[thelist] Fundraising software for non-profit organisations

Martin Burns martin at purpur.co.uk
Tue Sep 7 13:52:24 CDT 2004


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Carole wrote:

> The POS thread got me thinking maybe evolters would be able to suggest
> or recommend some software to help manage fundraising campaigns by a
> client non-profit organisation.
>
> I was thinking it might be a bespoke solution, but maybe I shouldn't
> re-invent the wheel.

As with most applications in mature niches (and I first used software 
in this niche over 10 years ago), the only reasons for bespoking from 
scratch are:
1) You want to sell it
2) You want to give it away pro bono
3) The established solutions have major gaps in support (eg only runs 
on XP and you can't/won't go there)
4) You want net.fame

> ***** The non-profits I've worked with have just about all used 
> Raiser's
> Edge - http://www.blackbaud.com/solutions/raisersedge.asp

Yep. And with good reason. It's functional for several different types 
of FR - direct, corporate, trust, volunteer, big gift, event, and links 
between them. Most of the customisations you'd need are already done. 
The reporting is good. It's relatively affordable.

If it's truely beyond your budget, then I've used http://www.act.com/ 
before - any sales/contact management tool would probably do too. If 
you've got the prospect of donations from the commercial world, then 
SAS or SPSS (*if* you have the stats trousers to go with it) will help 
you with direct marketing methods.

Cheers
Martin
(1st career: fundraiser)
- --
Now playing on iTunes: "Let There Be Love" by Nat King Cole from 'Music 
To Watch Girls By Vol 1' - a hit from way back in 1999

 > Spammers: Send me email -> yumyum at easyweb.co.uk to train my filter
 > http://www.nuclearelephant.com/projects/dspam/
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (Darwin)

iD8DBQFBPgNoon5lm40dmVIRAlPNAJ9rCOkH1qJIHa+nLEzKlwm9ZY+GFwCgw/xf
cVL3dMi0uPST98geCUgxdJU=
=AgSA
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----



More information about the thelist mailing list