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Author Topic: Is CiviCRM good for a start-up?  (Read 2722 times)

PageOneLiteraryCenter

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Is CiviCRM good for a start-up?
July 28, 2013, 12:44:05 am
I'm the founder of a nonprofit similar to Richard Hugo House (www.hugohouse.org). They're a creative writing center in Seattle for youth and adults. My organization will basically be doing the same thing as HH and I know they use CiviCRM. The thing is, right now, it's just me and 4 other board members. For the first six months(?), I'm going to be the ED, the Program Director, etc. I switched my website to CiviHost and had them download CiviCRM because I'll be operating just like HH: CiviEvent (which I'll be using for actual events as well as workshop registration), CiviMember (because we plan to offer an annual membership), CiviContribute (which we'll use eventually, but right now we're being fiscally sponsored and have to use a payment processor not an extension of CiviCRM), CiviMail, etc.

CiviCRM seems a little confusing and it really is a DIY.  I'm wondering if it's too much for a start-up like ours (without any IT help) and maybe I should be using something more simpler. Advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Celise Colston
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Page One Literary Center
"Unleashing Creative Brilliance One Word At A Time"

Hershel

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Re: Is CiviCRM good for a start-up?
July 28, 2013, 03:27:57 am
It depends a bit on your technical knowledge and level of comfort with computers. I know lay-people who are successfully doing events and memberships (and even contact data imports) by themselves. The documentation for CiviCRM is good so if you're able to spend a bit of time and read up on the basics, I think your needs you can handle yourself most probably.

If not, you can also hire a professional consultant, even for just a few hours, to get you started. The fee for that is not terribly high.
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Dave Greenberg

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Re: Is CiviCRM good for a start-up?
July 29, 2013, 11:14:47 am
Celise - You might also want to chat w/ one of the CiviCRM Ambassadors - volunteers who have offered to help new folks evaluate CiviCRM / get started: http://civicrm.org/ambassadors
Protect your investment in CiviCRM by  becoming a Member!
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  • CiviCRM Community Forums (archive) »
  • Old sections (read-only, deprecated) »
  • Support »
  • Pre-installation Questions (Moderator: Dave Greenberg) »
  • Is CiviCRM good for a start-up?

This forum was archived on 2017-11-26.