Book Image

Using CiviCRM - Second Edition

By : Erik Hommel, Joseph Murray, Brian P Shaughnessy
Book Image

Using CiviCRM - Second Edition

By: Erik Hommel, Joseph Murray, Brian P Shaughnessy

Overview of this book

CiviCRM provides a powerful toolbox of resources to help organizations manage relationships with constituents. It is free, open source, web-based, and geared specifically to meet the constituent relationship management needs of the not-for-profit sector. Beginning with broader questions about how your organization is structured, which existing workflows are critical to your operations, and the overarching purpose of a centralized CRM, the book proceeds step by step through configuring CiviCRM, understanding the choices when setting up the system, importing data, and exploring the breadth of tools available throughout the system. You will see how to best use this software to handle event registrations, accept and track contributions, manage paid and free memberships and subscriptions, segment contacts, send bulk e-mails with open and click-through tracking, manage outreach campaigns, and set up case management workflows that match your organization’s roles and rules. With specific emphasis on helping implementers ask the right questions, consider key principals when setting up the system, and understand usage through case studies and examples, the book comprehensively reviews the functionality of CiviCRM and the opportunities it provides. With this book, you can help your organization better achieve its mission as a charity, industry association, professional society, political advocacy group, community group, government agency, or other similar organization and position yourself to become a power user who efficiently and effectively navigates the system.

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Using CiviCRM - Second Edition
Erik Hommel | Joseph Murray | Brian P Shaughnessy
Aug, 2016 | 574 pages
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Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Using CiviCRM - Second Edition
Using CiviCRM - Second Edition
Credits
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Achieving Your Mission with CiviCRM
Achieving Your Mission with CiviCRM
Why you need Constituent Relationship Management
What is Constituent Relationship Management?
Customer Relationship Management versus Constituent Relationship Management
When is CiviCRM the best CRM?
Why CiviCRM?
CiviCRM events
How CiviCRM will help your organization
Summary
2
Planning Your CRM Implementation
Planning Your CRM Implementation
Challenges on your way to success
Thoughts on development
Building the team
Focusing on constituents and mission
Determining your needs
Functional requirements
Development environment and best practices
Summary
3
Installation, Configuration, and Maintenance
Installation, Configuration, and Maintenance
Installing CiviCRM
Configuring CiviCRM
Site configuration
Upgrades and maintenance
Summary
4
CiviCRM Basics – Moving through the System and Working with Contacts
CiviCRM Basics – Moving through the System and Working with Contacts
Introduction to the interface
Contacts
Search
Search result actions
Working with contact records
Summary
5
Collecting, Organizing, and Importing Data
Collecting, Organizing, and Importing Data
Custom data fields
Creating online forms with profiles
Importing contact and activity data
Summary
6
Communicating Better
Communicating Better
Looking at communication
Sending e-mails to one or more constituents
Printing address labels
Printing a PDF letter
Organizing groups for communication
Encouraging subscriptions using profiles
Sending bulk e-mails and SMS
Creating a bulk e-mail template
A/B testing
Customizing system workflow messages
Recording external e-mails
Personalized appeal for volunteers
Summary
7
Campaigning with Petitions and Surveys
Campaigning with Petitions and Surveys
Working with campaigns
Referencing campaigns throughout the system
Surveys and petitions
Summary
8
Fundraising for Your Mission
Fundraising for Your Mission
Implementing a fundraising appeal
Developing a fundraising plan
Selecting a payment processor
Initial fundraising configuration
Recording a contribution manually
Importing contributions
Manually creating a pledge
Searching, examining, and working with contributions
Searching, examining, and taking action on pledges
Accounting Batches
Reporting
Implementing an appeal
Other types of donation
Permissions
Summary
9
Growing Your Membership and Interacting with Members
Growing Your Membership and Interacting with Members
Setting things up
Working with memberships and daily management tools
Forms to solicit new members and retain the existing ones
Searching and reporting
The big picture and other tools
Summary
10
Managing Events
Managing Events
First things – why events?
Building and promoting your event
Processing and managing participants
Tracking, searching, and reporting
Additional tools and options
Integrating events into your CRM strategy
Summary
11
Interacting with Constituents – Managing Cases
Interacting with Constituents – Managing Cases
Thinking through your case management system
Configuring cases
Tracking, managing, and resolving cases
Summary
12
Providing Support – Grant Management
Providing Support – Grant Management
Defining the grant application process
Managing grantees
Tracking grant applications
Grant reports
The other side of the coin – applying for grants
Summary
13
Telling Your Story – Building Reports
Telling Your Story – Building Reports
Getting to the bottom line
Toolsets and timing
Saving and working with reports
Available templates
Customizing and building your own templates
Summary
14
Customization, Community, and Cooperation
Customization, Community, and Cooperation
Future versions and the project roadmap
Customizing and extending
Community and cooperation
Supporting CiviCRM
Summary
Index
Index

