2 Institutions Adopt New Constituent Relationship Management Platform
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 12/11/13
Two institutions have gone public with their adoption of new systems
for fundraising database management. The University of Georgia in
Athens moved off of Ascend, which was implemented in 1995 and is no
longer supported by the vendor, and onto Blackbaud's CRM
for
constituent management. The new application went live formally in July
2013.
During the same period, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
was moving away from Advise, its legacy CRM system, and onto
Blackbaud's software as well, which it has renamed as Davie (Database
for Advancing our Vision of Institutional Excellence).
Branded as GAIL, Giving and Alumni Information Link, the Web-based
system in use by U Georgia is intended to streamline the fundraising
function for all schools, colleges and units in the university. It
consolidates data generated through annual and capital giving, gift
planning, major giving, and related activities that traditionally have
been stored in multiple locations.
"Blackbaud CRM will allow us to organize information that will help
us
build ongoing relationships with alumni, donors, students and friends,"
said Derek Clark, U Georgia's project coordinator for the new system
and director of Advancement Services in the Division of External
Affairs. "The enterprise-wide solution will be an efficient system that
will improve workflow. "
Users can access the functionality of GAIL through mobile devices.
"This new alumni and donor database system will greatly enhance the
university's fundraising capabilities and will play a critical role
during the years of our comprehensive campaign and beyond," added Tom
Landrum, vice president for development and alumni relations.
Blackbaud CRM is also in use at Ohio State, University of Michigan, and
Yale University, among
others.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.