There are pros and cons to using Person Accounts, but because relatively few apps play nicely with them, they’re typically used by organizations that have a good reason for going the Person Account route. So don’t think that you need to go switch today – if you don’t use them, you’re off the hook today! Jeff Douglas’s blog has a fantastic, detailed description of Person Accounts if you want to learn more about this account type.
Over the last couple of months, I have been doing a “Listening Tour” of local nonprofits to learn more about how organizations are managing their data and the challenges they face. I’ve met with staff from 10 different nonprofits, ranging in size from 5-100 staff, and representing a variety of issue areas. I’ve heard the perspectives of program and development staff, as well as those in charge of managing the data for their organizations.
With such a spread in size and maturity, it’s no surprise that each organization handles data differently and uses a variety of systems. There was a huge range in the levels of sophistication, from the small organization that was mainly paper-based and tracked constituents on an Excel spreadsheet, to the organizations using the full extent of CRM software to manage most of their enterprise-wide data functions.
There is an observable, positive shift in how progressive nonprofit organizations are thinking about their constituent data.
The triangle in the graphic above illustrates a hierarchy in this thinking. Traditionally, nonprofits have been quick to embrace databases for their Development Office. Sometimes Grantor, Volunteer or other constituent data has been integrated with the donor database, but it’s usually been a kludgy process.
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