Renewing my CRM and ERP to work more data-driven

Dead End

"As part of our program 'Engagement for Impact', we at Vogelbescherming Nederland wanted to work much more data-driven, whether it was about fundraising, marketing, or making an impact," says René Roskamp. He currently leads the five-member Data Marketing team at Vogelbescherming Nederland and was at the helm during the CRM implementation. "Because our old platform was outdated, we pinned our hopes on Microsoft for Non Profits. When we were ready for the implementation, Microsoft only informed us: we no longer support that tool."

Product Owner at the Table

Then the team thought, let's start from scratch, but let's do it right this time. René: "As an IT service provider, we chose Pixelzebra, which is now part of Axelio. Their solution fit within our philosophy. It was neither too big nor too small. Additionally, we were pleased with their enthusiastic way of thinking along. They primarily wanted to understand our problem. This way, we immediately sat down with the right people. Not just from sales, but also the product owner."

Honesty Makes the Difference

René explains that the product owner was clear from the start. "This is what we can offer, this is what we cannot, and this is a bit of a rub," he said. That clarity was decisive for René. "I have been doing this kind of guidance for 30 years and I find it important that a supplier is honest about this," he states firmly. When we ask René where the shoe pinched, he explains: "I knew that Axelio had a solution for donor administration and a solution for member administration. We wanted both, in one app. They did not have that. Their conclusion was only: we have not done that before, but it should be possible."

Preventing Vendor Lock-in

The CRM solution chosen was Social Matters from Axelio. "It consists of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, enhanced with special functionalities for fundraising, donor and member administration," explains René. "We asked Axelio to do the implementation together with us, as one integrated team, instead of following the classic client-supplier relationship. We wanted to keep control over the solution so that we understood it from front to back. After all, we are tied to it for another ten years, and a consultant can be gone at some point."

Difference in Value Definition

Under René's leadership, the integrated team worked in a scrum-agile manner. "First, we wanted a blueprint of our ultimate goal and how we were going to solve things. Then we divided the project into steps." It seemed to be running smoothly, but along the way, the team discovered that there were different perspectives on value definition. Axelio reasoned technically-instrumentally, while Vogelbescherming focused on end-user value. At the same time, it turned out that the intended solution was more complex than expected.

Financial CRM Engine

Looking back at the entire process, René summarizes: "We were looking for a financial engine behind our CRM. We needed a system that could accommodate our data and where our financial processes and accounting could run. How do you model a membership? What does a donation look like in the system? And how do you convert data as accurately as possible? That was our goal." Once that goal was achieved, Vogelbescherming Nederland took control again. "Because how we use data smartly, we know how to do that here," René smiles.

In-company Support

Since the go-live in March 2026, a specialist from Axelio has helped the team at Vogelbescherming Nederland implement the last quality improvements and maintain the system. He is there one day a week. "This year we have additional support," says René. "Also because we are still picking up use cases. We will continue to develop from here and ensure that our Protection department also benefits optimally from our CRM system."

The Profit

When we ask René what the migration ultimately brought them, he replies: "Our old system was one big heap of customization. The new system is much more maintainable and works more intuitively. Therefore, you also need less training before you can use it. We now do a lot ourselves. We just can't get to the financial engine, which is the core of Axelio's software." After a pause, he continues: "We now also have a central, accurate database. That is a foundation on which we, as a fundraising organization, can build further. And with our current CRM system, we can use it for more than just our fundraising and service center. It makes the entire organization data-driven."