The Challenge:
The Chi Omega Foundation’s previous fundraising management system
consisted of a number of non-integrated tools for collecting donors'
credit card details. Regular recurring gifts, for instance, were
recorded via a paper-based system, while telemarketing and email vendors
uploaded the information to a secure FTP site, where Foundation staff
could then download and manually enter it into a database. Processing
gifts was extremely time- and labor-intensive, and created many
opportunities for errors. When new PCI compliance standards required
that the Chi Omega Foundation change the way it handled gifts, the
organization realized that it was time to not only mitigate security
risks, but also streamline its operations and make it easier to donate
online.
The Solution:
With the help of its Authorized iMIS
Solution Provider (AiSP), Computer System Innovations (CSI), the Chi
Omega Foundation upgraded iMIS in the spring
of 2008. The web-based software solution allowed the Foundation to
collect and efficiently process online donations, ensure PCI compliance
and the secure handling of credit card information, and automatically
log gifts directly within donors’ records. The Chi Omega Foundation also
centralized the management of its fundraising initiatives in iMIS. The organization’s telemarketing vendor, for
example, was able to log into the database system via a simple yet
secure web portal, enter gifts and create donor records. Foundation
staff only had to check the batches and produce receipts, saving them
time and effort.
The Results:
Since launching online donation capabilities, the Chi Omega
Foundation has seen a steady uptick in giving via the web. In just two
years, the Foundation went from processing $9,600 from 170 donors to
$52,000 from 310 donors. Staff also experienced a dramatic impact from
streamlining fundraising management through iMIS. Approximately 50 percent less time was
required for manual data entry. The Chi Omega Foundation has also
benefitted from the more accurate reporting capabilities since upgrading
iMIS. These improvements led the Foundation to
integrate its email campaigns with iMIS, which
have freed up even more staff time, allowing them to take back some
items in-house and realize cost-savings.
"iMIS offered what we needed to boost our
online fundraising performance. The system significantly lightened our
data entry load and provided us with the flexibility to implement
integrated campaigns on-the-fly, among many other things," said Muffin
Dixon, director of development operations, Chi Omega Foundation. "We are
confident that, with CSI’s support, we can use iMIS to its fullest and focus on the continued
growth of our online fundraising gifts year after year." |
