The RHS continues to cultivate its digital landscape

DateJuly 2021
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The UK’s leading gardening charity, The RHS is ramping up its digital offering after agreeing a major digital transformation deal with Silverbear, the UK's leading Microsoft partner to work exclusively with the membership sector.

The project will see Silverbear deliver an organisation-wide CRM platform that will help the charity increase the service it delivers to its 550,000 members and grow its membership in the years ahead.

The deal builds on Silverbear’s work with the charity in 2019 when it implemented CRM architecture that enabled RHS to move away from paper-based membership engagement at its key events including RHS Chelsea Flower Show and RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

On completion of the project, which begins in June and is expected to be completed by early 2023, RHS will have fully digitised all aspects of membership management including its sign-up and renewal functionality, ticketing, donations, and reporting.

The project is part of a series of initiatives being taken by RHS in order to meet its 10 strategic objectives, one of which is to grow its membership throughout the UK. It also comes as the charity continues to launch major horticultural projects including the 154-acre RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford, which has been billed as ‘Europe’s biggest hands-on horticultural project”.

Jon Simpson, Director of IT at the RHS, comments: “Our decision to work with Silverbear stems from the need to upgrade our service, remove any process-related inefficiencies and get to know and understand our customers and community at a much deeper level. By doing this, we will develop stronger and longer-lasting relationships. Silverbear has proven that it has the experience and skills to help us do this and we now look forward to building our membership in tandem with building a truly digital and resilient organisation.”

Carl Grieves, Chief Executive Officer at Silverbear, adds: “We’re delighted to continue our work as one of RHS’s strategic partners and excited about the number of opportunities our technology will afford the nation’s much-loved gardening institution. Silverbear’s membership platform continues to demonstrate its transformative capabilities for the organisations that adopt it and for the members who ultimately benefit from it. For this reason, I’m confident that a fully digital RHS will build on the success it has achieved to date and develop more meaningful relationships with its members.”

RHS currently has 550,000 members and over 30 million users visit its website each year for trusted gardening advice and inspiration.

For more information on RHS visit www.rhs.org.uk

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