What Is a CRM?

A Plain-Language Guide to Customer Relationship Management Systems

If you’ve spent any time in the nonprofit, agency, or startup world, you’ve probably heard someone mention a CRM. It might sound like just another acronym—but it’s actually one of the most important tools for managing relationships at scale.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. At its core, it’s both a practice and a database. A CRM system is where organizations track who they’re in contact with, what’s been said, what’s been promised, and what’s coming next.

It’s less about selling something and more about not dropping the ball.

What a CRM Does

A CRM is a digital system that stores and organizes information about your contacts. That might include:

• Names, titles, emails, phone numbers
  
  

• Notes from conversations or meetings
  
  

• Status updates (e.g. potential lead, current client, lapsed partner)
  
  

• Tasks and reminders tied to follow-ups
  
  

• Email correspondence and outreach history
  
  

Instead of relying on scattered spreadsheets, inbox searches, or “mental notes,” a CRM gives you one place to see the full picture of your interactions with each person or organization.

Who Uses CRMs?

CRMs aren’t just for corporate sales teams. They’re widely used in:

• Nonprofits to track donors, volunteers, and partners
  
  

• Freelancers and consultants to manage prospects and client pipelines
  
  

• Health and education orgs to follow up with stakeholders, families, or patients
  
  

• Civic and cultural institutions to build and maintain audience relationships
  
  

Basically, if you’re building trust over time with people outside your organization, you probably need some kind of CRM.

Why It Matters

The point of using a CRM isn’t just efficiency. It’s consistency.

It allows you to:

• Stay in touch without scrambling for context
  
  

• See when and how someone last engaged
  
  

• Prevent dropped threads, delayed responses, or duplicate asks
  
  

• Spot patterns across your network—who’s engaged, who’s stalled, who needs a check-in
  
  

For solo operators or small teams, this kind of system can be the difference between looking polished and looking chaotic.

CRM vs. Email Marketing Tools

One common mix-up: CRMs are not the same as bulk email platforms like Mailchimp or Substack.

CRMs are about relationships, not just communication. They’re designed for two-way interaction and context. Some platforms combine both functions, but if your system only sends newsletters and doesn’t track engagement history, it’s not a full CRM.

Common CRM Platforms

There are dozens of CRM options out there, ranging from simple and affordable to deeply complex. A few popular ones include:

• HubSpot – has a solid free tier, great for freelancers and small teams
  
  

• Airtable – not a traditional CRM, but many people build lightweight ones using its structure
  
  

• Salesforce – widely used by nonprofits and enterprise orgs, but often overkill for small operations
  
  

• Notion, Trello, or Google Sheets – technically not CRMs, but with the right setup, can serve as CRM-lite
  
  

The best CRM for you is the one that matches your actual workflow. Simple is better than perfect if it keeps you consistent.

What Makes a CRM Work

A CRM isn’t useful unless it’s used. That means it needs to:

• Fit naturally into your workflow
  
  

• Be easy to update quickly
  
  

• Remind you of next steps and priorities
  
  

• Let you sort and filter based on what matters most
  
  

It doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to help you show up on time, prepared, and with a memory

Copyright © 2025 Ryan Badertscher. All rights reserved.