Tech Planning

Re: Donor Management System

ssachin@findabilitysciences.com — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:28:11 GMT

Hi there,

We recently implemented an information management system called Active Intelligence Engine (AIE) for the Boston based non-profit organization. The implementation of AIE , has greatly improved access to donor information and reduced the cost of storing, locating, retrieving and presenting actionable donor information.

Findability improved from hours to approximately 15 seconds.
Legacy systems that required many screens to open became viewable on one screen.
License fees were reduce 80 %.
FTE & contractors were freed up and available for other organizational task.

Sachin.

ssachin@findabilitysciences.com

www.findabilitysciences.com

Re: Donor Management System

BeckyW — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:50:51 GMT

While I was at the Craiglist Nonprofit Bootcamp in Berkeley this weekend, a woman asked me a similar question about her small nonprofit. I just sent her an email highlighting these resources from various places around TechSoup. Depending upon your needs, volume of donations, whether they come in online or through more traditional check/credit card terminal methods, and how you're planning to use and manage the info after you're gotten a donation, can all make a difference in deciding what might fit best.

I've personally used Salesforce, GiftWorks, and eTapestry before, as well as online donation processing services like PayPal and DemocracyInAction.org toolsets. All have advantages and disadvantages (for example, Salesforce is free to qualifying nonprofits and has a tons of bells and whistles, but it can be challenging to set up and maintain since it takes a lot of up-front work to customize because of all the bells and whistles!).

I would recommend spending some time looking at the resources below and then searching within these forums (by clicking "Advanced Search" on the top right of each page) for each of the products you're considering to see what people's individual experiences have been.

General Donor Management Tool Info:

A Few Good Donor Management Tools: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/page10942.cfm
Donor Management Software Comparison (Excel chart at the bottom of the page): http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page5961.cfm
Ten Common Mistakes in Selecting Donor Databases: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page6085.cfm
Donor Management Toolkit (links to various articles and resources): http://www.techsoup.org/toolkits/donormgmt/index.cfm
Donor Management Software: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/archives/page10153.cfm

Online Donations/Credit Card Processing Info:

A Few Good Methods for Processing Credit Cards: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/page10327.cfm
Getting the Best Prices for Processing Credit Cards: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/page10588.cfm
Selecting an Online Donation Tool, Part 1: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/archives/page9612.cfm
Selecting an Online Donation Tool, Part 2: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/archives/page9613.cfm

Hope it helps!

Becky

Re: Donor Management System

tsg_kevin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:40:25 GMT

Hi Joe,

What are your short and long term priorities for the program and its usage? A donor management system is the one piece of software that you should take some time to learn about, and consult with as many stakeholders as possible. Idealware just published a comprehensive report on Low Cost Donor Management software:

http://www.idealware.org/low_cost_donor/

that has a lot of information and worth the time to check out and peruse. Let us know if you have any other questions!

-Kevin

Re: Donor Management System

ssachin@findabilitysciences.com — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:28:51 GMT

Hi Joe,

We at findability sciences recently implemented an information management system called Active Intelligence( AIE) for a Boston Based Non Profit organization .The implementation of AIE, has greatly improved access to donor information and reduce the cost of storing,locating,retrieving,& presenting actionable donor information.We may be able to offer a donor management system based on your requirements.

Thanks,

Sachin Suryawanshi.

ssachin@findabilitysciences.com

Donor Management System

bojass — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:55:18 GMT

We''e a small start-up nonprofit with a relatively low level of technical proficiency.

Which of the various Donor Management programs would be best suited for us?

Giftworks?

Salesfoce?

Others?

Thanks,

Joe

Operation Safe Drinking Water