“Winning with CiviCRM” Coaching Program

A private 8-week one-on-one coaching program for CiviCRM mastery

Increase your fundraising and engagement results • Remove uncertainty and delays • Keep your staff working smoothly

Feeling lost in CiviCRM?

  • Are you feeling stuck in your fundraising and constituent engagement?

  • Struggling to follow-up with existing or potential donors and members, and move them to appropriate next steps?

  • Losing opportunities for supporter outreach, because you spend too much time crawling through the data?

  • Lost in the complexity of CiviCRM’s massive feature set?

  • Afraid to try a new feature or configuration because you might “do it wrong” and regret it later?

Wouldn’t you like to remove the uncertainty and make real progress toward your goals?

Imagine getting to the next level …

  • Set clear fundraising and engagement goals, and actually achieve them.

  • Identify the donors, members, and other constituents who are just waiting for the right nudge to increase their participation.

  • Get the data you need from your CRM quickly and with confidence.

  • Master CiviCRM’s complex features and make them work smoothly for your mission.

  • Have the knowledge and confidence to experiment with new ideas safely.

One-on-one coaching will show you the way.

CiviCRM might be a great fit for you, but how will you leverage its full potential for your unique needs?

The “Winning with CiviCRM” Coaching Program is for organization leaders who are looking to master their CiviCRM system in support of their mission — through increased donations, advocacy, and participation; easier staff workflows; and confident data analysis.

If you think you've got the basic skills to dig in and master CiviCRM, but you'd like the benefit of experienced guidance, this coaching program is for you.

  • I’ll work with you where you are now and help you move with purpose toward measurable success with CiviCRM.

  • I’ll ensure you're fully informed and well guided in configuring CiviCRM to function properly for you, and in leveraging its strengths to meet your unique needs.

  • I’ll meet with you regularly to assess your current challenges, chart a course for tackling any roadblocks, and keep you on track to meet your goals.

Benefits to you:

  • Confidence that you're moving in the right direction on any task and avoiding common mistakes.

  • Mastery of CiviCRM and its many features; you build the expert skills in-house, so you're not waiting to get "expert" help from outside.

  • Additional help when you need it. If you have a solid business case for a project involving custom feature development, team training, or other CiviCRM needs beyond coaching, my team and I are here for you (or I can recommend another providers who might be a great fit for your specific project).

  • Reliable access to the data you need for effective fundraising and donor management, because you'll have a clear picture of how your CRM actually is tracking (or could be made to track) the data that matters to you.

This coaching program will get you up to speed quickly, and to keep you moving forward toward full mastery of CiviCRM's intricacies and nuances, with the aim of putting you in the driver's seat.

This is your game, you're in it to win, and I'm here to make sure you're covering all the bases, avoiding surprises, and working effectively toward your goals. You set the priorities; I'm there to counsel and advise; and we'll reach your goals together.

The program

In short: We’ll start by identifying your unique goals and challenges, and make a plan that’s just for you. I’ll meet with you by phone every second week to help you move forward. In between calls, you’ll do your own work at your own pace, and you’ll have unlimitted access to me for support and guidance as you go along. At the end of the program, you’ll be ready to blaze forward on your own!

The progam includes:

  • A roadmapping call for initial assessment and goal-setting.

  • Accountability calls once every two weeks.

  • Structured assignments and recommendations, cusotmized for you after each call.

  • Direct access to me via email between calls, for answers on any topic related to CiviCRM.

Roadmapping call agenda:

Before our initial roadmapping call, I’ll send you a questionnaire to uncover your goals, challenges, and current situation. Then on that call, we will:

  • Review and discuss your questionnaire answers;

  • Deep-dive into your current situation and goals both near-term and long-term;

  • Set a recurring meeting for accountability calls;

  • Agree on a first set of action items.

Accountability calls:

  • Accountability calls take place every other week via my screensharing platform, with the purpose of keeping you on track toward your goals.

  • I’ll record each call and share it with you afterward, for your reference.

  • We’ll start with an update from you on your homework progress.

  • We’ll assess your progress toward your identified goals.

  • We’ll agree on next steps based on your progress, challenges, and aspirations.

  • Calls are limited to 1 hour; after all of the above is done, we can explore specific technical questions if time allows.

Questions between calls:

Between calls, you can contact me by email with any questions at all. I’ll give you my best answers to help you make progress until our next call.

The details

Your “Winning with CiviCRM” Coaching Program includes all of the following.

  • Accountability calls:
    Accountability calls are up to 1 hour, with screen-sharing so we can look at things together as needed.

  • Recordings:
    Calls are recorded (voice and screen), so that you can easily refer to them later.

