Do you know what your clients are doing behind doors? Do you know how they are tracking data during the capital campaign?

You hope that they are doing what you suggested. You’ve provided them report templates. You’ve stressed the importance of having “good systems” in place during the feasibility study.

Why are nonprofits with “good systems” still using spreadsheets alongside their donor management system to track the campaign?

They do have a “good system”, but it’s simply not designed for managing the very specific things that need to happen in a capital campaign. That’s ok.

A nonprofit would never hire a food processing industry consultant to manage their capital campaign just because they were a “consultant”.

Similarly, it’s a tall order to expect your nonprofit client to run a campaign project, spreadsheet free because they have a “donor management system”.