Success Story | The National Civil Rights Museum’s Technology Transformation

Established in 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) is located at the former Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Through interactive exhibits, historic collections, dynamic speakers and special events, the museum shares the culture and lessons from the American Civil Rights Movement and explores how this significant era continues to shape equality and freedom globally. The museum connects its visitors to the past while also leading as an institution of change in the community. It fosters dialogue, challenges prejudice, and inspires action both within the community and beyond.

In 2020, on the heels of the COVID pandemic, the museum’s leadership realized that creating change in the greater community required change and innovation inside the organization. This included modernizing the visitor experience and technology to boost attendance, increase influence, and enhance fundraising efforts. The museum sought a partner that could support this evolution and change.

The museum approached JCA to perform a technology Needs Assessment and lead a System Selection process to potentially replace its ticketing and retail systems.

These early projects kicked off a four-year journey of change and partnership with JCA that touched virtually every part of the museum’s data ecosystem.

Challenges to Overcome

The museum struggled to serve its visitor base with its current technology stack. Siloed systems for admissions, fundraising, retail, marketing, finance and online sales led to fragmented workflows, reliance on manual processes, and low user engagement caused by data frustrations and lack of cohesion.

A primary finding of the Needs Assessment was that rapid changes to museum technology platforms and insufficient staff training inhibited widespread adoption. The museum lacked system subject-matter experts (SMEs) and standard operating procedures.

Following meetings with each team to understand their needs and vision, JCA collaborated with the museum to define its requirements and identify ecosystem options to address its needs.

The selection process culminated in a move to Tessitura and Prospect 2 to consolidate online admissions, in-person sales, rentals, and marketing. NCRM opted to keep existing systems for fundraising (Raiser’s Edge), finance (Financial Edge) and retail (Centeman), leveraging integrations where appropriate.

A Holistic Approach

With new systems selected, the museum got to work on setting the stage for system replacement and optimization. Several pivotal decisions were made to ensure success:

1. Strengthening the Team: The museum hired Andrew Mathewes as Director of Technology and Analytics, addressing a critical gap in Development technical expertise and database administration.
2. Securing Additional Resources: To fund implementation costs and secure extra resources that would help ensure success, the museum delayed implementation for approximately one year to secure a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS).
3. Building Internal Capacity: A team member was empowered and trained to lead the majority of the Tessitura setup and design, ultimately assuming the role of Tessitura database administrator.
4. Leveraging External Expertise: To supplement internal resources and minimize operational disruptions, the museum engaged JCA’s consulting services. This included:
   • A project manager to oversee all resources and the entire implementation process. The JCA project manager was the crucial center of communication and coordination between various vendors, museum staff, and JCA resources.
   • A Tessitura specialist to support the museum team in its system adoption. Additional expertise was key in supporting the museum in system design and operational decisions.
   • Email marketing consultation to maximize use of new Prospect2 and Tessitura.
   • An RE NXT analyst to audit development data for structural issues, perform data cleansing work, craft policies and procedures, configure a Financial Edge integration and train end-users to perform job tasks associated with gift processing, constituent management and prospect management.

Realizing the Dream

Mathewes credits Tiffany Graham, NCRM’s Chief Marketing and Development Officer, with having the vision to support innovation and growth using a healthy data strategy. The museum worked tirelessly with JCA to build a healthy data strategy from the ground up. He noted that the assessments on data strategy JCA provided continue to pay dividends for the museum. It has taken time, but they have implemented almost every recommendation.

Capitalizing on these changes has propelled the museum’s mission forward by doubling the number of active donors, launching comprehensive marketing campaigns, and raising more than $30 million for upcoming museum renovations.

“The museum is continuing to evolve as its strategy evolves,” said Mathewes. “It’s great to have a consistent expert and partner that can continue to help us evolve over time. This has been a great relationship across our whole technology stack. No matter what product we end up with, we know we can trust JCA to work with us.”

Lessons Learned

Any organization undertaking a significant systems overhaul can benefit from NCRM’s experiences over the past four years. Key takeaways include:

Strong Leadership is Essential

Major systems changes require compromise and collaboration across an organization. Perseverance through the ups and downs of change takes steadfast leaders who will stay committed to the larger vision of a holistic data ecosystem.

NCRM’s excellent leadership from the top down kept change on track despite many bumps along the way.

Invest in Your Team

NCRM’s foresight to bring on additional team members to manage more complex applications built cohesion across systems and teams.

Patience is Paramount

What seems like a simple process change often involves untangling years of historic methods, systems, and strategies. Be prepared for a lengthy process of analysis, testing, and adjustment. For the museum, leveraging the integration between Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT meant rethinking fund structures, accounting buckets, and reporting.

While the journey may be arduous, the eventual efficiency gains and improved data insights can significantly enhance operations.

This change took many conversations, testing, and process analysis over an almost 18-month period to move forward with trust and satisfaction for all teams. However, once complete, the museum was able to shrink four hours of daily work into a five-minute task. The payoff was definitely worth the time invested to get it right!

What Lies Ahead

The museum team is looking forward to its upcoming Freedom Award event in October, which pays tribute to individuals who have shown unwavering commitment to promoting justice and equality.

They are managing big renovations and continuing to find ways to evolve as an organization that impacts the Memphis area and beyond.

Independent, Expert Nonprofit CRM Consulting

In today’s environment, nonprofits must leverage multiple systems—from CRMs and financial systems to ticketing and POS systems—in a way that is accurate, accessible, and actionable.

You need your systems to “talk to each other” but what should they say? When data is siloed, you are unable to get a complete picture of your business. JCA can help you assess your data ecosystem and find the right solution to achieve a 360-degree view of your constituents.

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