CiviCRM
Encyclopedia
CiviCRM is a web-based, internationalized suite of computer software for constituency relationship management, that falls under the broad rubric of customer relationship management
. It is specifically designed for the needs of non-profit, non-governmental, and advocacy
groups, and serves as an association management system.
CiviCRM is designed to manage information about an organization's donors, members, event registrants, subscribers, grant application seekers and funders, and case contacts. Volunteers, activists, voters as well as more general sorts of business contacts such as employees, clients, or vendors can be managed using CiviCRM.
CiviCRM's core tracks contacts, relationships, activities, groups, tags and permissions, while its components keep track of contributors (CiviContribute), events (CiviEvent), member lists (CiviMember), cases (CiviCase), grants (CiviGrant), campaigns (CiviCampaign), petitions (CiviPetition), bulk mail
ings (CiviMail) and reports (CiviReport).
CiviCRM is deployed in conjunction with either the Drupal
or Joomla!
content management systems (CMS
), and is supported by many hosting and professional services companies. Both the Drupal and Joomla! professional associations use CiviCRM. CiviCRM's license is the GNU AGPL 3.
CiviCRM version 4.x supports new versions of Drupal (7.x) and Joomla (1.6.x), while CiviCRM 3.4 supports older versions of Drupal (6.x) and Joomla (1.5.x). There are a wide and growing number of integration modules with these CMSes to leverage their strengths. A large number of tokens are available for inclusion in html or plaintext emails, or for producing pdf files for printing. Data integration formats supported include RSS, JSON, XML, and CSV. Supported programming interfaces include REST, server PHP and client javascript APIs, and Drupal style hooks.
Two books are available on the software. Extensive admin, developer and user documentation is available on the project site. There are also active forums and an IRC channel.
CiviCRM is used by many large NGOs including Amnesty International
, Creative Commons
, the Free Software Foundation
, and the Wikimedia Foundation
for their fundraising. There are also cases of very large record sets being used with one company claiming to have set up CiviCRM with a set of over 3 million constituents. CiviCRM is also used by Kabissa
to provide CRM capabilities to over 1,500 organizations, mostly in Africa.
CiviCRM downloads are available from SourceForge
, where it was "project of the month" for January, 2011.
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
. It is specifically designed for the needs of non-profit, non-governmental, and advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
groups, and serves as an association management system.
CiviCRM is designed to manage information about an organization's donors, members, event registrants, subscribers, grant application seekers and funders, and case contacts. Volunteers, activists, voters as well as more general sorts of business contacts such as employees, clients, or vendors can be managed using CiviCRM.
CiviCRM's core tracks contacts, relationships, activities, groups, tags and permissions, while its components keep track of contributors (CiviContribute), events (CiviEvent), member lists (CiviMember), cases (CiviCase), grants (CiviGrant), campaigns (CiviCampaign), petitions (CiviPetition), bulk mail
Bulk mail
Bulk mail broadly refers to mail that is mailed and processed in bulk at reduced rates. The term does not denote any particular purpose for the mail; but in general usage is synonymous with "junk mail."...
ings (CiviMail) and reports (CiviReport).
CiviCRM is deployed in conjunction with either the Drupal
Drupal
Drupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...
or Joomla!
Joomla!
Joomla is a free and open source content management system for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets and a model–view–controller Web application framework that can also be used independently....
content management systems (CMS
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
), and is supported by many hosting and professional services companies. Both the Drupal and Joomla! professional associations use CiviCRM. CiviCRM's license is the GNU AGPL 3.
CiviCRM version 4.x supports new versions of Drupal (7.x) and Joomla (1.6.x), while CiviCRM 3.4 supports older versions of Drupal (6.x) and Joomla (1.5.x). There are a wide and growing number of integration modules with these CMSes to leverage their strengths. A large number of tokens are available for inclusion in html or plaintext emails, or for producing pdf files for printing. Data integration formats supported include RSS, JSON, XML, and CSV. Supported programming interfaces include REST, server PHP and client javascript APIs, and Drupal style hooks.
Two books are available on the software. Extensive admin, developer and user documentation is available on the project site. There are also active forums and an IRC channel.
CiviCRM is used by many large NGOs including Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
, the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
, and the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
for their fundraising. There are also cases of very large record sets being used with one company claiming to have set up CiviCRM with a set of over 3 million constituents. CiviCRM is also used by Kabissa
Kabissa
Kabissa – Space for Change in Africa is a volunteer-led non-governmental organization that promotes Information and Communication Technology to empower and connect people and civil society organizations for positive change in Africa...
to provide CRM capabilities to over 1,500 organizations, mostly in Africa.
CiviCRM downloads are available from SourceForge
SourceForge
SourceForge Enterprise Edition is a collaborative revision control and software development management system. It provides a front-end to a range of software development lifecycle services and integrates with a number of free software / open source software applications .While originally itself...
, where it was "project of the month" for January, 2011.
See also
- AtollonLagoonCRM
- SugarCRMSugarCRMSugarCRM is a software company based in Cupertino, California. They produce the web application Sugar, also known as SugarCRM, which is a customer relationship management system that is available in both open source and Commercial open source applications.Sugar's functionality includes sales-force...
- epesiBIMEpesiBIMepesiBIM is an open source, web based Customer Relationship Management multiuser application. BIM stands for 'epesi Business Information Manager' with the goal of providing functionality beyond the typical CRM...
- SplendidCRMSplendidCRMSplendidCRM produces open source Customer Relationship Management software developed in C# for the ASP.NET framework. The product is available in two editions - Open Source and Professional - the main difference between the two products is the inclusion of stored procedures and source code for a...
- Comparison of CRM systemsComparison of CRM systems- General :Only stable releases are considered.- Features :- See also :* Comparison of ERP software Enterprise Resource Planning* Customer relationship management CRM...
- List of applications with iCalendar support
Further reading
- Various authors: CiviCRM manual. Free book (GPL) by FLOSS ManualsFloss manualsThe FLOSS Manuals is a non-profit foundation founded in 2006 and based in the Netherlands. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software....
(1st ed. May 2009, 2nd ed. May 2010, 3rd ed. March 2011). Covers CiviCRM's core functionality for contacts (individuals, households, and organizations), relationships, and activities, as well as its four main modules: CiviContribute, CiviEvent, CiviMail, and CiviMember. - Joseph Murray and Brian Shaughnessy: Using CiviCRM. Packt Publishing. Develop and implement a fully functional, systematic CRM plan for your organization Using CiviCRM.