Do You Need a New Donor

Management System?
A STEP-BY-STEP DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK

March 2011
WELCOME!

Without an effective system to track donors and other constituents, you can spend too much time just trying to
figure out who to contact and miss out on many fundraising opportunities.

Most organizations have some kind of database to track all the different kinds of people they work with, but is
it the right one? Maybe you’ve had doubts about your current system for a while, but were reluctant to change.
Don’t be—just because your organization has been using it for years doesn’t mean it’s right for you.

But switching to a new system can be a difficult choice—often, you’ve come to know the weaknesses and quirks
of your current system, and the other systems seem shiny and full-featured in comparison. It can also be time-
consuming, and sometimes costly, to evaluate new systems, to move data from one system to another, and to allow
staff time to learn the new system. It’s not something to do on a whim, or in an effort to find a mythical “perfect
system.”

So how do you know if you should switch, or stick with what you have? This workbook will walk you through
the process of assessing your needs, comparing them to what you have, and determining the benefits—and the
costs—of moving. It doesn’t include everything you’ll need to assess your needs and pick a new system—instead,
it concentrates just on the title question: Do you need a new donor management system?

Through the course of the workbook, you’ll think through where you’re going with your donor management
strategy, and then what you need and what you have in terms of donor management features. You’ll then consider
your needs a little more broadly—how integrated should your system be with online features? Should it track con-
stituents other than donors? You’ll look at your system’s ease of use, and how your training, support, and process
can impact that. You’ll then wrap up by talking with your vendor or a consultant to confirm that your system really
doesn’t do the things you think it can’t, and then make your final decision.

Ready to get started? Dive in!

PAGE 2 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

#1 Do You Need This Workbook?...........................................................................................4

#2 Where Are You, and Where Are You Going?..................................................................5
#3 What Donor Management Features Do You Need?...................................................... 7
#4 What Donor Management Features Do You Have?.................................................... 10
#5 Should You Have Integrated Online Features? ...........................................................12
#6 What Other Constituents Do You Need To Track?...................................................... 14
#7 How Easy Is Your System to Use?..................................................................................16
#8 How Do Training, Support and Processes Fit In?....................................................... 18
#9 Talk to Your Vendor or Consultant............................................................................... 20
#10 Make Your Decision.........................................................................................................21
Resources For More Information........................................................................................ 22
About TechSoup . ...................................................................................................................23
About Idealware......................................................................................................................23
Authors . ..................................................................................................................................24
Contributors and Reviewers.................................................................................................24

PAGE 3 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#1 DO YOU NEED THIS WORKBOOK?

Before you invest the time to complete this workbook, make sure it makes sense for you. It’s not
designed to help you decide which specific system to move to—although it can help you start your
thought process—but whether you should change systems at all.

Do any of the following apply to you?

We’re tracking our donation data in Excel.

The donor management system we use has been discontinued by the vendor.

We’re tracking donations in FileMaker or Access, but don’t know how to modify the system.

If you answered yes to any of these question, this workbook will only be of limited use. You definitely need a new
system, so you don’t need a workbook to figure that out! This workbook might help you to begin to define your
needs, but you’ll need to go well beyond it to actually choose the right system for your organization.

What about any of these?

We’re pretty happy with our system, but we want to make sure it’s the perfect one for us.
We want to make sure we’re staying on top of new technologies.

If you’re relatively happy, it almost certainly makes sense to stay with the system you have – meaning it may not
be worth your time to go through the process in this workbook. A new donor management system is a big com-
mitment, and there’s no such thing as a perfect system—it’s usually a mistake to change systems in pursuit of
something only slightly better than you have now.

If you didn’t check any of the above boxes, you may well have lingering doubts about your system. Are you paying
too much, or getting too little from it? Does it effectively support the tasks you need to accomplish? Forge onward
to decide if you need a new donor management system…

PAGE 4 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#2 WHERE ARE YOU, AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

Donor management systems need to be capable not only of supporting your current fundraising
processes, but the processes you’ll develop as your organization grows and adds new strategies.
Use this worksheet to think through how you are currently using your donor management system,
and what you might need as your strategies evolve over the next two years.

Where are you now?

List your top fundraising priorities or activities for the current fiscal year (for instance, direct mail, email campaigns,
capital campaigns, special events, membership drives, or friend-to-friend fundraising).

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What are the top 10 things you need your donor management system to do to support these priorities (for instance,
what data do you need to track? What reports do you need to create?)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

PAGE 5 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

Where are you going?
Try to think at least two years down the road for your organization, using your organization’s strategic plan and
fundraising plan to guide you...

What new major events or strategies will be essential to your fundraising (such as a new foundation program, a
capital campaign or an anniversary gala)? In what areas will you grow—or shrink—your efforts? (Include only
things you are reasonably sure will happen.)

