At the beginning of the last century, Dutch cinemas frequently collected donations from their visitors. However, in the 1920s, cinema operators feared an excess of collections. Still, they found it challenging to determine which charitable organisation was allowed to collect money and which wasn't. So in 1927, on the initiative of Abraham Tuschinski, the Dutch Cinema Association set up a charitable organisation of its own: 'Bio-Vacantieoord Foundation'. This was a holiday resort for children whose parents were less fortunate. In recent decades, the holiday resort grew into the holiday park in the Arnhem area that it is today. With this growth, the target group also changed. With its 21 holiday homes and six luxury tents, Bio Holiday Resort now focuses on families with disabled children. How your body works at the Bio Holiday Resort doesn't matter because it has all the ingredients for a beautiful holiday together. Thanks to the many adaptations and aids, everyone can participate in all activities. Every child counts equally, and families have an unforgettable holiday. This is how Bio has been committed to vulnerable children for more than 97 years by offering them a place where they can relax, gain strength and be themselves without restriction.
'We depend on donors, so a secure, user-friendly and clear CRM system is indispensable'
Safe and orderly
Jurgen Rooijackers has been working at Bio Holiday Resort for over 22 years and is now the ICT coordinator at the organisation. He says the charity needs some 2.5 million euros annually to maintain the park and grounds. Besides paying holidaying families, Bio relies on donations to maintain and run the resort. There are many types of donors, from people who leave their inheritance to the park to companies who donate - in kind or otherwise - to people who transfer a few euros through a campaign or the website. "Because we depend on these donations, we wanted a secure, user-friendly and comprehensible CRM system," Rooijackers says.
Until a few years ago, Bio's address file consisted of several Excel files. "That was quite chaotic in terms of CRM because there were almost more address files than employees," Rooijackers says jokingly. He started building something based on Microsoft Dynamics but discovered this system was too big and complex for the organisation. "It required a huge amount of knowledge. It's essentially a big box of building blocks to build to your needs. I find that incredibly fun, but I am not an ICT person by nature, so it takes quite some time to teach myself how to go about all this."
As few systems as possible
Bio Holiday Resort decided to look for a CRM system that would better suit the organisation. "We compared several suppliers on various criteria. Our most important criterion was that a system fell within a certain budget. In addition, it had to be easy to work with, the package should not be too big, and security was an important aspect." The Procurios platform quickly emerged as the winner for Rooijackers, mainly because it is an integrated system. "We aim for as few systems as possible because we are a fairly small organisation. With Procurios, three important elements to us are intertwined in one application: the CRM, donations and the website. Moreover, we immediately felt a click during our first conversation with Procurios. They immediately understood what we were looking for."
'As a small organisation, we aim to have as few different systems as possible.'
Data in a central place
In particular, linking the donations to the website was an important, decisive factor. "We decided to raise more donations, including smaller ones, through the website. That way of donating is simple, but the process must run smoothly. Otherwise, a donor will quickly drop out. In the Procurios platform, donations and the CRM are linked, and a donor can transfer a donation quickly and easily via our website. This donation appears directly in the system without any additional action on our part. The fact that this is so neatly arranged played an important part in our choice for Procurios," says Rooijackers.
Moreover, the Procurios platform offers an unambiguous way of relationship management. "Fundraising is mainly that: relationship management." The communications department is responsible for fundraising for people with smaller purses through newsletters, social media, and the website. Our director and assistant fundraiser manage the more significant relationships through personal visits. The communications department, director, and fundraiser are all comfortable using the system. "It provides a single version of the truth in which we record contacted donors and when and what donations came in. This is important because if an organisation donated just a fortnight ago, there is no point in revisiting them soon after." The statuses that can be added to individuals in the CRM are also helpful in creating mailings, for example.
Critical thinking
Bio Holiday Resort significantly cleaned up its data while switching from the various Excel sheets to Dynamics. "That was a huge advantage when we switched to Procurios," Rooijackers says. Of course, an extra check was performed during that migration, and another critical eye was cast at which relationships could be deleted because they were no longer opportune. "Procurios is very good at deduplication, which is very pleasant. That ensures the data is of high quality in our system."
Another significant advantage of the Procurios platform for Bio Holiday Resort is that the foundation of the software fits well with the charity. "In Dynamics, I had to build a lot myself, whereas the foundation of the Procurios platform is solid, with the added advantage that it is a very flexible base that I can easily adjust myself. Creating or removing fields is quite different from building links between, for example, donations and a website," Rooijackers smilingly says. If Bio still wishes for additional functionalities in the platform, they can indicate them to Procurios. A new release occurs monthly, and extra features become available to all customers. "What I like is that Procurios collaborates with us very well. But sometimes, this also means - and I will honestly admit that I had to get used to this initially - that they ask critical questions about your processes and system use. As a result, you sometimes find out that you can do things differently from what you're accustomed to. However, if you can build a strong case for a missing functionality, they will build it." For example, Procurios built the ability for Bio Holiday Resort to register in-kind donations in the system. This functionality now also benefits other users.
'The Procurios Community is a valuable source of information'
Procurios Club
The relationship with Procurios has been perfect from the start, says Rooijackers. "Their product is user-friendly and simple, allowing our employees to work with it easily, and I don't have to provide much support. In addition, there is just a click with the company's staff. They understand our work and challenges as a charity and collaborate with us. Moreover, they have recently set up the Procurios Club, an online community where users of their platform can share knowledge and consult. I find that a precious resource."
