allen LaPlante
And that helps, that also helps with some of the questions about, can you tell me, you know, this, how many of our constituents have green eyes? um You can say, yeah, no, I can't tell you that because that is not a data point that we are collecting.
00:32:15
Robin Allen LaPlante
That's, that's not something that we know yet.
00:32:16
Abbey Harlow
yet.
00:32:19
Robin Allen LaPlante
But, But there is a correlation between ah high level level donors and eye color. But so that's I think that those are the ways that you can really think about how it's a tool for everyone in your organization.
Deciding When to Switch CRMs
00:32:35
Robin Allen LaPlante
And some people are going to use it more than others just in their day to day. And some people are going to be like, oh, I know this data and I can be your your person to ask questions to. um
00:32:49
Robin Allen LaPlante
So, and then those people go on to want to collect databases like Pokemon.
00:32:51
Abbey Harlow
yeah
00:32:56
Robin Allen LaPlante
So, you know. Mm-hmm.
00:33:01
Abbey Harlow
Sort of along those lines, um how do you know when it's time to switch and how do you vet the next CRM? And also, you know, if if you can share a little bit about how you use all of those people who have been using the CRM to inform that decision and make that change as well.
00:33:22
Robin Allen LaPlante
Sure. So, yeah you know, it's time to switch when you are continually adding more platforms to do the things your organization wants to do.
00:33:36
Robin Allen LaPlante
So if you're if you're if you're thinking like, well, I want to do peer-to-peer or I want to do email more email marketing or I want to use, um you know, crowdfunding, and you're finding that you have to find a new program to do each of those new initiatives, then it might be time to think about how you can pull all of the data together in one place.
00:34:03
Robin Allen LaPlante
Because the the more ah the more separate it becomes, the harder it becomes to see those trends between your data sets, between how how ticket buying informs donations, informs volunteerism, right?
00:34:20
Robin Allen LaPlante
So I think
00:34:21
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm.
00:34:22
Robin Allen LaPlante
um it if if you're finding that it's all disconnected, it's time to think about how you pull it together. are you Are you frustrated with trying to contact people on a fast turnaround?
00:34:36
Robin Allen LaPlante
Are you frustrated with, I work with a lot of arts organizations and we always want to send a solicitation right after people come see a show, right?
00:34:48
Robin Allen LaPlante
So is that, is that turnaround?
00:34:50
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:34:51
Robin Allen LaPlante
Is that part of your communications plan not working out, you know, and how can you help, help that process be more streamlined?
00:35:01
Robin Allen LaPlante
Do you have data hanging out in one place that only one certain person can access or can see the um the trends or see the the history, um then it it might be time to think about how you take the next step in your CRM, you know, trajectory.
00:35:22
Robin Allen LaPlante
And I do think that CRMs, there are there are steps that people go through. i i talked already about my my my top choice for, you know,
00:35:29
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:35:34
Robin Allen LaPlante
for an entry level database is little green light. But I do think that there comes to a point where you outgrow what, what little green light can do for you and what your next step might be that pulls in a little more.
Rapid-Fire Database Questions
00:35:50
Robin Allen LaPlante
And I can tell you um which, which are my favorite for that. um So I think, I think thinking about how much time you're, staff is spending on data and answering those questions for you will tell you when it's time for the next tool in your tool bill. Does that make sense?
00:36:14
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, absolutely.
00:36:15
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah.
00:36:16
Abbey Harlow
That's that's great. um
00:36:17
Robin Allen LaPlante
Great.
00:36:19
Abbey Harlow
So for this next set of questions, I'm going to do sort of ah a rapid fire around a topic and hopefully have you answer in a couple sentences for for each one, if that sounds good.
00:36:32
Abbey Harlow
um
00:36:33
Robin Allen LaPlante
That sounds great. I'm ready.
00:36:34
Abbey Harlow
Awesome. but So can you, we're going to talk about examples of procedures to organizations, staff around database changes. um If that works for you.