1.

2.

3.

How will these changes affect how you manage your donors—if at all?

1.

2.

3.

List the top five additional things you will need your system to do, based on your new fundraising activities.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

EXAMPLE

NEW STRATEGY:

Our nonprofit is planning to implement a corporate sponsorship campaign next year.

ADDITIONAL SYSTEM FUNCTIONS NEEDED:

1. Manage corporations differently from individuals

2. Track relationships between individuals and corporations
3. Record conversations between staff and donors
4. Mail merges with dollar figures based on past gifts
5. Store documents within donor records

PAGE 6 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#3 WHAT DONOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES
DO YOU NEED?

As an organization, what level of donor management functionality do you need? Below we’ve
provided a list of common features—it’s not a complete list of all possible features, but will help
you assess how complex your donor management needs are.

Select the bubble that indicates how strongly you need your donor database to include each feature based on your
strategic thinking in the last worksheet. This worksheet only includes specific donor management needs—for
integrated online options (like email or payment processing) or features to track other kinds of constituents, see
worksheets #5 and #6.

Consider carefully what’s really a “must have”—that means you’d disqualify a system that’s perfect in every other
way just because it doesn’t have that feature.

DON’T NICE TO VERY MUST

BASIC FEATURES NEED HAVE USEFUL HAVE
Store contact info for donors/ prospects
Add and view multiple donations per donor
Track relationships between donors/ prospects
Track different info for organizations and individuals
Access donor data over the internet
Log communications between staff and donors
Add custom fields to data forms
Create mail-merged letters
Create lists of donors based on gift or contact info
Generate reports on past gifts
Batch data to post to accounting system
DON’T NICE TO VERY MUST
MID-RANGE FEATURES NEED HAVE USEFUL HAVE
Track pledges, recurring, or future gifts
Track soft credits, matching gifts, or split gifts
Enter a large number of gifts quickly
Track honorarium, memorial or tribute gifts
Easily group constituents into households
Set a reminder to follow up with someone

PAGE 7 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

 Track progress on a grant proposal
Set up different degrees of access for your staff
Generate charts and graphs of donor data
Flexibly place custom fields in an intuitive location
Report on gifts based on source or campaign
Import/export data automatically (i.e. via API)
DON’T NICE TO VERY MUST
ADVANCED FEATURES NEED HAVE USEFUL HAVE
Tailor the interface to each user’s particular needs
Support complicated gifts of stock
Easily handle donor divorce
Provide easily accessible wealth-tracking information
Automatically flag good prospects using algorithms
Track gifts in a strictly financially auditable manner
Save and easily access reports with custom parameters
Create pipeline report forecasting upcoming gifts
DON’T NICE TO VERY MUST
OTHER NEED HAVE USEFUL HAVE

Number of “Must Have” Mid-

Range features:

Let’s count up your answers…

Number of “Nice to Have” features: _ x1= Number of “Must Have” Mid-Range features:
Number of “Very Useful” Features: x2= Number of “Must Have” Advanced features:

Number of “Must Have” Features: x3=

Total Feature Score: Total Feature Score:

PAGE 8 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

What do these scores mean? We’ll assume you need at least basic donor management features, but do you need
Mid-Range or Advanced Features? Which of the below describes you?

TOTAL FEATURE SCORE TOTAL FEATURE SCORE TOTAL FEATURE SCORE

LESS THAN 55 55 TO 75 MORE THAN 75
YES
YES YES

Do you have fewer than Do you have fewer

three “Must Have” NO than three “Must Have” NO
Midrange features? Advanced features?

YES YES

Do you have one or fewer

“Must Have” Advanced
features?

YES

BASIC FEATURES MID-RANGE FEATURES ADVANCED FEATURES

Your needs are fairly You’ll need a system with Donor management is
straightforward, and could substantial donor manage- a critical organizational
be met by many systems— ment functionality, but function, and you need a lot
potentially even those should be able to find one of power. You’re likely to pay
that aren’t specific donor to meet your needs for $10,000 or more—possibly
management systems. If you $1,000-$6,000 or so for way more—in the first year.
don’t need more functional- the first year.
ity to support online fea-
tures or other constituents
(as per worksheet 5 or 6,
you could buy a system
to support them for less
than $500.

Your needs are fairly

straightforward, and many
systems—potentially,
systems that aren’t even
specific donor management
systems—could meet them.

PAGE 9 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#4 WHAT DONOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES DO
YOU HAVE?
So now that you’ve identified what you need, take a look at your current system and walk through
the feature list to define what it does. You might want to look around your organization to see if
there are other systems you’re already using—like membership management, library management,
case management or others—that might support donor management in addition to their primary
function, especially if you fell into the Basic category for needs. You can fill out this worksheet
more than once if you have multiple systems.

