The University of Nebraska Foundation will launch a constituent relationship management system, or CRM, to facilitate NU’s advancement efforts in the next year.

CRMs are databases that hold all the critical information about a particular audience. An advancement CRM holds all the information about the university’s alumni, donors and friends and allows all users who work with that audience to easily access, update and use the information.

“All of us, whether we work for the university, alumni associations or the foundation, have interactions with alumni and donors,” said Brian Hastings, CEO of the NU Foundation, who announced the intent to create the CRM with NU system President Hank Bounds on Dec. 21.

“Being able to capture the preferences of each of those individuals as well as our interactions with each of them, and then to access that information anytime and anywhere, will allow us to have the smartest conversations possible and provide this important audience with a customized, consistent experience regardless of who in the university community is speaking to them.”

Hastings said the goal for the CRM is to go live in May 2017, and for it to create “one source of truth” about the university’s alumni, donors and friends.

University and alumni leaders have worked with the foundation to share the university’s requirements for a CRM and to share current university data practices, gaps and insights into its future needs. University of Nebraska-Lincoln representatives working with NU Foundation include Mark Askren, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer; Diane Mendenhall, associate athletic director for development and ticket operations; Donde Plowman, dean of the College of Business Administration; and Ronnie Green, interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and IANR vice chancellor.

Those interested in learning more about the advancement CRM can contact Hastings, their campus representatives or Mike Bird (mike.bird@nufoundation.org), who is leading the initiative for the university system and the NU Foundation.