CiviCRM on a Budget Stuart from Korlon LLC (Stoob) CiviCon 2012 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

CiviCRM on a Budget

Stuart from Korlon LLC (Stoob) CiviCon 2012

Intended Audience

• Smaller nonprofits who are exploring

CiviCRM as a solution.

• Developers and implementers interested in

learning how to cater to the smaller market.

• Smaller nonprofits using CiviCRM who wish

to expand use without breaking the bank.

• Smaller nonprofits who have implemented

CiviCRM but are struggling to make it work for them.

Keeping your goals realistic What you need vs. what you want

• Make a big list, prioritize needs first
• Examine workflows and time savers

○ What does the staff work on the most? ○ How can we save time in those areas?

• Watch out for pet projects, problem children,

money wasters

Making and breaking a budget

Put a number on it! $500 $800 €1500 $746 €450 $30 $2500

Keeping your goals realistic The ZEN of software

• Welcome to the flowing river of technology...

with an extremely small paddle

• You know what is said about assume?
• Avoid design driven projects. If someone's

designing screens, you have lost already

• If you are on a budget, you must adopt a

attitude of gratitude, not a plan of demand

Are you gonna host at GoDaddy?

I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Hosting nightmares

Hey, no seriously, CiviCRM is resource intensive - they ain't lying! The hidden cost of getting it wrong... Do you feel like spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on consulting fees, subjecting your staff to slow page loads, amounting to thousands in lost wages, to save $40/month?

Best hosting for CiviCRM

• Shared hosting: CiviHosting is pretty much

the only real, tested choice. Not for PCI.

• VPS: If you need PCI, this is first real option.

Decent VPS start at the $50 price point. Gotchas:

○ email rate limiting ○ no root access, SSH, VPS that isn't really

• DIY: Only you have a hardware, expertise,

and co-location. It's time consuming.

Hosting companies I've worked with and like

Spiretech CiviHosting RimuHosting Liquidweb Yes, that is a short list, isn't it?

And the award for North American payment processor goes to...

Cheapest: Paypal Standard Most awkward: Google Checkout Most expensive: Authorize.net (PCI) Worst idea: Coding your own ...and the winner is: Paypal Pro

Data management Dedupe rules

Don't fear the merger

• 1. merge on first (len: 3), last and email or

first+last if multi-registering without email

• 2. merge every week
• 3. import with external id, watch your dupes

Data management Methods that breed good data

• 1. How's the public using your forms?
• 2. Sometimes it's best to collect plain text and

have staff build data, for instance honor/memory is not my recommendation, build a custom field, then use a soft credit

• 3. Humans need to review your data, regularly

Staff Build & keep a library of know-how

Naturals Know them:

• asking tough questions with hard answers
• begin showing others how to do stuff
• proactively finding info on their own

Use them:

• increase their Civi access, have them record

their knowledge, train others, and dedupe

Staff Build & keep a library of know-how

Regulars Know them:

• reluctant to try, but catch on with help
• use Civi only when necessary
• ask the same questions twice

Use them:

• keep basic access, these are the people the

training library was built for

Staff People who will sink your ship

Tinkerers Know them:

• coming up with schemes and ideas
• changing things they shouldn't
• treat Civi like a toy or science project

Use them:

• limit access, listen to their ideas sincerely

but with a grain of salt

Staff People who will sink your ship

Disasters Know them:

• the questions never cease
• the action never starts
• reckless and rude

Use them:

• these are the people view only access are

for

Kitten break

Enough depressing talk about trouble- makers, right?

Memberships

Let the software decide your workflow for you if you are on a budget. Do not let your board or executive director devise some kind of bizarre system and force their egos upon your website. If possible, take the easy way out... Rolling 1 year memberships.

Memberships

Reduce duplication and staff effort by using checksum, a Civi feature many of you may not know about. Combine checksum and online renewal forms with automated reminder emails for memberships and witness the power of a fully

• perational membership system.

Memberships: auto-renewal

Auto-renewal system is not fully realized, yet. Auto-renewal is not a magic bullet. Credit cards change, transactions are denied, expirations are reached, people lose their card. Civi doesn't 'restart' well, yet. CiviCRM and/or Paypal will never be capable of reaching into someone's wallet for new card

Civi's Public Form Capabilities for Family and Org Memberships

Organization 'on behalf of' Family 'on behalf of'

Versions and upgrades

How will I know? (don't trust your feelings) I say a prayer with every heartbeat I'm asking you what you know about these things

R.I.P. Whitney...

Care and feeding...on a budget

• Upgrade at the end
• f a revision cycle unless...

you need something now

• Beta or x.x.0 versions

are a risk you cannot afford to take from: Hyperbole and a Half

• Schedule an upgrade a couple times a year,

schedule backups daily

• After upgrades check your primary systems

Asking for help...consultants and all that jazz

Have at least two specialists on call Do not sign service retainers unless you can afford them AND get results The duality of consultants: Don't build anything without asking them BUT consultants are the primary expense that breaks budgets Get involved in the forum: help and be helped

Question time... thanks!

Please do not preface your question with a long winded statement. Please do not ask two questions at once. Please wait until everyone has had a chance to ask their one question before you ask a second.