Many groups devise ways of keeping track of their donors using Access or Excel. See this article for eight ways to know when it’s time to invest in an off-the-shelf fundraising software program: How to know if you've outgrown a program like Microsoft® Access or Excel.
Other organizations may be trying to maintain their donor relations with QuickBooks®. See this article to understand the limitations of accounting software when used to replace donor management software: What Are the Limits of QuickBooks® For Your Donor Management.
Fundraising software (more properly called "donor management software") helps you keep track of your donors and prospective donors and all the information associated with them, including contribution data. It helps you manage your donors by dealing with routine correspondence chores, and helps you manage your fundraising activities with a variety of reports.
Developing relationships with your donors is central to all fundraising efforts. Regular contacts that convey the importance of your mission through stories that touch your donors hearts or incite their passion keep the donations coming in. It takes a human to truly connect with another, but good software simplifies the mechanics of the process so that you can focus on what you do best.
Read more...The task of finding new fundraising software can be a daunting one; even for seasoned fundraising professionals. The purpose of this page is to help clarify some of the differences between our three programs: FundRaiser Basic, Select, and Professional, and to help you determine which one might be the best fit for your organization.
Keep in mind that there are many resources available to you on this website that will help you with your evaluation process. Our Sales Team can also be very helpful in determining which program will suit your needs best, and FundRaiser Support is always available to help you with your technical questions.
A common misconception about donor management software is that the bigger your donor list is, the bigger the program you will need to manage it. This is not necessarily the case - we have organizations with fewer than 500 donors using FundRaiser Professional, and others with lists of over 20,000 donors who are quite happy with FundRaiser Basic... and everything in between.
There are three main factors that you should consider as you begin evaluating fundraising software:
- The ways in which you communicate with your donors. For example: direct mail, email, or personal telephone calls.
- The different methods of donations you accept. For example: Pledges, Tributes, Split Gifts, Soft Credits, Memberships, etc.
- The information you would like to track about your donors. For example: correspondence, giving patterns, events they have attended, interests, etc.
If you aren't sure that you even need donor management software at this point, you may want to start with a discussion of the primary functions of donor management software, and what each of the FundRaiser programs can do in those areas.
Keep in mind, we are the FundRaiser Family. FundRaiser Software makes it easy to upgrade from one level to another. You never lose any time or money when you do, so there's no harm in starting small now.
Here are some links to pages that will help you with the process of determining where to start your evaluation:
Finally, talk to us. We encourage you to speak with Sales and Support about your requirements and goals for your organization before making any purchase decisions.