  • Topics:
    This is a coaching program for you personally, designed to help you master both broad-based strategies and specific technical details. Any topic or question is valid — from practical how-to’s to broader what-if’s — but I'll be aiming to focus on your underlying business goals before recommending a specific approach. We're both here to help you achieve measurable outcomes, not just to fiddle with the software.

  • 1-on-1 discussion:
    This is a personal 1-on-1 coaching program for you. Feel free to share the recordings (and anything you’re learning) with your team as you proceed through the program, but it will just be you and me on the calls.

  • Homework:
    I won't require you to do anything you don't want to do, but we will decide together on homework for you in each call — reading documentation, watching a tutorial, or trying one thing or another — to move you forward. I’ll expect to hear from you on the results of those efforts.

Still have questions?

What happens after I apply and pay?

You'll get an email confirming your participation and providing a link to the initial questionnaire. Once you complete that, you can select a spot in my coaching calendar for our initial roadmapping call.

What's this questionnaire? What if I don't have good answers just now?

It's a set of around 15 questions to help me get a good picture of your current situation, limitations, and goals for winning with CiviCRM. You can skip any questions you want, but thorough answers will help us make the best use of time on our initial roadmapping call.

I'm too busy to take this on right now!

Of course you feel busy. Most of my clients start out already feeling overwhelmed before they come to me. Naturally, that won't just magically change without some effort. Still, if you don't think you can put in 1 or 2 hours a week to improve your situation, this program might not be for you.

What’s the fee to participate?

Prices are listed clearly on the program application form. But before you look, ask yourself: What is the cost to your mission, if you don't act to improve your situation? And what's the value to your mission if you could actually master your CRM system?

Are there other costs besides the program fee?

No, nothing major. I may recommend a book or signing up for a service, but that's about it. Everything described on this page is included in the one-time program fee. If you want more help after that, we can discuss options; but by that time you'll be a lot more prepared to make a cost/benefit decision for any outside help you might want.

I’m nervous about sharing my situation...

Don't be. All our conversations are completely confidential, and I'll never disclose so much as your name, to anyone, unless you ask me to. I've been consulting with organizations just about like yours for over 15 years. I couldn't stay in business if I didn't respect my clients' privacy.

Will you sign an NDA before we speak?

No. Getting lawyers involved for such a small engagement makes little financial sense.

I don’t think I need help...

Everybody needs help. I myself get outside expertise when it will help me improve my operations. It's tempting to try and do it all alone, but it’s pretty hard to "read the label when you're inside the bottle."

My situation is different!

I assure you, it probably isn't. Your policies, programs, and people are unique, but the principles of CRM mastery are universal. The hard part is knowing which ones to apply, how, and when.

Can my team members be on the calls with me?

No. This is a dedicated 1-on-1 coaching program for you. You'll have the recordings if you want to share those with other members of your team.

And if you need help inspiring your team, we should cover that in coaching, so you can continue doing it afterward without needing outside help.

I can’t afford this right now... can I get a discount?

No, but I've got a lot of free resources to help you in the mean time. Or you might find that a one-hour coaching session is better for you right now.

How long before I see results?

My coaching method focuses on actionable learning in support of your clearly defined goals. I'm a big advocate for the 80/20 rule and building momentum with smalls wins. You should begin to see measurable progress within a few weeks.

Best of all, it's guaranteed.

No matter what your situation, I offer this simple guarantee: If we work together and you’re not certain that my help was absolutely worth your time and money, just let me know within the first month and I'll refund your entire fee — no questions asked!

What I want most is that you'll be able to point to measurable accomplishments as you progress with CiviCRM – gains that you'll be delighted to report to your board, your staff, and your constituents.

Getting started

When you're ready to begin, head over to the Coaching Sign-up page. Once you complete that sign-up, I’ll get you the initial questionnaire, we’ll schedule our roadmapping call, and you’re on your way!

“CiviCRM is an awesome application but like any app it has its quirks. I’m sure we could have worked through everything but it would have taken so much more time. Having you as part of our team allowed us to directly target an issue and solve it, instead of finding, researching, planning a resolution, and implementing it.”

— Craig Isdahl, OnlySecureWP

Who wrote this page, anyway?

Hi! I'm Allen Shaw, founder and Managing Director here at Joinery. I've been helping ambitious organizations meet their development goals with professional CRM solutions since 2001, first with custom-built solutions, and now – for nearly 15 years – focusing exclusively on CiviCRM as a platform that's built from the ground up for community-driven organizations. I'm a regular contributor of improvements to systems including Drupal and CiviCRM, and the Group Lead for the CiviCRM Extensions Working Group, where we continually shepherd new developers who are eager to make their own contributions to the community.

I’m on a mission to help associations love their CRM again and stop wasting effort on poorly planned projects. Care to join me? You’ll be glad you did!