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.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Using CiviCRM - Second Edition
Credits
About the Authors
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Summary


In this chapter, we delved into the heart of CiviCRM—the contact record. We learnt how to navigate effectively through the system and also thought through the implications and configuration of contact subtypes. We saw how to create contact records, discovered the types of data we store with the record, organized records with groups, and categorized them with tags. We built relationships from one contact record to another and tracked communication with contacts using activities and miscellaneous information with notes. We also ran searches and understood the difference between contact and component-based searches and performed actions on search results. We discovered alternative workflows available through the system and also conducted the important maintenance process of deduping and merging records.

At this point, you should feel comfortable with the CiviCRM interface and understand the basic contact functionality and concepts. In Chapter 5, Collecting, Organizing, and Importing...