What's the difference between FundRaiser Basic and FundRaiser Select?
There's a world of difference between FundRaiser Select and FundRaiser Basic. But, first, if you are an existing FundRaiser Basic user, you will be glad to hear that all your FundRaiser Basic data, including your letters, will convert to FundRaiser Select format in one simple operation that you run yourself. There is no re-keying of data when you stay within the FundRaiser Family.
In Basic, you are limited to two codes per donor and one per gift. In Select, there is no limit to the number of codes per donor, and you have 4 per gift: Motivation (called Source in Basic), Fund, Purpose, and Solicitor.
These are user-defined text, code, date, number, or checkbox fields that you configure as you desire. For example, you can have one for social security number, another for marital status or ethnicity, and a third for a follow-up date.
Anonymous, inactive, mail exclude, send no gift thank you's, send End of Year, public name, report name, formal and informal salutations, gender, employer, dates of birth, birthdays, mobile phone, other phone, donor type, donor solicitor, mergeable text (add a personal note to your next letter), and more.
Mode (check, cash, in kind, etc), Motivation (instead of Source), Purpose, Solicitor, two thank you letters (each donation can have two different letters and you can batch-print them all at once), Gift Type (includes "Later" for phonathon pledges), check number, receipt number (including automatic numbering for our Canadian users), date of deposit, batch number, foreign currency, value and description of any benefit given to the donor (for US IRS reporting purposes). And an unlimited notes area.
This is a complete email management system for sending, receiving, and archiving all your donor emails. Whenever you print letters, you have the option to print and/or email those letters to your donors. Email is sent as one message to one person, with the subject line and message custom mail-merged for each person. Incoming email is automatically sorted; "bounceback" messages are processed (when the donors change their email addresses).
First, you have many more criteria, and much more flexibility, including the ability to have one criteria OR another and NOT a third. Second, you can save your queries (they're called Groupings in Select) for later use. Third, you can delete a Grouping from the Master file (great way to purge old inactive records) and you can assign the same code to everyone in a Grouping.
More reports, more options, and the ability to define your own report:
- Donation Summary Report - gives a breakdown of donations by a variety of factors including codes and giving levels.
- Donor Level Report - breaks your donors into user-definable giving levels for any time period.
- New Names} - shows how many new names you have recorded per month over the years
- New Donors} - a new donor is someone who has given for the first time. This report shows how many new donors you have had per month over the years.
- Solicitor Summary - for those who assign donors to board members and other volunteers, especially during a fundraising campaign.
- Correspondence Reports} - for any of the sections that batch-print letters, you can also print a report showing who is to receive which letters.
- User-Definable Report - you pick and choose the fields (columns) you want on the report, and the order in which the report is to be printed.
The Tickles Tab is a multi-purpose reminder system for laying out important tasks and managing deadlines.
- Map out grant application tasks
- Assign tickles to individuals or to all staff members
- Attach tickles to donor records
- Manage tasks with the flexible tickle reports
You can include graphic images like scanned signatures or logo's. Also, bulleted and numbered paragraphs, fully justified text, and a controllable ruler with tab stops and indents. Plus, you have many new merge functions including some with tables for neat formatting of mini-reports.
- Duplicate Checking. Yes, FundRaiser Basic checks for duplicates as you type them in, and so does FundRaiser Select, but Select will also check for (and remove, if desired) duplicates in your list as it exists after the records have been added. This is especially useful after you import a new list.
- Backups that can span multiple disks and are Zip-compatible (can be opened with WinZip)
- Better code management. Change or delete a code and FundRaiser updates all accounts. Merge one code into another. Mark a code as inactive, and it will not appear on your dropdown lists.
- Better Internationalization. Select picks up your preferred date format and your currency symbol from the Windows settings. You can also tell FundRaiser what term to use instead of "State" (we're listening to you, Canada). Telephone and postal code formats can be set to your personal preference. You can even record donations made in foreign currencies and record the converted local currency amount, and be able to merge either or both in your thank you letter or receipt. You can also modify and add to the country addressing standards that come with FundRaiser.
- Automatic Lookup of City and State/Province from the postal code. For addresses outside the US, you will have to make the first entry for each postal code yourself (in order to build a lookup table), but the lookups will be automatic after that.
- Popup yellow "sticky notes" that alert you to important information about your donors.
- Tickler reminder system. These reminders can be tied to a donor and/or a staff member and FundRaiser will alert you (or that staff member) when the reminder is due. Once completed, these notices can be saved as the donor's case history. Reports help you to manage this system.
- Password system. This not only controls who is able to enter the program, it also controls what areas each user can have access to. For example, your assistant might have almost full access to everything, while the receptionist can only do lookups and is not shown any financial data.
