EveryChild

Every Child and iMIS: What did ASI Europe deliver to EveryChild?

Flexible database for Donor Management
Event Management
Supporter relationship handling
Gift Aid Compliancy
Billing and A/R cash

Challenge

In order to accommodate its expanding supporter base, EveryChild needed a single, central database to consolidate its data and to enable it to carry out regular marketing activities to its 350,000 donors and sponsors. The charity also required an easy to navigate database 'front-end' where administrators and marketers could quickly and easily change supporter contact details and where it could record donors' communication preferences. EveryChild also required a solution that complied with Gift Aid regulations.

Why did EveryChild select iMIS?

Following a lengthy selection process which included researching entire replacement systems, EveryChild chose to use iMIS. Whilst EveryChild was already aware of the strength of the iMIS Customer Management module, it particularly liked the fast donor information retrieval and update capability and the fact that iMIS is easily customisable. Roland Sadler, EveryChild's Database Manager, oversaw the project. He said, 'iMIS is flexible and robust. Bringing the database in-house has meant that not only do we save on supplier costs but we also have complete control of our own data.'

Donor and Supporter Management

EveryChild use iMIS to record a large range of ever changing demographic information, including donor status and important dates. Administrators can now change or update these supporter details quickly and easily without having to navigate through several screens. In addition, iMIS has delivered -

integrated QAS (Quick Address System) for fast and accurate address verification
the ability to link response letters link to the relevant supporter
quick-create custom fields for ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ fields, ‘letter’ or ‘email’
automated sending of supporter thank you letters

Improved Supporter Relationship Management

All incoming and outgoing supporter correspondence can be recorded against the supporter's iMIS record. This means that everything from the method of communication, the communication source, and the reason behind the contact can be measured and analysed. If a supporter query needs to be followed up, iMIS is able to track the query on a user by user basis until it is resolved.

Billing

iMIS billing records are created and updated as a supporter signs up for child sponsorship and payments are presented. Bi-monthly reminder notices can be issued if payments fall behind and the account falls into arrears. This allows in-depth analysis of payment patterns, greater control over delinquent payers and better budgeting, In effect this frees up time for administrators to concentrate on servicing the needs of supporters.

Events

The Events module is used by marketing to manage registrations for a range of active challenges it hosts in order to raise revenue. It creates events within iMIS and adds the relevant participants within iMIS to the event.

Delivering Management Information – Reporting

iMIS’ seamless link to Crystal Reports means that it is fast and easy for the user to produce any necessary fundraising or management reports. EveryChild is able to access and report on any information held in iMIS, in order to give a snapshot of the progress of an appeal, for example.

EveryChild recently upgraded to 10.5 from iMIS 10. What were the benefits?

EveryChild was able to upgrade its system without affecting its day to day activities. As well as a more attractive user interface, EveryChild was able to customise the appearance of iMIS to reflect its own corporate branding and to integrate QAS. Users are also now able to tailor the iMIS workspace to be a task driven area, making the data itself even easier to access.

Implementation and Customisation of iMIS

The project was delivered on time by ASI’s UK implementation partner, Fisher Technology Plc, ‘Thanks to Fisher’s thorough understanding of EveryChild’s business, the implementation of iMIS was smooth, successful and on schedule,’ said Roland Sadler, Database Manager at EveryChild. Using the iMIS Xtender, Fisher Technology Plc has given EveryChild the ability to communicate with its donors and supporters via SMS text messages. It has also provided Gift Aid traceability whereby EveryChild now automatically scans in Gift Aid Declarations and retain its 16,000 Gift Aid donation certificates for safe-keeping as a visual back-up within iMIS.

The Future

As well as extending its use of the iMIS Events module, EveryChild plans to more closely integrate its website with iMIS. It is considering allowing supporters to be able to view and update their own contact records online, to save manual re-keying internally and to improve its service to supporters.