Driving strategic outcomes in a nonprofit requires seamless collaboration between business teams in fundraising, engagement, and programs, and the technology teams that support the tools and data fueling results. However, bridging this gap often presents challenges around roles, ownership, and collaboration, leading to stalled progress, friction between team members, and poor Return-on-Investment on technology investments.
At the 2025 Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN in Baltimore, Maryland, Skeleton Key Principal & Founder Justin Birdsong was joined by client and special guest Devan Tucker to explore how CARE transformed its CRM operations by harmonizing its Digital (IT) and Resource Development teams.
Using insights from a comprehensive staffing and organizational design assessment, we discussed how CARE established role specialization, created a new bridging Development Data and Systems team, and adopted a collaborative ownership model for its Salesforce CRM. Justin and Devan talked through strategies for balancing technical expertise with business context, integrating business-side leadership into tech projects, and fostering cross-departmental collaboration to achieve shared goals.
We hope this content will equip leaders with actionable approaches to optimizing technology and unifying teams for stronger results, including:
- Understanding collaboration obstacles faced by business and technology teams, and how to navigate them.
- Learning how CARE evolved its staffing model and workflows to enable collaborative ownership for its CRM.
- Exploring models for integrating and optimizing business and tech teams’ shared structures and workflows.
Check out the session slides here:
Read Our CARE Case Study
Aligning & Integrating CARE’s CRM Resources
Cross-Functional CRM Staffing and Reorganization (2023-24)
Over the course of 9 months, Justin worked closely with CARE’s Digital (IT) and Resource Development Departments to reassess the staffing, structures, and workflows supporting CARE’s fundraising CRM on Salesforce NPSP to help reinforce a strong, collaborative partnership between fundraising and technology teams.
