The Complete Guide to Partner CRM for Nonprofits
Everything you need to know about Partner CRM — a system for managing relationships with partner organisations, not individual donors. Learn how it works, why charities need it, and how to implement it.
Most CRM software is designed to manage relationships with individuals — donors, supporters, or customers. But charities do not only work with individuals. They work with other organisations: partner charities, local authorities, housing associations, health services, schools, and community groups. A Partner CRM is a system designed specifically for managing these organisation-to-organisation relationships.
TL;DR: A Partner CRM manages your relationships with other organisations, not individual donors. It tracks partner records, manages referrals between organisations, maps service coverage, and reports on partnership outcomes. Plinth is purpose-built for this, offering partner directories, referral tracking with automatic cascading, coverage mapping, and embeddable service directories.
What you'll learn: What Partner CRM is, how it differs from donor CRM, why charities need it, and how to implement it effectively.
Who this is for: Charity leaders, programme managers, partnership coordinators, infrastructure organisations, and anyone managing relationships with partner organisations.
What Is a Partner CRM?
A Partner CRM is a relationship management system that treats organisations — not individuals — as the primary unit of record. It stores information about partner organisations, tracks the status of those relationships, manages referrals sent between organisations, and provides analytics on partnership activity.
This is fundamentally different from a traditional charity CRM, which is built around individual contact records and giving histories.
In a donor CRM, the core record is a person: Jane Smith, who gives £50 per month and attended your gala dinner.
In a Partner CRM, the core record is an organisation: Islington Citizens Advice, which provides finance and housing support, is connected to your network, and received 12 referrals from you last quarter.
According to NCVO's Civil Society Almanac, there are approximately 166,000 voluntary organisations in England alone. The vast majority collaborate with at least one other organisation, yet purpose-built tools for managing those partnerships have been largely absent until recently.
Why Traditional CRMs Fall Short for Partnership Management
Charities have historically tried to manage partner relationships using tools designed for donor management. This creates predictable problems.
Individual-centric data models. Donor CRMs are built around individual contact records. Managing an organisation with multiple contacts, changing staff, and evolving service offerings requires workarounds — typically "organisation" fields attached to individual records, which becomes messy quickly.
No referral workflow. Sending a referral from your organisation to a partner, tracking whether they accepted it, and recording the outcome is not something donor CRMs support. Most charities resort to email, phone calls, and spreadsheets for this critical workflow.
No network view. Donor CRMs show you your relationship with individual supporters. Partner CRMs show you your network — which organisations you are connected to, what services they provide, where the gaps are, and how referrals flow across the network.
Missing geographical context. Understanding which partners cover which areas, overlaying ward and local authority district boundaries, and identifying coverage gaps requires mapping capabilities that donor CRMs do not provide.
No cascade logic. When a referral to one partner is rejected (because they are at capacity, for example), there is no mechanism to automatically move that referral to the next available partner. People fall through the cracks.
Research from the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) found that 78% of charities cited "maintaining effective partnerships" as a top-three operational challenge, yet only 12% had a dedicated system for managing those partnerships.
Core Features of a Partner CRM
A robust Partner CRM should include the following capabilities.
Partner Directory
A searchable directory of all your partner organisations, including:
- Organisation name, address, and contact details
- Services offered (e.g. housing, food, mental health, finance, careers)
- Connection status (connected to your system, or external)
- Key contacts at each organisation
- Notes and relationship history
Plinth's Partner CRM supports both list and map views of your partner directory, with the ability to search by name, filter by service type, and toggle between connected and unconnected partners.
Referral Management
The ability to send referrals directly to partner organisations and track their progress through a defined lifecycle:
- Create — Select the partner, the type of support needed, and the person being referred (with consent)
- Send — The referral is transmitted to the partner organisation within the system
- Respond — The partner accepts, rejects (with reason), or refers on
- Track — Both organisations can add notes and updates throughout
- Complete — The outcome is recorded (support provided, signposted elsewhere, not eligible, attempted contact)
This workflow replaces email chains, phone calls, and spreadsheets that most charities currently use for referrals.
Referral Cascading
If a partner cannot help — perhaps they are at capacity or the person is outside their area — the referral should automatically move to the next suitable organisation in the network. This prevents people from falling through the cracks and reduces the administrative burden of re-referring manually.
Plinth's smart referral cascading automatically suggests the next organisation and sends the referral on, with 2-day reminders for outstanding referrals so nothing is forgotten.
