A CRM for your non-profit: choose, set up, use

A CRM keeps donors, volunteers, members and sponsors in one place. How to choose one, set it up, import data safely and use it for GDPR and reports.

A CRM for your non-profit is one place that records who your supporters are, what they did and what you promised them. You often need one once more than two people work with supporter data, you have more than roughly 500 contacts or you miss opportunities because data is scattered. This piece summarises the complete guide.

Do you need a CRM yet?

A well-kept spreadsheet sometimes does for a few hundred contacts. If the same person is in your list three times, you no longer know who got a certificate or a volunteer leaves with "their" list, it is time.

A worked example with invented numbers: if you spend 6 hours a month merging lists, that is 72 hours a year. If a CRM saves half, you win back almost a week.

Choosing: ask ten questions

Start from your work, not the feature list. Can I keep donors, volunteers, members and sponsors in one file? Do gifts arrive automatically? Do I see a timeline per person? Can I build smart lists, undo an import, set permissions per role, record consents and make a report without a consultant?

Does it support my country's tax certificates? How does the price grow with the number of contacts? Watch for red flags: no export in a common format, a price that is nowhere to be found or a vendor that does not say where your data is stored.

Keep your data model small

Four building blocks are enough: person, gift, relationship and touchpoint. Per person keep a first name and last name in separate fields, the language (essential in Belgium), an email address, an address in fixed fields, the source and the consent with a date. Use tags for what someone is or wants, and fields for what you want to count. Do not keep sensitive data without a reason.

Importing: clean first

Most CRM projects fail because of messy data. Collect all sources, work on a copy, give all lists the same columns, look for duplicates, set consent to "yes" only if you can prove it and test with 20 rows.

With invented numbers: three lists totalling 1,800 rows turn out to be 1,260 unique people after cleanup, and you avoid some donors getting an email three times.

Lists, major donors, volunteers and members

A list is a question, not a file: "who gave in the last six months?". Make ten basic lists and give each one an owner.

For major gifts you track opportunities in five steps: identify, get to know, ask, decision, thank and report, with an owner and a next step with a date per opportunity. Keep volunteers and members in the same system as your donors: those who help often give too.

GDPR and reports

This is not legal advice, but the basics are clear: know why you keep data, on what basis, for how long, who can access it and how you erase it.

Do not give everyone admin rights and keep consents with a date. For the board six figures are enough: total, number and new donors, average gift, retention, monthly donors and cost per euro raised. An example with invented numbers: of 400 donors last year, 260 gave again, a retention of 65 percent.

What WeGlow CRM does

WeGlow CRM is in your WeGlow dashboard. You get a record per person with timeline, notes, documents, gifts and consents, an import from CSV, Excel or a Mailchimp export that you can undo afterwards, smart lists, tasks, a pipeline for major gifts and sponsorships.

There are also volunteers with shifts and members with contributions, reports with Excel export, tax certificates (depending on the country), merging of duplicates and the roles Admin, Editor and Viewer. Glowie suggests actions, but you confirm.

The price follows the number of contacts (excl. VAT): Starter up to 1,000 contacts for 29 euros per month or 300 per year, Growth up to 5,000 for 59 euros per month or 600 per year, Scale up to 10,000 for 89 euros per month or 900 per year, and Pro up to 25,000 for 149 euros per month or 1,500 per year. Check the current prices in your dashboard.

Get the full guide

The full guide has eleven chapters, with a scorecard for your choice, a column template for your import, an agreement per list, an ask to a local business, a membership reminder, a reply to an erasure request and a board report. Get the full guide, also as a PDF, and try it in your WeGlow dashboard with a trial list of 50 contacts.

When does a non-profit need a CRM?

Often once more than two people work with supporter data, you have more than roughly 500 contacts or you miss opportunities because data is scattered. A well-kept spreadsheet sometimes does for a few hundred contacts. If the same person appears three times in your list, it is definitely time.

Which data should I keep in a CRM?

Four building blocks are enough: person, gift, relationship and touchpoint. Per person keep the first and last name separately, the language, an email address, an address in fixed fields, the source and the consent with a date. Keep sensitive data only when you have a clear reason.

How do I import my lists safely?

Collect all sources, work on a copy and give every list the same columns. Look for duplicates, set consent to "yes" only if you can prove it and test with 20 rows first. That way the same donor does not receive an email three times.

Which figures does the board need?

Six figures are enough: the total, the number of donors and new donors, the average gift, retention, monthly donors and the cost per euro raised. Report them in the same order every quarter, so the board sees the trend at a glance.

Sources

European Commission, data protection: GDPR basics. Checked on 2 October 2026.
Belgian Data Protection Authority: consent and data subject rights.