- Alternate Addresses This is how you handle multiple addresses for the same person. It might be a date sensitive address, as with Snowbirds (who go south for the winter) and students, or it might be code-related, as with Home/Business or Student/Parent.
- Bulk Mail This is mostly for the USA, but has its uses elsewhere, too. It is used primarily for updating the addresses and ZIP+4 codes, but can be used by anyone who sends their data out to be processed and updated by a service bureau. It also adds tight integration with USPS NCOA (National Change Of Address) processors so that you get the current address of donors who have moved in the past 3 years. It tightly integrates with ZP4, a low-cost CASS-Certification and address verification program from Semaphore Corporation.
These are extra-cost addon's that give you extra functionality that would otherwise be available only in our top end program, FundRaiser Professional
- QuickBooks® Integration ($500)
This module enables FundRaiser to "talk" to QuickBooks so that when you enter a donation or pledge in FundRaiser, it is automatically entered into QuickBooks for you. Please note that the ability to import from QuickBooks is a standard import option in both FundRaiser Select and Professional, and does not require the use of this module. The module is needed only to send FundRaiser data to QuickBooks. - Pledges ($300)
These are for donors who make multi-payment pledges, like $3,000 over 4 years, with $200 payments made each quarter and a final balloon payment of $800 (or as simple as $20/month for a year). You choose which pledgers should receive reminder letters or overdue notices. Reports include a status report, an income projection report, a statistical report, and a campaign (pledge and gift) report. - Tributes ($300)
This is for organizations who have in-memory-of or in-honor-of gifts. With it, you record not only who gave, but in whose memory or honor it was given, and who the donor should be acknowledged to (often the surviving spouse). It's easy to print those acknowledgment letters, specifying the names (and addresses and amounts, if desired) of the donors. It's also easy to print or create a file containing a listing of honorees and donors in a format suitable for pasting into a newsletter. - StarDonor Integration ($500)
Offer your donors the convenience of donating on your website anytime they are inspired to do so. This module fully automates the process of accepting and recording online donations. - Volunteer Management ($300)
Perfect both for volunteer-driven nonprofits and for those with less sophisticated efforts. Track volunteer status and work history. Schedule individuals, groups, or teams based on their skills and availability. Print welcome and work evaluation letters, and generate a variety of reports for efficient management. - Memberships ($300)
This is for membership-based organizations, especially for those whose expiration dates are scattered throughout the year. It makes it easy to send out renewal letters a month or so before their expiration date. It's also especially easy to print labels for newsletters and other membership mailings. Reports include a status report, a statistical report, and a 4-year comparison report. - Wintix Integration ($500)
Turn your ticket buyers into donors! This module is for theater groups who sell tickets to their performances. It is an integration package, rather than the actual ticket-sales program itself. It integrates with Wintix and Tixsales from Center Stage Software. The integration software automatically updates in two directions, from FundRaiser to Wintix, and from Wintix to FundRaiser. The module also enables you to view past ticket purchases from within FundRaiser, and includes Wintix data in FundRaiser backups, if desired. You can also run queries (we call them Groupings in FundRaiser) of Wintix data from within FundRaiser, in combination with FundRaiser data (people who bought tickets during the past two years who have not yet donated). (This module does not include the cost of Wintix software. Module works for Wintix versions 3, 4 and 5.) Click4 Tix and WebTix is NOT Supported currently. - Product Sales ($300)
This is for those who have a catalog of products to sell. It produces invoices and helpful reports. It handles partial shipments, backorders, and gift orders with ease. It's also easy to combine a product sale with an extra gift - just ask if the purchaser would like to round the amount of the order up to an even number (like $50) - the difference is a tax deductible donation. - Premiums ($300)
This module is ideal for public radio and TV stations who give premiums in return for donations. It prints shipping labels, keeps track of out-of-stock items, and includes several helpful reports. - Phonathon ($300)
Perfect for radio stations or organizations that have phonathons or sharathons. Set goals for the day, hour or a specified period and track the gifts that are pledged toward these goals. Displays the totals in a format that is easily read by the on-air talent.
Multi-User Capability ($400 per additional user) This is an addon that lets you have as many people using FundRaiser at the same time on your network. Basic is the perfect solution for
the small nonprofit to store all
donor and giving information in
one location, and easily keep
track of all the details.
As a FundRaiser Basic user, you get a 10% discount off the regular purchase price (including any modules you buy at the time). Plus, if your budget requires it, you can pay for it all over time with no interest. All nonprofits automatically qualify - no credit history is even checked.
There is one other optional cost of which you should be aware. That is for Annual Maintenance Plan , which is what we call the service that provides you with unlimited tech support on a toll-free line (US and Canada) and all program updates plus a few other services. When you purchase FundRaiser Select, you receive 90 days of Annual Maintenance Plan to get you started. After that, it is optional. But it is a service that over 80% of our users continue to renew.
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