Toonspeak CRM Strategy, Design & Rollout
Transforming how a youth arts organisation manages people, programmes and fundraising
Having previously developed Toonspeak's brand and website, TMD was appointed to lead the next stage of its digital development: implementing a new organisation-wide CRM using Beacon.
This was much more than moving contacts between databases. We worked with the team to understand how programmes, participants, families, supporters, donors, funders and partners fit together, then built a single system to support programme delivery, communications, fundraising and reporting.
The platform of choice, Beacon, was a strong fit for Toonspeak because it has been designed specifically for charities and nonprofits, rather than adapting a conventional sales CRM to fit their needs. Its flexible structure allows the team to manage participants, programmes, supporters, funders, grants, donations and communications within one system, while providing the reporting and relationship tracking needed as the organisation develops.
SCOPE
Scoping, development, integration, data import and conversion, training
3
discovery workshops held with team members at all levels to determine exact needs and functionality.
4
systems linked to ensure a single source of truth for the charity’s workshops, event attendance, and fundraising.
13
legacy and distinct data sources analysed, cleaned, prepared and imported into Beacon.
72
working hours per week recovered, meaning staff can focus on creative output instead of maintaining records.
2000+
historical records imported from legacy systems and combined to create overviews of donors and participants.
One person, one record, and a much clearer picture.
We created a structure in which each person has a central record connected to their individual interactions with Toonspeak. A young person might attend Drama Toonies, progress to Theatre Makers, take part in a performance and later become an alumnus – with each interaction contributing to a developing history of their relationship with the organisation.
Contact details, age, communication preferences and consent are maintained centrally, while participation records show which workshops, performances and activities someone has attended. Valuable information from Toonspeak's previous CRM was also restructured so that historic programme involvement could remain useful.
Turning programme delivery into useful data
Workshops, performances, trips and other activities are now connected directly to the people taking part. Recurring programmes can be broken into individual sessions, allowing Toonspeak to record actual attendance rather than simply registrations.
For Autumn 2026 alone, we created 50 individual sessions across five regular programmes. Custom fields, calculated information, tailored record layouts and reusable exports give staff practical registers and reporting while making it easier to understand who is taking part, how regularly they engage and how their relationship with Toonspeak develops.
From disconnected information to organisational intelligence
A key part of the project was connecting Beacon with Toonspeak’s existing digital systems, allowing information to move between the website, ticketing, fundraising and CRM without staff repeatedly entering the same data.
Programme registrations, participant information, ticket sales, payments and fundraising activity can now contribute to one connected organisational picture. By reducing duplication and automating routine administration, the system gives Toonspeak’s team more time to focus on what matters most: working with young people and delivering great creative work.
The most important outcome isn't the number of records in Beacon. It is what Toonspeak can now do with them.
People connect to programmes.
Programmes connect to participation and attendance.
Supporters connect to donations.
Funders connect to contacts and grants.
Website activity connects to real organisational records.
Information that previously sat across different systems and spreadsheets can increasingly be filtered, analysed, exported and reported from one place. The result is a digital foundation that supports not just administration, but a better understanding of the people Toonspeak works with, the programmes it delivers and the relationships that sustain its work.
