Best CRM for fundraising and investor relations

Whether you’re building a smart investor database, running a fundraising campaign, keeping track of grants and investments – you need a CRM that can keep up with you and scale as you grow. 

In this blog, we unpack features you should look out for that will help you streamline your workflow and create transparency across your multiple projects and do a thorough comparison of the best CRMs that have a specific focus on investor relations. 

Let’s get into it.

Top 6 features in a CRM that will help streamline fundraising efforts

Look out for the following features if you’re after a CRM that can help you streamline your workflow, foster collaboration and create a single source of truth.

Team collaboration: Look for a CRM that will allow you to add new users easily and create notes on contacts collaboratively so that you can build a single source of truth. 

Automation: This can help you minimise the time and effort you spend on manual tasks such as creating new pipelines, grouping contacts, 

Contact enrichment: Noticed you have missing contact information? Instead of manually going back to check, contact enrichment will help you fill in the blank in moments. 

Email marketing: With all your contacts in one place, a good CRM should also provide you with email marketing support so that you can access contact lists you want to send email campaigns to efficiently. 

Custom pipeline views: If you have multiple use cases for your CRM, it should be able to support this with custom pipeline views. This means you should be able to create pipelines easily across investing, fundraising, partnerships and sales. 

User experience: Avoid a CRM that tries to do it all. This often results in a steep learning curve and clunky designs. 

A comparison of the best CRMs for your fundraising and investor relations

folk

folk is an all-in-one CRM that can help you build a smart investor database, run fundraising campaigns, and support you in keeping track of investments and grants. 

Key features

• Custom pipeline views, folk supports multiple project databases so that you can build shared contact lists across your investing, fundraising, sales and recruiting efforts. 
• AI support, ‘Magic Field’ helps take the heavy lifting, saving you time when sending ultra-personalized messages to multiple recipients. 
• Contact enrichment helps you fill in missing contact information in moments, so you no longer have to check manually. 
• folkX, folk’s Chrome extension, allows you to import search lists and individual profiles into folk without having to leave the page.

Pros

• Track engagement: easily track last interactions with investors and create reminders so you know exactly when to follow up. 
• Team collaboration: adding teammates and creating notes on the same contact is easy. This transparency means everyone is on the same page with last interactions and conversations. 
• Contact sync: gather contacts from multiple platforms including LinkedIn, Gmail, Outlook and more into one place.
• Automation: you can automate the creation of new pipelines, contact categorization, workflows and reminders that will send you a notification whenever it is time to follow up with an investor.
• User experience: folk is loved for its Notion-like features and intuitive design. It’s one of the easiest CRMs to use on the market. Unlike other CRMs, you can get started with folk from day one without having to block out days for training.
• Price and plans: folk is affordable and impactful. Subscriptions start at $18 per user per month (annual plan) for unlimited contacts, bulk emailing, and AI features. More advanced options, like migration services and priority support, are available at $29 per user per month. Monthly payment options are provided for all plans, and custom pricing is available for specialized needs.

Cons

• Email sequencing is not available yet, but it’s on folk’s radar. 

Irwin

Irwin is an investment management software with some CRM capabilities.

Key features

• Manage investor relations activity, keep track of investor interactions including emails and events in Gmail and Outlook.
• Investor relations activity reporting, on outreach efforts, meetings and event outcomes.

Pros

• Manage investor conferences and roadshows: using Irwin’s project management tools that allow you to prepare itineraries and tear sheets. 
• Report template library: to help report on your investor relations program.

Cons

• Irwin’s Investor CRM platform is not a traditional CRM. It can help you track last interactions, but you won’t get the mainstream features you’d expect to find in a CRM. 

Backstop Solutions

Backstop Solutions is a CRM and investment management software. Its investor relations CRM makes up one-sixth of their products. 

Key features

• Portfolio management, monitor portfolio activity and performance across multi-asset investments.
• Tailored reporting, get industry benchmarks and analytics.
• Pipeline tracking, manage investment timeline to optimize the portfolio.

Pros

• Specialized focus: Designed specifically for investor relations, providing a targeted and relevant toolset including portfolio holdings, and performance history.
• Data-driven insights: Customizable reports offer deep insights into investor behavior, helping with strategic decision-making.
• Efficient document handling: Efficient management of investment documents, enhancing productivity and investor service.

Cons

• Lacks traditional CRM features: Key features such as contact sync, contact profiles and email marketing are missing. Every feature is geared towards data insight and portfolio management.
• Cost: As an industry-specific tool, you may need to buy a separate CRM to nurture relationships.

Juniper Square

Juniper Square is a CRM and investment management software designed predominantly for real estate. Its investor CRM makes up one-fifth of their services.

Key features

• Integrated systems and workflows, including team activity tracking, emails and contact management.
• Investor portal, provides a dedicated investor portal for easy access to investment information, documents, and reports.
• Automated reporting, generates automated, customizable reports for investors, providing transparency and regular updates on investment performance.

Pros

• Specialization in real estate: Tailored specifically for the real estate investment sector, to give insights to real estate investment managers.
• Fund administration: Supports the entire investment lifecycle with fund accounting, treasury and investor services.
• CRM capabilities: Supports contact management, lead management and custom fields. 

Cons

• Too industry-specific: While beneficial for real estate, it might not be as suitable for other industries.
• Cost: As a specialized solution, Juniper Square may come at a higher cost compared to general CRM systems.
• Limited CRM capabilities: Juniper Square’s CRM only accounts for one-fifth of their product. So its features provide a clunky user experience that is not as intuitive as full CRM products.

Conclusion

Investing in a CRM and investment management platform may seem beneficial, but it's important to note that such systems often lack the impactful features and user experience of a traditional CRM, potentially hindering your investor relations. Despite providing extensive portfolio management data, these platforms might require additional time and financial investment to truly be effective. Instead, consider simpler, more focused products that streamline your efforts. With its intuitive design, pipeline management capabilities and AI-support, folk can help you build a strong investor database. Try folk today, free.