With FIMS CRM and Development Process Changes, Leading Community Foundation Increases Donor Base and Quadruples Assets

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MicroEdge LLC, the leading provider of solutions for the giving community worldwide, announced today that the Greater Houston Community Foundation has experienced sustained and rapid growth following an overhaul of their process that included the choice of FIMS CRM as its solution for donor development and management.

Although GHCF maintained solid growth in its early years, the economic crisis in 2008 posed a few challenges to that growth. Potential donors were cutting back, making it more difficult to open new funds. Not ones to sit back and wait for the economy to improve, GHCF took a more proactive approach. The foundation recognized that to sustain its growth, it would need to make a few changes. A top-down assessment of its development practices and a comparison of how other organizations were working led the Greater Houston Community Foundation to the conclusion that a more robust donor management system was in order, and FIMS CRM was implemented.

MicroEdge FIMS CRM is an online, hosted solution that drives more effective prospecting and donor management through process and best practices. It creates more efficient development teams by streamlining the tracking and management of development activity; strengthens ties to donors by enabling foundations to better leverage collective knowledge; and manages campaigns and events efficiently.

For the Greater Houston Community Foundation, adopting FIMS CRM made sense on many levels. “When we looked at the cost of a staff member’s time versus the cost of FIMS CRM, it was a very easy decision to go with FIMS CRM,” says Ed Padar, the Foundation’s Controller. And it paid off. By 2010, the Foundation’s assets reached $300 million, while donor-advised funds were at more than 1,200. Additional benefits have taken hold throughout their process as well. “Using FIMS CRM, the foundation started tracking all the times, and ways, staff met with a prospective donor, and the board received a much clearer picture of our development efforts,” asserts Ed.

“The Greater Houston Community Foundation has clearly been doing a lot of things right over the years, and the results speak for themselves,” states Preston McKenzie, CEO of MicroEdge. “When the economy slowed the Foundation’s progress, it made a number of important changes to ensure its continued success. We are extremely pleased that Greater Houston Community Foundation has chosen FIMS CRM to track, monitor and evaluate its efforts to manage and grow its donor base and assets in an efficient and effective way.”

To read Greater Houston Community Foundation’s full story, visit the website at http://microedge.com/About/OurClients.aspx.

About Greater Houston Community Foundation

GHCF was formed in 1971 and became an active community foundation in 1995 that focuses on growing effective philanthropy by connecting donors to the causes they care about, providing excellent stewardship of assets entrusted to us, and convening resources to address important community needs. Visit their website at www.ghcf.org

About MicroEdge

Established in 1985, MicroEdge, LLC is the leading provider of software and services to the giving community worldwide. MicroEdge solutions deliver a powerful, integrated, and open framework for efficient and effective charitable giving. The company is committed to providing the best technology toolset for foundations, corporations, government agencies, donors, advisors and financial institutions. Together, these tools help organizations to work with one another to raise, invest, manage and award charitable currency. MicroEdge is headquartered in New York City with regional offices throughout the U.S. and supports thousands of clients worldwide. MicroEdge is part of the Vista Equity Partners portfolio of software and technology-enabled companies. To learn more about MicroEdge visit www.microedge.com.

MicroEdge is a trademark and/or service mark of MicroEdge, LLC. All other company names or marks mentioned herein are those of their respective owners.

Copyright © 2011, MicroEdge, LLC

CONTACT:

MicroEdge LLC
Kathy Krais, 800-899-0890 ext. 3966
kkrais@microedge.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  New York

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Technology  Data Management  Internet  Software  Other Technology  Mobile/Wireless  Philanthropy  Other Philanthropy  Foundation  Fund Raising

MEDIA:

Logo