North Devon Hospice

thankQ CRM

North Devon Hospice shows how thankQ helps them make the most of every relationship

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more about North Devon Hospice

In 1981, local people of North Devon set up the hospice, running a community nursing team from a small terraced house in Barnstaple. By 2006, the renovated day facility at Deer Park in Barnstaple was opening a specifically built 7 bedded unit, providing 24 hour hospice care. The hospice is committed to providing specialist care and support to those with a life-limiting illness and to their loved ones, completely free of charge.

From one department to the whole organisation

North Devon Hospice was using Appealmaster to manage their fundraising activity, but when the product went out of service, they began to look for a system which could be used not only for their fundraising activity, but eventually throughout the organisation. In 2003, thankQ was rolled out in the fundraising department, using the standard event module to meet the needs of their fundraising team, with some specific functionality built around managing collection boxes and membership and the contact with their legacy supporters and strong volunteer base. Being the first hospice to choose thankQ, they were able to have the system tailored to their exact requirements.

Following positive feedback from the fundraising team, planning began to integrate thankQ throughout the organisation. Historically, individual departments managed their own database and system. By rolling out rigorous processes (e.g. sending out letters only from the database) and including everyone in thankQ training, the database was integrated in the wider departmental work.

Chris Prideaux, Database Manager said, “It was clear that the central database would ultimately avoid duplication of effort and data, which although would take time initially, would actually save us a lot of time in the near future.” In 2006/7 the hospice upgraded the system, and then again in 2011. The modules that were originally purchased are now standard within thankQ, and have evolved to include even greater functionality. Looking to the future, North Devon Hospice brought additional KPI and feedback modules, allowing more staff to access, run and manage their own reports.

In practice: Importing lottery data to thankQ reaps rewards

As part of the strategy to hold data centrally, the Lottery department imported the lottery member data from the previous independent system. This enabled the hospice to establish relationships, so which donors were also lottery members, and gave them access to additional records to mail fundraising requests. So successful was this decision that an initial mailing to the now 40,000 strong database led to existing lottery members setting up additional standing orders, increasing supporter members significantly.

In practice: Flagging patient data ensures thoughtfulness

North Devon Hospice is well supported in the community and known for being there for all the family. Although not the case for everyone, it is possible that some supporters who have donated to the hospice may find themselves needing the service at some point in their lives.

Ali Hunt, Head of Fundraising said “Managing this sensitively is so important to us and the people we work with. A flag appears on the fundraising database that tells us if someone is now on the patient’s database. This not only ensures clinical confidentiality, but also enables us to manage our mailings with the sensitivity they deserve.”

In practice: thankQ as financial sage

North Devon Hospice collects all monies through thankQ, posting a financial summary onto SAGE. Again, it is thankQ’s ability to record key information that influenced the hospice team to use the system as their main financial tool.

As Chris Prideaux, Database Manager explains, “A financial report that tells you how much you raised at your last event is valuable, but when we’re trying hard to build meaningful relationships with our supporters, being able to say, ‘hi, you came along to our sandcastle event last week, did you have a good day?’ is priceless.”

The software helps us to build better relationships with patients, donors and our supporters. It’s important that individuals receive information that’s most relevant to them, and with the software, we are able to do just that.

Su Massey
North Devon Hospice Fundraising department