About the Authors

Erik Hommel has been an active member of the CiviCRM community since 2009.

He is one of the founders of CiviCooP (http://www.civicoop.org) and one of the partners in EE-atWork (http://www.ee-atwork.nl). With both organizations, he has supported CiviCRM implementation and customization projects with customers such as MAF Norge, Amnesty International Flanders, De Goede Woning, PUM Senior Experts, Wikimedia The Netherlands, and many more, as a project manager/developer/consultant.

Erik has hosted sessions at CiviCon in London and Amsterdam, and several CiviCRM Developer Training workshops. He has taken part in the development of a number of extensions for CiviCRM and has taken part in several CiviCRM sprints in Europe.

You can find Erik regularly on the CiviCRM Stack Exchange site, the IRC channel, and at CiviCRM events in North West Europe.

Joseph Murray is the owner and principal of JMA Consulting, specialists in e-advocacy, e-consultation, and citizen engagement for progressive organizations. He has extensive experience on nonprofit boards, at senior levels of government, and in running electoral, referendum, and advocacy campaigns. JMA Consulting has provided CRM systems to hundreds of political campaigns, tracking interactions with tens of millions of voters, as well as providing CiviCRM, Drupal, and Wordpress strategy, implementation, development, and training services to numerous nonprofits, associations, and advocacy groups. JMA Consulting has published extensions for CiviCRM integrating it with mail, social media, chat, and other services, as well as enhancing the core functionality for grants and other areas.

Joe is an active contributor to the CiviCRM ecosystem, and assists the CiviCRM core team in areas including accounting functionality, sponsorships, and community governance.

I'd like to extend tremendous thanks to Brian for shouldering the burden of the rewrite for this second edition yet keeping me as co-author. Thanks to Donald Lobo and Dave Greenberg for founding CiviCRM and seeing it through its first 10 years. And thanks to Tim Otten, Coleman Watts, and Josh Gowans for taking over as the next generation of CiviCRM core team leaders as we begin 2016—you'll do a great job coordinating this amazing open source community.

Brian P. Shaughnessy is the owner and principal of Lighthouse Consulting & Design, a web development firm specializing in CiviCRM implementations for Joomla!, Drupal, and WordPress. Brian previously worked with a communication firm serving not-for-profit professional, trade, and charitable organizations for over 10 years. After starting his own business, he channeled that experience into effective implementations of CiviCRM for not-for-profits and government institutions. He has worked with organizations around the world, helping them to achieve greater efficiencies and expand functionality through CiviCRM.

Brian is very active in the CiviCRM community, regularly contributing code to the core software, speaking at CiviCon events, and helping to lead a local user group in the Albany, NY area. In the past he has worked with the core development team to provide end-user training and maintains a strong working relationship with the project leaders.

He extends his appreciation to the core team—particularly the founders, Dave and Lobo—as well as the many other core team developers and community developers around the world who have helped make CiviCRM a powerful tool in the hands of not-for-profits, community organizations, and government institutions.

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