As the Dayton Art Institute grew in recent years, Kim Spurgeon, chief financial officer and director of operations, realized DAI needed a software solution that could handle everything from marketing, ticketing, and merchandise to membership and fundraising with a technology partner that the museum could depend on.

“When we were talking to our sales representative about what solution would be best for us, it became very clear that we needed to look at the whole organization and not just finance or not just development, and Blackbaud Altru was clearly to solution to go with,” Spurgeon explained.

Blackbaud Altru offered a front-of-house solution for guest services that would greatly improve the ticketing and check-in process for guests, and she was thrilled that it also integrated with membership, development, and educational programming. Because her job also includes finance, she was glad to learn that Blackbaud Altru easily connects with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT so her accounting system would integrate as well.

“The best thing about moving to an all-in-one system is that the organization
has access to real-time data,” Spurgeon said. “We all have access to it and
can maximize the impact of that data to drive the organization forward.”

Real-time Data that Drives Growth, Informs
Decisions, and Improves Communications

The Development and Finance Departments were excited about the move, and Membership and Guest Services could not wait to onboard with the new solutions either. “I think Altru gives us the opportunity to analyze our membership programs in a way that a lot of other systems just don’t,” explained Lily Cutler, database and special projects officer. “Being able to see the statistics on how our different programs are doing helps us to develop different incentives to bring in new membership and steward our current membership.”

Memberships and Individual Giving Officer Kaytee Yantis-Houser described the “click of a button” ease of using Altru to extract data as vastly improved when compared to their previous software system. Within Altru, she can quickly pull real-time data that informs decisions about her membership program and help the program grow while improving communication and efficiency between her team and Cutler’s.

Improved Staff and Guest Experiences

Guest Services Manager Alyssa Green used Blackbaud Altru in her previous position at another art museum and welcomed the change at DAI because she understood how it could improve Guest Services. Her goal is to try to create the most welcoming, warm environment possible so members and guests can fully enjoy the world class art collection, which is showcased in galleries devoted to African, American, Ancient Americas, Antiquities, Asian, Contemporary, European, Glass, Photography, Textiles and Works on Paper.

Green knew her team could guide guests better with tools that allowed staff to quickly check in guests while asking questions that would help the museum better meet guests’ needs and expectations. “Guest experience improved just as a result of staff experience improving,” Green said.

She oversees an extensive data collection effort, and with Altru’s intuitive reporting features she can quickly see and understand what guests are saying about the museum so DAI can work to improve the overall experience that DAI offers.

A Clear Choice for Partnership

Spurgeon had a lot of options when searching for a new software provider, but a key factor that stood out to her and convinced her that Blackbaud was the right choice for both the financial and museum management systems was the collaborative approach of Blackbaud’s representatives.

“The Dayton Art Institute really values partnership, she explained. “Like our partnerships with our mechanical equipment company and roofing company, our partnership with our software provider is just as important.”

Spurgeon has developed strong relationships with her Blackbaud account executive, implementation consultant, and customer success representative and feels like a whole team has been there to ensure DAI’s success. “Blackbaud has helped us make sure that we have the systems and the infrastructure in place to take care of the back end of each of our offices so that we can spend our time focusing on our members and visitors and on our mission to make sure that our art is accessible to all.”