Before coming to FundRaiser, Can Do Multiple Sclerosis needed a new database— one that would integrate with their website. “We wanted to have a system that would feed online donations, event registrations and pledge-a-thon information directly into our fundraising system,” explains Kim Goodrich, Director of Development and Communications at Can Do MS. “We do a lot of peer-to-peer fundraising like ski events which make heavy use of online donations and registrations.”
Can Do Multiple Sclerosis is a leading provider of innovative lifestyle empowerment programs for people with MS and their support partners. They use FundRaiser Professional with the GiftTool Integration Extension.
Can Do MS chose FundRaiser Professional integrated with GiftTool to solve this problem. GiftTool is a provider of eCommerce solutions such as event registration, pledge-a-thons, online donations and more. With the FundRaiser / GiftTool Extension, all information gathered in GiftTool flows into FundRaiser through the Donor Portal .
“Before FundRaiser, our website features didn’t integrate with our database system. We had to manually enter all that information: name, address, donation amounts, everything was hand-entered,” says Kim. “Now that happens automatically. It is immensely easier. We just go in, take a look at each entry and match it up to an existing donor, or add the donor if they are new to us,” says Kim. “Our peer fundraisers are also able to go in and create their own fundraising pages.”
Kim says that, even though they were a beta tester for this feature, the transition to using GiftTool with FundRaiser Professional has been quite simple. “Set up was very easy. The FundRaiser technical staff and I kept in contact throughout the process. We had a couple of phone and web meeting sessions, and they were able to walk me through it with no problems.”
By the time Can Do MS’s FundRaiser / GiftTool Extension went live, Kim had learned how to use the system. “I haven’t come across anything that I didn’t understand or couldn’t easily figure out,” she says. For others who would like training in the application, training videos and live online training are available through FundRaiser and through GiftTool.
Kim does have a tip for new users. "Make sure that you have all the information lined out on your page before you implement the integration, because when you start the integration it will apply your chosen codes to all the GiftTool transactions that are imported as gifts into FundRaiser. After the connection between GiftTool and FundRaiser is made, the codes on the imported gifts can be changed, but it will take more time and effort."
Resources
FundRaiser / GiftTool Integration Extension
