CBM Christian Blind Mission

CBM Christian Blind Mission is an international Christian development organization, committed to improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world. Based on its Christian values and over 100 years of professional expertise, CBM addresses poverty as a cause, and a consequence, of disability, and works in partnership to create a society for all.

CBM went live with the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), and FinDock in September 2020. At the time, CBM was shifting its focus as it wanted to deliver more integrated programs alongside local agencies and government. Their fundraising approach was also shifting; they wanted to become more donor-centric and align their fundraising efforts based on the needs of their donors – ultimately, to help more persons with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world

“With Salesforce and FinDock, it’s easier to run donor segmentations. We segment based on the donor giving history and this makes it easier to target the right people.”

Although CBM recognized that Salesforce and the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) could provide a valuable solution to meet most of their needs, they knew they would also need a solution that enabled them to unify payment data in Salesforce and allowed them to manage direct debits within Salesforce.

“We could see FinDock would be a great partner for us,” says Alexander Kindinger, Head of IT at CBM. “They have deep knowledge of the nonprofit sector and their product and support are excellent.”

CBM is using a highly customized version of Salesforce and NPSP to support their unique requirements, and because FinDock is built native on Salesforce, it works seamlessly with all CBM’s customizations.

“The fact that FinDock works even with our unique set-up was really important for us,” explains Alexander.

A single source of truth for donor data

Every year, CBM raises roughly €60 million in donations from individual donors which amounts to almost 2 million transactions. More than 95% of this comes from bank transfers and direct debits. Having this information in their CRM and ensuring their donor profiles are accurate and up-to-date is critical for the team.

“From a legal point of view, it’s important that our donor data is up to date, FinDock helps us achieve this,” says Andreas Ratzmann, Key User Supporter Services at CBM. “Having this information also helps us understand our donors better – like which campaigns resonated and where we can make improvements.”

Targeting the right audiences with enhanced donor segmentation

To engage potential and existing donors, CBM’s fundraising team runs high-volume direct mail campaigns split into different campaign categories; potential donors, in-active donors, and active donors. Their goal here is to establish new active donors or increase the value of an existing active donor.

“With Salesforce and FinDock, it’s easier to run donor segmentations,” says Alexander. “We segment based on the donor giving history and this makes it easier to target the right people.”

Direct debit management and reconciliation in Salesforce

For direct mail campaigns, donors have two ways to donate – make a bank transfer, or authorize a direct debit mandate. For mandate authorization, the donor completes a pre-filled form which includes a campaign ID and the Salesforce customer ID. When CBM receives the completed form, they use FinDock to create a direct debit mandate in Salesforce and then use the FinDock Payment Schedule to create a file for their bank.

For donors who wish to initiate the transfer themselves, they do so via their bank. This transaction is then collected in one of CBM’s 5 bank accounts. Each day, bank files from these banks are automatically imported into Salesforce via FinDock – data is de-duped, and reconciled with their CRM data, and the donor profile is updated.

“We need to know how much a donor has said they will donate and then match that with the reality of how much we have received in our bank account. FinDock’s Guided Matching allows us to do that,” says Alexander.

While 100% automated matching is the goal, it is not always possible – so the team at CBM uses FinDock to manually review and match any remaining data that needs to be reconciled. With FinDock, CBM has full visibility over all matching rules and results.

“With FinDock, we have more control and flexibility. We can change the Guided Matching rules as we need to. This helps us increase efficiencies,” says Alexander.

Capturing online donations in Salesforce

CBM also accepts online payments via its website. Credit cards and PayPal are handled via Fundraising Box and connected to Salesforce via FinDock, while SEPA direct debits are handled by FinDock.

When a donor submits a direct debit intent for a one-time or recurring donation, FinDock creates a mandate in Salesforce, the same way as for CBM’s direct mail campaign.

CBM benefits from having full control over its direct debit runs and the added bonus of low transaction fees as they can continue to collect direct debits with their own bank.