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ChMS Selection Consulting

Many Christian churches and ministries turn to us for guidance when selecting a new database and / or accounting software. We’re a good fit because:

  • We know the software options and providers very well, and
  • We don’t sell, distribute, or receive royalties from any software providers, so our assistance is objective.
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Our expertise in this area is deep! Our president, Nick Nicholaou, writes an annual article listing church and donor management software (ChMS) providers and their capabilities.  He has been consulting on this with a focus on Christian churches and ministries for more than twenty years. In addition, Nick’s wife is a CPA whose practice has always focused on religious nonprofit accounting.

We like to think of ChMS consulting with the analogy of a swimming pool: some like hanging out in the shallow end on the steps, and some like diving in the deep end. We are pleased to serve at either end of that spectrum, or anywhere in the middle.

The way that may look is:

  • Shallow-End Steps: Quick phone call where we answer the question of who are some of the 3 or 4 leaders in the ChMS niche (no charge for this service).
  • Deep-End Dive: Full process of interviews, surveys, and facilitated demos (our hourly rate applies, plus travel-related expenses).
  • Or somewhere in the middle, as requested by your leadership (again, our hourly rate applies, plus any travel-related expenses).

For those who are considering the Deep-End Dive, our methodology is organic and efficient.

  • We interview your team members to get their input on the needs of your organization. The interviews are usually a mix of individual and focus group interviews– we recommend including all staff in the process.
  • We sometimes review reports your organization depends upon and the processes in place to generate those reports.
  • We generate a customized RFP to all known potential solution providers that includes all desired features.
    • The RFP scoring process is objective.
    • The RFP responses are scored, and then weighting formulas are applied based on your team’s input to help identify those potential providers who will most likely be a good fit for your organization.
  • Demonstrations are scheduled at your location with the top two-to-four potential providers.
    • We facilitate the demos to help ensure that each is comprehensive according to your organization’s unique needs, making it possible to do an apples-to-apples comparison.
    • We debrief your team after each demo and then again at the conclusion of all the demos to help objectively arrive at a decision that will likely produce the best possible choice for your organization.

Our process helps to ensure a level playing field with your organization’s unique needs in focus at all times, increased team buy-in, and a successful selection that will meet your organization’s needs for the longest possible timeframe. In fact, probably the biggest benefit to the Deep-End Dive is that your team is unanimously focused on making the final choice solution work!

Please email or call us if you’d like to see if our team would be a good fit to help your organization through the selection process!

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