RBC Ministries will be one of the first users of MPower’s new multiorganization functionality, which rolls out officially on Monday, September 8.
The multiorganization tool helps nonprofit groups with multiple affiliates and chapters maintain a single constituent database. It also keeps transactional and inventory data for each branch separate.
RBC, which has offices in 38 countries and manages sister nonprofit Discovery House Publishers, has been an MPower client since 2005. It maintains a domestic mailing list of 2.5 million active members and a total mailing list of 7 million names.
“It can get pretty complex, getting all that together to understand how each organization within the ministry umbrella operates as well as the mix,” said Tom Grothause, director of information for RBC Ministries. “MPower understands that need to see separate organizations and the organizations in conglomerate, and we do that by having our own custom backend data warehouse that we synchronize with to be able to analyze those folks on the back end and try to tailor ministry efforts to them.”
The MPower system allows six separate RBC companies to keep individualized inventories and databases while sharing constituent data throughout the company as a whole. The system also automatically produces inventory codes across companies, which can then be customized.
“Nonprofits are growing internationally, and this allows an international nonprofit to look at its entire organization in a holistic view, vs. just seeing what each individual piece is doing,” said Randy McCabe, founder and CEO of MPower. “Many of these organizations that are multiaffiliate have really been operating as silos, and in the past that meant an inability for the parent or national headquarters to use best practices.”
