U Michigan To Move CRM onto Blackbaud Platform

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/22/09

After a lengthy assessment, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will be replacing its current system-wide fundraising technology and prospect research services with Blackbaud Enterprise CRM and Target Analytics. Blackbaud's constituent relationship management program will provide the university with new capabilities in fundraising, marketing, prospect research, volunteer and event management, and Web site administration. In addition, the solution will provide reporting and analytical capabilities, data security and end-user access administration, and out-of-the-box technical tools to support configuration and customization options.

"Since 1992, the volume and effective use of fundraising data has dramatically changed at the University of Michigan," said Jefferson Porter, associate vice president at the Office of University Development. "Our 20-year-old mainframe system no longer meets our dynamic and expanding needs."

He said a project team consisting of his office, as well as representatives from Business and Finance and Information and Technology Services will manage the transition to the Blackbaud platform. The university expects to have the new system in place in 2011.

The installation will centralize data from more than 40 university fundraising units located on three different campuses. The system will have about 1,000 users who access constituent information in different ways and require different views of the data. The solution will provide reporting and information deployment, integration with other university systems, accounting, and technical support activities.

Additionally, the university's prospect research team will partner with Blackbaud's Target Analytics division to provide gift officers with real-time data and prospect information. The university will use a number of specific tools from the company. ResearchPoint is a prospect research tool for building comprehensive prospect profiles. ProspectPoint allows the user to do custom modeling to assess prospects' ability and likelihood to make gifts. Users tap WealthPoint for on-going wealth updates and individual searching.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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