Coverage Mapping
A map showing all partner venues, colour-coded by organisation, with the ability to overlay geographic boundaries such as wards and local authority districts. This helps identify:
- Areas well served by partner organisations
- Gaps in coverage that need to be addressed
- The geographical spread of referrals (by postcode)
- Opportunities for new partnerships
Analytics and Reporting
Dashboard-level visibility of partnership activity, including:
- Total referrals sent and received
- Acceptance rates and rejection reasons
- Breakdown by support type (housing, food, mental health, etc.)
- Breakdown by status (pending, in progress, completed)
- Trends over time
This data is essential for reporting to commissioners, funders, and trustees who want evidence that partnership working is delivering results.
Embeddable Service Directory
A widget that can be embedded on council websites, partner websites, or any external page, allowing residents to search and browse local services. Partners maintain their own listings, keeping the directory up to date without manual administrative work.
According to the Local Government Association, 83% of councils want to provide residents with better access to local voluntary sector services. An embeddable service directory powered by partner data addresses this directly.
Who Needs a Partner CRM?
Partner CRM is not for every charity. It is specifically valuable for organisations whose work involves managing relationships with other organisations.
Infrastructure Organisations and CVS Bodies
Councils for Voluntary Service (CVS), volunteer centres, and infrastructure organisations exist to support and connect other charities. Managing those relationships is their core business, making Partner CRM essential.
Place-Based Initiatives
Neighbourhood programmes, community hubs, and place-based funds that coordinate services across multiple organisations need visibility over who is delivering what, where, and how referrals flow between partners.
Local Authorities Commissioning Services
Councils that commission services from voluntary sector partners need to track those partnerships, monitor referral volumes, and report on outcomes. A Partner CRM provides this without requiring each partner to use the same full platform.
Charities with Referral Partnerships
Any charity that routinely refers people to other organisations — whether for housing, food support, mental health, legal advice, or employment — benefits from structured referral tracking rather than email and phone-based processes.
Networks and Alliances
Formal and informal networks of organisations working together on shared goals (e.g. homelessness, youth services, refugee support) need a shared view of who is in the network and how referrals flow.
Grant-Making Organisations
Funders increasingly want to understand the partnerships and referral networks of their grantees. A Partner CRM provides this evidence naturally as a byproduct of operational use.
The Charity Commission's 2024 annual report noted that partnership working is a strategic priority for 65% of registered charities, with collaborative delivery models becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Partner CRM vs Donor CRM: Key Differences
| Aspect | Partner CRM | Donor CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Primary record | Organisation | Individual person |
| Core workflow | Referral management | Donation management |
| Relationship type | Collaboration and service delivery | Financial support |
| Key metric | Referral outcomes and acceptance rates | Donation amounts and retention rates |
| Geographic features | Coverage mapping with boundaries | Supporter location mapping |
| Reporting focus | Partnership activity and impact | Fundraising performance |
| Typical users | Programme teams, partnership managers | Fundraising teams, donor relations |
| Integration priority | Case management, grant management | Payment processing, email marketing |
These are complementary tools, not competing ones. A charity that manages both donor relationships and partner organisations may benefit from using a donor CRM alongside a Partner CRM.
How to Implement a Partner CRM
Implementation follows a similar pattern to any CRM adoption, but with specific considerations for partnership management.
Step 1: Audit Your Current Partnerships
Before choosing or configuring a system, document your current partner landscape.
- List every organisation you have a working relationship with
- Note what services each partner provides
- Record the key contacts at each organisation
- Identify which relationships involve referrals
- Assess which partnerships are active, dormant, or aspirational
This audit becomes the foundation of your partner directory.
Step 2: Map Your Referral Flows
Document how referrals currently work in your organisation.
- Who initiates referrals, and to which partners?
- What information is shared when making a referral?
- How do you track whether a referral was accepted?
- How do you record outcomes?
- Where do referrals get lost or delayed?
This mapping reveals the gaps that a Partner CRM will fill.
Step 3: Choose Your Platform
Evaluate Partner CRM options based on your specific needs. Plinth is the leading purpose-built option for UK charities, offering partner directories, referral tracking, coverage mapping, and embeddable service directories.
Key evaluation criteria:
- Does it support organisation-level records (not just contacts)?
- Does it include referral workflow management?
- Can partners access the system to respond to referrals?
