WCN14 Podcast: Sue Anne Reed and the Engage Group

Sue Anne Reed works with the Engage Group and spoke at WordCamp about WordPress for non-profits.

Nonprofits use customer relationship management (CRM) softwares to process requests, accept donations, collect email addresses and run email marketing campaigns. In the past, nonprofits used these CRM systems as their content management systems but found other platforms, like WordPress, more effective.

sue anne reed

Photo by Kindell Brinay Moore

During her session she presented case studies in which organizations used WordPress as their content management system (CMS) in tandem with a separate customer relationship management (CRM) system to improve marketing efforts. As a marketing expert, Reed’s work at nonprofits falls directly between the use of CRM and CMS systems for email
marketing and front end web content, respectively.

Front-end implementation of WordPress at nonprofits is similar to any other small business eCommerce implementation. Because not many WordPress plugins target needs of nonprofits, they must use WordPress APIs, scripts and other tools while still performing necessary nonprofit functions on the back end, such as the communication of new email subscribers between the WordPress CMS and the organization’s CRM.

The coolest project Reed is working on now is for Save the Chimps, an organization that runs a large sanctuary in Florida for chimps from all over the world saved from laboratories, roadside zoos, and abandonment.

Reed’s success in the nonprofit sector is due in part to 20 years of marketing experience
with organizations like Ernst & Young. Now she spends most of her time working with the Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society, and National Center to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

WordPress and other technologies at her disposal hold the email marketing campaigns and fundraisers together, creating what she says is her perfect job.

This interview was provided by TechnologyAdvice, an Inc. 5000 company that connects buyers and sellers of business technology through meaningful relationships. Interview conducted by Clark Buckner.