The Institute of Fundraising’s Innovation Zone has awarded good marks to IRIS Donor Strategy in its latest round of reports.

The panel of experts gave the CRM system 4/5 for practical application, 3.5/5 for fundraising potential and 3/5 for innovation following a presentation and question and answer session from the firm.

The Innovation Zone panel comprised Terence Lovell, head of community operations at Barnardo’s, Raj Dasani, direct marketing executive at Crisis, Reuben Steains, fundraising innovations manager at Amnesty International UK and Louise Richards, director of policy and campaigns at the Institute.

They said the product, which is predominantly used by small and medium-sized organisations, “will make it easier for charities to keep the data clean and up to date”, makes it “easy for donors to do everything online – good for both donors and the charity”, and that “having the option to have IRIS host it provides extra security”.

A summary report is available on the Institute’s website, alongside a full report which is only accessible to members.

The panel also ran the rule over INVESTaid, an online supermarket for investors which allows them to donate intermediary commission to charity while making investments.

The judges were less impressed however, giving it 3/5 for practical application and 2/5 for both fundraising potential and innovation.