Never miss the right opportunity again: Reminders in Contact Management

In fundraising, good timing often makes or breaks a donor relationship: the right moment to follow up, a prompt thank-you after a pledge, a thoughtful follow-up request the next year. If such a deadline is missed, it costs not only time but also trust. A new feature in Spheriq’s contact management ensures that these very moments are no longer overlooked.

Anyone who works in philanthropy knows this: A donor relationship develops over months, through many small steps. And it’s precisely at the transitions between these steps that the most is lost—not because of a lack of intention, but because the right moment slips by without a nudge. Sticky notes, Excel spreadsheets, and one’s own memory reach their limits as soon as multiple relationships are managed simultaneously.

From a donor logbook to institutional CRM

Spheriq’s contact management system is designed specifically for this kind of relationship management. It keeps a record of the entire history of the relationship between two organizations in one place—as an internal CRM.

The contact history allows you to record various types of entries: grants with status (Applied For, Approved, Rejected), dates, comments, and attachments such as application documents or rejection letters; contact persons at the partner organization; free-form notes on conversations and assessments; and manual assessments that can be used to override the automatically calculated Fit and Hope values.

Important: The entries are private and remain visible only to the organization that created them.

The contact history is visible and editable right where it’s needed in the workflow: in the toolbox on organization profiles, in request management, and in the search lists—which feature a dedicated column for contact status.

What’s new: the reminder

The Deep Shape Release introduces a new entry type. A reminder is stored directly with an external organization and consists of three pieces of information:

• Reminder Date: When you would like to be reminded
• Comment: What it’s about (e.g., “Send a thank-you note after payment” or “Prepare a follow-up request for 2027”)
• Recipient: Choose either “Just me” or the entire “Team”

On the selected date, Spheriq automatically sends an email: if “Only me” is selected, it goes to the person who created the entry; if “Team” is selected, it goes to the current team members. The reminder is private, appears as an entry in the contact history, and can be deleted at any time; if deleted, no email will be sent.

What this means in everyday life

Follow-up no longer depends on individual people and their memories. When someone creates a relationship, they plan the next step right away—and the team takes action at the agreed-upon time, even if the person originally assigned to the task is currently unavailable or has since left the organization.

This benefits both sides of the grant-making process. Fundraisers can keep track of submission deadlines, follow-up dates, and annual renewal requests. And grant-making foundations that nurture their relationships with applicants and grantees can set reminders for due interim reports, the resubmission of deferred applications, or follow-ups after a disbursement.

And more in contact management

Two additional new features bring contact management even closer together: Accepted grants can be made public using the “Show in Grant History” button—as an entry on the profiles of both organizations, with the amount included optionally. And “Lists” is now “Lists & Contacts”: with the smart lists “All Contacts” and “My Sponsors / My Recipients” accessible directly from the contact management section (Pro level and above).

What’s Next

The reminder, the funding history link, and “Lists & Contacts” are part of an ongoing expansion. Next up are labels, which will allow you to freely organize and filter your contacts.

Why This Is Important to Us

Strong donor relationships aren’t built by putting in more effort, but through reliability—making the right connection at the right time. The Reminder relieves fundraising teams of the worry that an important moment might get lost in the day-to-day grind, creating space for what really matters: the relationship itself. Contact management thus evolves from a reference tool into an active partner in relationship-building.