When it comes to getting CiviCRM support, there are typically three paths you could take: offload, augment, or learn it in house (aka: build up in-house expertise).
Outsourcing
This puts the work on someone else, outside of your organization. Offloading is pretty rare—usually expensive and you won’t get the full benefit of the system.
Imagine having someone else come into your kitchen and buy and rearrange the pantry and such. Then not tell you much about it but at least you didn’t go hungry and got fed something.
But then you go into the kitchen and try to cook. It’s going to be slow and difficult trying to orient where stuff is at and the ingredients you need to cook the way you want.
Same for when someone changes your driver seat position in your car and then it’s awkward when you get back in.
The crux is that paying an external consultant or contractor to do a bulk of hands-on work can get clunky. One, there is coordination delay and two, you have to tell them all the background for what you want so they have context. And if you don’t, you probably won’t be that happy with the results.
That’s why I typically recommend either augmenting or building in-house expertise options.
Augmenting
This is suitable for overflow capacity when you have critical, time-sensitive objectives—or for those occasional, more technical tasks that you don’t do every day, week or month. The key is to keep it limited, and a good consultant will walk you through what they did so you can learn along the way and gradually build your capacity.
For small nonprofits just getting going, this route is more realistic since it’ll take the strain off the Executive Director who already plenty of duties and can’t properly focus on CRM area. It should be viewed as a short-term solution for growing nonprofits via a CiviCRM support agreement until you have someone in-house to oversee the CRM as part of their job duties.
Learning: In-House Expertise
I always encourage this route because it delivers the best results. You know your organization’s objectives and workflows better than anyone. Getting coached early on means you’re not just using CiviCRM; you’re mastering it.
Sure, you might still call in extra help when needed, but the advantage here is it lowers your overall cost and opens the door for more strategic guidance, addressing higher-level challenges, and ultimately saving you time as you interact with your constituents smoothly.
How might this actually look? Normally, you might pay an advisory retainer that is of limited duration of say 2-6 months. Yes, it’s and upfront investment but the payoff in both the lower operating costs and your effectiveness in maximizing the tool is something that will stay within the organization, which is priceless if you think about it.