00:36:46
Robin Allen LaPlante
Sure. So before we jump in, let me just tell you.
00:36:47
Abbey Harlow
Yeah.
00:36:49
Robin Allen LaPlante
So, yes. So when you're thinking about a database change, Build yourself a comparison spreadsheet. Think about where that data is now and how many how many records you've got and where all that data is coming from. That's like the baseline.
00:37:09
Robin Allen LaPlante
And then, um and and build out three to five priorities to compare on those databases. All right. You've got rapid fire questions. I promise I will keep my answers short and sweet.
00:37:24
Abbey Harlow
Okay, let's go. um So when you're gonna make the change, who picks the database?
00:37:31
Robin Allen LaPlante
Okay, it's probably not a person, it's probably a team, but at the end of the day, most organizations, it's the ED that has to make that final call.
00:37:43
Abbey Harlow
Oh, that was rapid. Nicely done.
00:37:45
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah.
00:37:46
Abbey Harlow
um Who's part of the implementation? What's the best way to make a ah working group?
00:37:52
Robin Allen LaPlante
so that team should be anyone who's using the data on a day to day basis. And I have to say, consider using a consultant who works in databases all the time and can help you think about the pros and cons and help you think about your data in ways that you haven't thought about it yet.
00:38:15
Abbey Harlow
um Any tips for kickoff meetings?
00:38:18
Robin Allen LaPlante
So start by tracking your people now. Where are they now? And where are you keeping them? And what platform are they in MailChimp and ticketing and donor forms and financial management? Figure out all the platforms. That's how I would kick it off is figure out all the platforms you are currently using.
00:38:38
Abbey Harlow
Great. um How do you follow up with any problems or issues?
00:38:43
Robin Allen LaPlante
Support, support, support. So that CRM support team, they want to make sure it will work for you. So if it's not working yet, keep asking until it does.
00:38:56
Abbey Harlow
What do you do when the data comes out different and the numbers seem to be wrong?
00:39:01
Robin Allen LaPlante
Oh, that stinks. So figure out why it's wrong first. Sometimes it's a reporting issue and it just you just need to document how to pull the report. And sometimes it's a data issue where the data is actually wrong and you need to do a global change.
00:39:20
Abbey Harlow
And last one, how do you organize a small staff who are program and people based to also value data protocols that might not be their passion?
00:39:31
Robin Allen LaPlante
So I think that's really a balancing act. You know, I think some, Some people are gonna gravitate towards the data and want to want to really dig in. And some people are, their value and and what they provide the organization and what they do um is that they interface with people in real time and provide your program. So understand that they're maybe not going to be in the database as much and maybe ah build your protocols around the strengths of your staff.
00:40:09
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, I'm a very strengths-based person, so I love ending on that note.
00:40:10
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah.
00:40:14
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah.
00:40:15
Abbey Harlow
That's great. um All right.
00:40:18
Robin Allen LaPlante
That was fun.
00:40:18
Abbey Harlow
So yeah, who else?
00:40:18
Robin Allen LaPlante
was like tennis. yeah
00:40:21
Abbey Harlow
I've never played tennis, but I believe you and I can see it. um So my last official question from our Winter Roots audience is, what is the best CRM for donor tracking?
00:40:36
Robin Allen LaPlante
So this is a question I can never answer. i i had a call with a a a new client the other day who said, i wish you could just, she'd she'd she drilled it down to two platforms and she was thinking about both of them.
00:40:54
Robin Allen LaPlante
And she was like, I wish you could just tell me which one was best. And I'm like, I can't. they There's no silver bullet.
00:41:00
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:41:02
Robin Allen LaPlante
There's no right answer. Any solution will work. They are all built in much the same way. And they're all tools. So it's really about what you need them to do and where are your priorities.
00:41:18
Robin Allen LaPlante
And i have I have a metaphor if you're willing to go with me on a ride.
00:41:22
Abbey Harlow
and hello
00:41:23
Robin Allen LaPlante
So when I was in college in my first apartment, I didn't have a hammer.
