CRM Glossary

This CRM Glossary is intended to support understanding of terms used in CRM. In some cases, definitions for key terms are accompanied by examples. Note that examples are not comprehensive; not all examples will be relevant, applicable, or appropriate to all organizations.  

• Correspondence - View history of emails sent from your site, view and edit established email templates, create additional email templates, or set up a new email and send in correspondence.
• Custom Fields - Custom fields in CRM allow you to record additional information about profiles. They can be a powerful tool to address specific scenarios, and they can be used for reporting and tracking information. You can set up custom fields to capture information as a textbox, a dropdown, a checkbox, or a date.  
  • Example: A drop-down menu where you can select the ethnicity from a list of options.
  • Example: Birthday or anniversary date.
• Data Import - Allows you to import a CSV file to create profiles in your system.
• Designations - Designations specify additional information about a profile. Multiple designations can be assigned.
  • Examples: Attendee, Donor, Funder, Member, Participant, Prospect, Vendor, and Volunteer.
• Email History - View history of all emails sent from your site. When viewing a profile, you can see a list of emails sent to the profile.
• Files - External files associated with a profile.
  • Example: PDF file of a volunteer application.
• Notes - Notes capture information for staff. Notes can be created directly on a profile. When notes are created from Notes in the navigation bar, they can be tied to multiple profiles and opportunities.  Notes are different from tasks because they convey information to other system users, but they do not require a specific action.
  • Example: You learn important information about a donor's community engagement and add that to a note on their profile.
  • Example: The note captures ticket prices and other relevant information about an upcoming gala. You assign profiles you know are interested in the gala to the note. The note appears in each of their profiles. Related opportunities can also be assigned to the note.
• Profiles - Profile records capture names and contact information for people and organizations you interact with. Profiles can be donors, grantees, vendors, volunteers, board members, etc. There are three types of profiles.
  1. Individual - A single person. 
     • Examples: Board member, donor, grantee.
  2. Organization - An organization you interact with.
     • Examples: Event sponsor, utility company.
  3. Household - Generally two people that you interact with at the same time. 
     • Example: A couple that donates together.
• Tasks - A task in CRM allows users to set up an activity that is related to one or more profiles. Tasks serve as a reminder of specific actions that need to be completed and will show up in the dashboard under "Upcoming Tasks" including information about the task description, name, and due date.
  • Example: A donor notifies you that they are moving in three months. You add a task to update their profile with their new address after they have moved. 
  • Example: A task to reach out to last year's table sponsors to assess interest in sponsoring this year's program.
• Templates - Templates can be configured in correspondence. There are three types of templates; Profile, Revenue and Fundraising. You can have multiple email templates; and when you email a profile from the system, you can select the appropriate template for that type of communication. Templates can also be downloaded.
  • Example: Thank you email when a gift is received. This can be sent immediately, even in advance of a tax receipt.