Webinar Follow-up: Gary Green on Choosing and Using Fundraising Software

Q: Once an organization makes a commitment to donor relationship management technology, how long — realistically — should they expect to be in the training/implementation stage, before it’s all up and running smoothly?

A: Training is an ongoing process. This was perhaps the biggest revelation in our deployment. Staff turnover often makes one feel like you’re starting over every couple of months. And it has to be a serious commitment. We started out expecting that two days of training in our headquarters would be sufficient, but we found that people were forgetting things before they got off the plane going back home. We are now up to two weeks at the remote office site, and it’s made all the difference. Our situation may be extreme due to our geographic consolidation and expansion, but this is one area in which you cannot overestimate.