00:41:23
Abbey Harlow
oh
00:41:28
Robin Allen LaPlante
And my dad sent me to school with socket set. but I wanted to hang a picture and the socket set did the trick to put a nail in the wall to hang my picture.
00:41:38
Robin Allen LaPlante
Right. And then I, but I, this was a, this was a problem for a lot of us. Like I had, I also had, I went to school for musical theater. So, um,
00:41:47
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm.
00:41:48
Robin Allen LaPlante
I also had friends who use like a shoe or a textbook, right? But a hammer would have been a better choice for that job. So the question becomes when you have limited resources and your prior, what is your priority?
00:42:02
Robin Allen LaPlante
If your priority is having shoes for walking every day or a textbook for studying every day, and and you need those more often than you'll need a hang hammer to hang a picture, you know,
00:42:16
Robin Allen LaPlante
buy the shoes, buy the textbook, right?
00:42:18
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:42:19
Robin Allen LaPlante
but And I'm never quite sure if that metaphor lands, but what I mean is what are the jobs that you need the platform to do every day? Where are your priorities? Which tool is going to do that job every day for you?
00:42:35
Robin Allen LaPlante
You can make it, if you think about those layers that we talked about at the very beginning, you can make it do these other things for you. as long as you document how you did it and ah and just understand how the data talks to each other so that you're getting out of it what you need out of it while focusing on your priorities.
Closing Thoughts and Contact Information
00:43:03
Abbey Harlow
That makes that makes a lot of sense. And the metaphor landed for me, for sure.
00:43:07
Robin Allen LaPlante
Oh, good, good, yeah.
00:43:08
Abbey Harlow
um Yeah, thank you. And, you know, Robin, just thank you so much for the generosity and the thoughtfulness that you brought to this conversation today.
00:43:16
Robin Allen LaPlante
work good
00:43:20
Abbey Harlow
i I know I learned a lot from it and I'm sure everyone will. It was just really like getting into both the details and the strategy of CRMs a ah very, very helpful way.
00:43:33
Abbey Harlow
um So thank you. um
00:43:35
Robin Allen LaPlante
i am glad
00:43:36
Abbey Harlow
Before we close or before I go into my closing little bit here, where can people find you or connect with you or learn more about your work?
00:43:46
Robin Allen LaPlante
Thank you for asking. i am ah so I have just launched a new website. It's strangebirdsconsulting.com. And you can find me ah you can reach out to me at Robin at strangebirdsconsulting.com.
00:44:04
Robin Allen LaPlante
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
00:44:05
Abbey Harlow
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And thank thank you. And ah but by the way, it's a ah very lovely new website. Congratulations.
00:44:12
Robin Allen LaPlante
Oh, thank you. I just launched it. I'm really proud of it.
00:44:14
Abbey Harlow
it Yeah, good. um And I'll put that information in the show notes so people can grab it there. um Thank you so much.
00:44:26
Abbey Harlow
For those listening, if something in this conversation stayed with you, just invite you to to notice that. I always like a takeaway. Consider what a next step might be for you in terms of your own work and thinking. um And you can connect with me if you'd like to, Abby Harlow on LinkedIn or visit harlownprofitconsulting.com. That's also where you can learn more about Winter Roots, join the mailing list and be the first to know about any future gatherings, including, I'm putting it out there, Winter Roots 2027. And I'll put all of this and then again, Robin's info in the show note as well. um
00:45:05
Abbey Harlow
Before we wrap up, I just want to thank our sponsors once more. We're thankful for the partnership of Little Green Light in supporting winter roots and this session. You could try it for free at littlegreenlight.com, as well as the Alchemist Foundation and Front Porch Forum. Thank you to them. um The nonprofit sector can ask a lot of people, and my hope is that conversations like these offer not just ideas for you, but a sense of belonging, steadiness, information as you move back into your work. So thank you so much for listening and have a great day.