Joined on 05-28-2003
TechSoup Member
I am totally fed up with the bugs and glitches and lack of flexibility in my current Volunteer database software. I would be interested in hearing from other users of various databases what they have, what their experiences are, and such. I am seriously thinking about designing my own database program.
What kind of needs does your volunteer base have that these packages don't provide?
(For all my contacts, I've either used ACT! or have just created my own in Access.)
Try Contact Plus:
http://www.contactplus.com/
Christian
our staff members use a contact manager written in filemaker. we purchased it for a nominal fee from
king data engineering, which has a good reputation for providing decent products to small businesses in our neighborhood. the filemaker solution was attractive because of good prior experiences among the staff with filemaker. these staff members are not database programmers, they just want to be productive without any hassles. from my perspective it's been a good solution because i haven't heard any complaints and they're still using it over a year later.
[wr]
Joined on 05-28-2003
TechSoup Member
One thing our database doesn't give us is the flexibility to create our own reports. It gives a list of reports that the user has to choose from. The user cannot create his own report.
Creating your own sounds like a great idea. That's what I do most of the time for miscellaneous data tracking needs.
Joined on 10-14-2002
TechSoup Member
For volunteer tracking specifically related to putting on programs (auctions, fund dirves, other goal oriented processes), we use AuctionPro. It lets us track milestones and volunteer groups and committees. The reporting is ok, but to write your own reports, you must use the export feature to export the data and then use Excel or something else to format a report.
For "normal" tracking, we use ACT to just capture contact information, and action items. Same problem with reporting - we use Crystal Reports.
Joined on 02-01-2002
TechSoup Member
I totally understand your frustration.....been there...done that!
Do you have Microsoft Access on your computer? If so, would you be interested in getting some help in setting up a Volunteer Management Database on Access?
Joined on 05-28-2003
TechSoup Member
Absolutely. I have MS Access 2000 on my computer, and I really think creating a custom database would be the answer. I would like to get an idea of what others have done or tried to do in this area, and if they thought it was worth the effort.
Joined on 05-02-2003
TechSoup Member
The trouble with many free databases is that they are not easily modified. Access is a great tool. Use it in conjunction with a well thought through modifiable template and you can really motor. Try http://mysite.freeserve.com/sshassoc for a free uk address format database template.
JP, let me know if you want some help in designing that database. I've done it many times for other applications.
Joined on 05-28-2003
TechSoup Member
I think that would be great. I would greatly appreciate any help I can get. I am just doing some research on potentail platforms I could use to work from...
We develop all of our in-house apps using PHP and MySQL. Its cheap, reliable and full of features.
I have been working on a "Contact Database" for work for a couple weeks now. It would be cool to release it to the community but I don't think my employer would go for it. It tracks donations, volunteers, in-kind donations, contact info, sub-contacts. You can add reminders to contacts, add them to a frequent contacts list, add them to any number of mailing lists, put them into any number of categories(that you create), track any actions(like meetings, phone calls, etc). These are just the features my company wanted.
It's very much an alpha product right now, but it's moving fast. Most of my time will be spent in the reports section. I want to make it as flexible as possible to create custom reports from a web interface, without using Crystal Reports, Excel or Access(can export reports though).
This is an in-house project only but I could see other organizations using it. Since it runs on PHP and MySQL the setup cost is just hardware. If anyone would be interested in seeing it I could put a live version on the internet. I'm just curios to see how many people would be interested.
Keith
Joined on 05-22-2003
TechSoup Member
My boss is looking at ebase now. Freeware, but requires Filemaker. A package is offered here for $149. It looks like it has flexibility.
Joined on 05-28-2003
TechSoup Member
I would definitely be interested in taking a look...