Hey, everyone has to be a first-time buyer sometime. For anyone just getting his or her bearings, feeling asea amid the cacophonous web 2.0 suq, a basic orientation to evaluating CRMs. This isn't meant to read as marketing copy, but I need hardly add the caveat [emptor] that we're an interested party ourselves. The text below reprints my draft of an article that appears in the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet's new publication "Constituent Relationship Management: The New Little Black Book of Politics. A Guide to CRM in Politics.". Enjoy. Or if you prefer, you can get the text below as a .pdf.

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Just as every army travels on its stomach, every NGO travels on its data. For fundraising, advocacy, case management, communications, and every other way a nonprofit touches its community, good information has always been the lifeblood of the third sector. And the Internet has given it a shot of adrenaline. Data management that would have been too expensive for the most well-heeled entities just a few years ago is increasingly at the fingertips of every organization, empowering a panoply of heretofore unimaginable strategic choices. Increasingly, even small organizations are turning to advanced Constituent Relationship Management systems. CRMs, in a nutshell, offer one-stop access to a package of advanced online tools that can enable any nonprofit to project a sophisticated online presence, all built around a single, integrated data core. Where once a grassroots organizer might have her own list of activists, a development departments its separate (partially overlapping) database of donors, and a state chapter of the national organization its own uncoordinated versions of the same, a CRM brings the total institutional relationship with a supporter under a single roof. That not only streamlines data maintenance and information-sharing, but allows the organization to understand its community in a ways that would have been impossible before. The drawback in this brave new world is the age-old technological conundrum: bewilderingly multiplying choices leave many nonprofit staffers struggling to evaluate services well outside their comfort zone. For those so afflicted, here are three easy steps for a painless transition to the cutting edge.

I. Tools are great, but data is king.

Most CRMs offer a menu of activism tools that probably go well beyond your immediate needs. If you've never before thought of running meetups or ride boards on your site, having them suddenly at your fingertips can feel a little like Christmas morning. That's great. But it's important to keep focused on a CRM's main deliverables. Any robust CRM should meet most organizations' core feature needs, such as:

• Mass e-mail blasting.
• Online donations.
• Action pages like write-your-rep and petitions.
• Event registration.

In the scheme of things, it's not minor differences in these tools or the presence of features you weren't expecting to have that determines the success of your online ventures – it's data. The ability to gather it efficiently, manage it creatively, and access it readily are what CRMs are all about. Look for:

• Customizability. Almost everyone needs to manage some information specific to their group or issue that won't be built into the tool off the shelf. You need to be confident that the CRMs you're evaluating are capable of handling that information.
• Reporting. Once data is logged in the system, can you use it? Customizable reports that let you compare information in new ways will let your CRM really rock.
• Integration. The tools in the system should be naturally integrated with each other, of course.

But the ability to play well with others is important, too. Avoid vendor lock-in and look for flexible import/export capabilities. Increasingly, CRMs are also opening APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, to enable organizations with more complex needs to sync with external data sources as well.

II. Management and Strategy Count More than Software

Buying a gym membership won't make you fit, and buying a CRM won't make you MoveOn. You have to put in the sweat equity to get the most out of either. While techniques for e-mail communications or the best ways to get blog buzz for a campaign may not be immediately intuitive, they're skills that can be learned – and there are plenty of free online resources to help.* Many consultants can also outsource publicity, message development, and every other part of your web strategy. Even when using a consultant, though, you should be prepared to put hours into routinely working with your platform, if only to develop a feel for the way your campaigns unfold.

• Report, report, report. If you can set a dashboard of basic reports you'll need over and over, so much the better. Did we mention that data is king? Only if you actually look at it.
• Test. Often neglected, even occasional controlled tests of, for instance, competing solicitation strategies to separate target panels will help you hone your tactics. The ability to test cheaply and sometimes in little more than a few hours is a great underrated benefit of CRMs – as anyone who's plowed thousands of dollars into direct mail panels should appreciate.
• Convert online passion into offline action. You'll use online actions, of course, and some people on your list may never want to do more than that. But the ne plus ultra of Internet advocacy is getting a slice of people to take action in the flesh: to attend (or host) a meetup, walk a precinct, run 5K for charity and sign up their friends as donors.
• Take some chances. A CRM ought to give you the tools to do some things you couldn't do before. Given the minimal expense of experimentation and the rapid development of new ways to operate online, you're selling yourself short if you don't try out a few things you're not really sure about. Caution: you may inadvertently become the new expert in what you're trying.

III. It's Still All About People

No matter how little your expertise of Internet tools, you have a critical resource that no consultant can match: you know your issue and your community. At the end of the day there's nothing about online communications that's truly arcane, and all the data in the world shouldn't obscure the fact that it's still real people on the other side of the click-through rates, motivated by things that motivate the people you work with all the time. Things like:

• Free stuff. Giving away useful resources on a site is a great way to attract eyeballs.
• Winning. Being transparent about the campaigns you run, and especially letting people know when they've been part of something successful, makes them enthusiastic about doing it again. Surprisingly few organizations actually follow up well with their online supporters.
• Having fun. A light touch goes a long way online. Humor is the common thread to many viral marketing campaigns.

It's an old fundraising maxim that "people give to people with causes". Even if a few techniques need re-learning, the fundamentals of organizing, marketing and communication are still the best road map of cyberspace. All you need is a little data to travel on. *One of the best current introductory resources is "Online Politics 101: The Tools and Tactics of Online Political Advocacy", a free download.