Donor Management Software

We currently use ODB shareware as our donor management tool but we are looking to upgrade to a system that isn't web-based and is a bit more intuitive. We are a small organization with an operating budget of $200K and 200-225 annual donors. I'd appreciate any suggestions or leads. Thanks!

I want to make sure that we're understanding what software you're talking about. When I read "ODB," I think of The Organizer's Database, which is an open source package that runs on Windows, not over the Web. It seems a likely bet, based on your organization's size.

I haven't spent a lot of time in ODB, but what I have looked at left me impressed. I'd strongly encourage you and your organization to ensure that the program doesn't do what you want it to do before you move on. I'd especially strongly encourage you to consider buying some training or support from Organizers Collaborative, the builders of ODB, before making the decision to move to a different product. There are also lots of good resources on the Community section of their website.Training and support can make a HUGE difference in how effectively your organization's staff and/or volunteers are able to use the software. When you look at the cost of acquiring software, migrating your data, and still needing to train staff, that's going to be a much more expensive and time-consuming process than getting the s/w you use now to work for you better.

Especially because you say that ODB is not "intuitive" enough, I think that training is the right place to start, because ODB is, by design, very simple without a lot of features to get in your way. Pretty much any other donor management software is going to be more complex than ODB, and so if the problem isn't lack of features but confusion on how to use the features that are there, switching is unlikely to fix the problem.

If you do decide to move, then the first place to start looking for options is the articles in Idealware's Constituent Databases section. Idealware exists to review and write about software for nonprofits, and shares much of their content here on TechSoup as well.

www.BasicFunder.com is a feature rich, low cost Donor Database package.

It has a suprising number of features for such a low cost.
- Donor and Donation Mangement
- Receipting
- 30 + Built-In Reports + Ad Hod Report Writer
- Unlimited User Defined Fields
- Email Broadcast
- Direct Mail
- Labels
- Pledge and Volunteer Tracking...

Easy to use, and outstanding value.

Linked Software's Membership and Fundraising System has a free, no questions asked, trial demo.

This is a very inexpensive, feature-rich, progam that includes membership, contributions and pledges, billing, attendance reporting, many predfined, reports, a report generator and credit card processing.

In the interest of full-disclosure I am affiliated with Linked Software.

Lynn Howard

Hi, Brent,

Donor management software is something which is discussed quite a bit around here and you have many options.

"Intuitive" is very much a personal response, though there are some things which may make your software more likely to be intuitive for you. Most importantly is that it covers the aspects of donor management that you do most, and isn't loaded with features that you seldom or ever use.

To find out if software is intuitive for you, you'll want to see a demo or evaluate the products you are most interested in and which are in your price range. All donor management software will have demo's and evaluation options.

In your search for software, it will be very helpful if you have thought through carefully what you want to be able to do with it. What things do you regularly do to fundraise? Do you work with volunteers? Do you have memberships? Are you involved in a capital campaign? All of these things will help you know what features you need in your new software.

If you are looking for something that covers more than simple mailing list and donation recording, you will probably need to spend some time learning the software, no matter how intuitive the software is. For this reason, check out what training and technical support options the company has. In fact, it is a really good thing to evaluate the technical support department of your software company, as this is the one which you are most likely to be dealing with for help after the sale is made.

Robert Weiner, who is also a Tech Soup forum host, has some great resources for learning about your various donor managment software options on his Fundraising Technology Resources page.

Hope this helps,