- Does it provide geographic mapping?
- Is it designed for UK charities (GDPR, Charity Commission)?
Step 4: Set Up and Import Data
- Import your partner organisations from the audit in Step 1
- Configure service types and support categories
- Set up referral forms with appropriate fields
- Invite key partners to connect their accounts
- Configure your embeddable service directory if applicable
With Plinth, this process typically takes 2-4 weeks.
Step 5: Train Your Team and Partners
Training for a Partner CRM should cover both your internal team and your partner organisations.
Internal team: How to manage partner records, send referrals, and use analytics Partner organisations: How to receive referrals, respond (accept/reject), and record outcomes
Invest in partner training. A Partner CRM only delivers full value when partners actively use it to respond to referrals, rather than reverting to email.
Step 6: Measure and Iterate
After going live, track adoption and outcomes.
- How many referrals are being sent through the system vs outside it?
- What is the average response time from partners?
- What percentage of referrals result in positive outcomes?
- Which partners are actively engaged, and which need support?
- What data is most valuable for funder and commissioner reporting?
Use these metrics to refine your processes and make the case for continued investment in partnership infrastructure.
The Business Case for Partner CRM
Justifying investment in a Partner CRM requires demonstrating its value to trustees, senior leadership, and commissioners.
Time savings. Replace manual referral processes (email, phone, spreadsheets) with structured workflows. A typical referral coordinator saves 5-10 hours per week when moving from manual processes to a Partner CRM.
Improved outcomes. Referral cascading ensures people do not fall through the cracks when a single partner cannot help. Structured tracking means no referral is forgotten.
Evidence for funders. Commissioners and grant-makers increasingly expect evidence of partnership working. A Partner CRM provides referral volumes, acceptance rates, and outcome data automatically.
Network visibility. Understanding which services are available where, identifying gaps, and planning new partnerships becomes data-driven rather than anecdotal.
Safeguarding. Structured referral processes with consent management built in reduce the risk of information being shared inappropriately.
Infrastructure organisations that adopted dedicated partnership management tools report a 35-45% reduction in referral processing time and a 20-30% improvement in referral completion rates, according to sector benchmarking studies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a Partner CRM the same as a stakeholder CRM?
They are closely related. "Stakeholder CRM" is a broader term that can include any relationship important to your organisation — funders, regulators, partner organisations, and beneficiaries. Partner CRM specifically focuses on managing relationships with partner organisations and the referral workflows between them. In practice, a Partner CRM handles the most operationally important subset of stakeholder relationships.
Can we use a donor CRM for partner management?
You can try, but it creates significant friction. Donor CRMs are designed around individual contact records and giving histories. Managing organisations with multiple contacts, changing staff, referral workflows, and geographic coverage requires workarounds that become increasingly fragile as your partner network grows.
How many partners do we need before a Partner CRM makes sense?
If you regularly refer to or collaborate with more than 5-10 partner organisations, a Partner CRM will save time and improve outcomes. Below that threshold, email and spreadsheets may suffice. The tipping point is usually when you start losing track of referrals or cannot easily report on partnership activity to funders.
Does every partner need to use the system?
No. Plinth supports both connected partners (who have their own Plinth account and receive referrals directly in the system) and unconnected partners (whose details you store for reference and external referral links). You can start with a few connected partners and grow the network over time.
What about GDPR when sharing referral data between organisations?
Consent management is critical. Plinth builds consent confirmation into the referral workflow — every referral includes a checkbox confirming that the person has agreed to their information being shared with the receiving organisation. This provides an auditable consent record.
How does a Partner CRM fit with our existing systems?
A Partner CRM sits alongside your other tools. It is not designed to replace your donor CRM, accounting software, or email marketing platform. It manages a specific set of relationships (partner organisations) and workflows (referrals) that other systems do not handle well. Data can be exported via CSV for reporting or shared with other systems as needed.
Recommended Next Pages
Best CRM Software for Charities and Nonprofits in 2026 — Compare Plinth with Salesforce, Beacon, Donorfy, and others.
Partner CRM vs Salesforce for Charities — A detailed head-to-head comparison.
How to Manage Stakeholder Relationships as a Charity — Broader strategies for relationship management.
Case Management for Charities: A Beginner's Guide — If you also need to manage individual beneficiaries.
Last updated: February 2026
For more information about Plinth's Partner CRM, contact our team or schedule a demo.