DOES
DOESN’T HANDLES HANDLES DON’T
BASIC FEATURES PRETTY
DO A BIT GREAT KNOW
WELL
Store contact info for donors/ prospects

Add and view multiple donations per donor

Track relationships between donors/ prospects

Track different info for organizations and individuals

Access donor data over the internet

Log communications between staff and donors

Add custom fields to data forms

Create mail-merged letters

Create lists of donors based on gift or contact info

Generate reports on past gifts

Batch data to post to accounting system

DOES
DOESN’T HANDLES HANDLES DON’T
MID-RANGE FEATURES PRETTY
DO A BIT GREAT KNOW
WELL
Track pledges, recurring, or future gifts

Track soft credits, matching gifts, or split gifts

Enter a large number of gifts quickly

Track honorarium, memorial or tribute gifts

Easily group constituents into households

Set a reminder to follow up with someone

Track progress on a grant proposal

PAGE 10 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

Set up different degrees of access for your staff

Generate charts and graphs of donor data

Flexibly place custom fields in an intuitive location

Report on gifts based on source or campaign

Import/export data automatically (i.e. via API)

DOES
DOESN’T HANDLES HANDLES DON’T
ADVANCED FEATURES PRETTY
DO A BIT GREAT KNOW
WELL
Tailor the interface to each user’s particular needs

Support complicated gifts of stock

Easily handle donor divorce

Provide easily accessible wealth-tracking information

Automatically flag good prospects using algorithms

Track gifts in a strictly financially auditable manner

Save and easily access reports with custom parameters

Create pipeline report forecasting upcoming gifts

DOES
OTHER DOESN’T HANDLES HANDLES DON’T
PRETTY
DO A BIT GREAT KNOW
WELL

With that analysis under your belt, take a look at how your needs compare to what you already have. Do you need
many more advanced features? Or does your current system do a lot more than you actually need, implying that you
may have a system that’s too big and too expensive for you?

If what you have is way out of line with what you need, you might have just answered the key question of this
workbook, and you may need a new system.

Not quite that obvious? Take a minute to compare your needs to what you have and jot down your top six
concerns based on comparing your current system to your needs.

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.

PAGE 11 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#5 SHOULD YOU HAVE INTEGRATED ONLINE FEATURES?

Should you have a donor management system that integrates all your online transactions with your
database? Almost everyone wants this, but in practice youll likely need to pay more for it depending
on what level of features you need, and especially if you need mid-level or advanced donor manage-
ment features as well. Below we’ve laid out the needs that might cause you to prioritize integration,
or lead you away from it—and the expense. For each online area, circle the box that best describes
your “must have” needs. (You can circle multiple needs for each area, if you like.)

INTEGRATION MAY NOT COMMON FEATURES THAT INTEGRATION MAY BE

BE WORTH IT MANY SYSTEMS PROVIDE PARTICULARLY USEFUL

BROADCAST EMAIL
• You need careful graphic format- You need to send an email to • You need the ability to merge
ting with templates or branding everyone found through a query donation data into email
• You need to report how many and • You need to synch email and donor
who opened or clicked data daily or more frequently

ONLINE PAYMENTS
You need specialized functional- You need to take donations, event • You get multiple payments a day
ity for particular types of online registration fees, membership that need to be connected to a
payments—for instance, automatic dues online donor records
corporate gift matching, event dis- • You want to solicit offline gifts
count codes, or support for gifts that based on online actions, or
are only partially tax deductible vice versa

WEBSITE NEEDS
You need to support a complex site You need to create simple forms • You need to easily give donors the
structure—for instance, with the which allow constituents to submit ability to create website content
same content appearing in multiple information into your donor (or blogs)
places on the site, or supporting management system • You need to do sophisticated
multiple websites analysis of who donated based on
what they do on the site

DONOR PORTAL AND FRIEND TO FRIEND FUNDRAISING

You need to support complex team You need to manually log informa- • You need to give donors access to
structures for friend-to-friend tion about those who solicited and change their own contact info or
fundraising those who donated in a friend-to- preferences online
friend campaign • You need to synch data from
friend-to-friend campaigns with
your donor database more than
once a week

PAGE 12 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

For any of these four areas, if you’ve circled the arrow with needs toward the “integration may be particularly
useful” side, carefully consider the possibility that a more integrated system that includes both donor management
and online features might be useful. This is especially true if you have only basic donor management needs, but
integration might be useful — in that case, you might want to look at a system focused on online communication
rather than donors.

On the flip side, if you’ve circled needs in the “integration may not be worth it” column, consider how important
it is to actually have that feature integrated with your donor management system. If you need both sophisticated
features for donor management and sophisticated ones for email, for instance, it might make more sense in the
long run to simply use two separate systems.

If you have both substantial donor management needs and online needs, or if you found yourself circling both ends of
the arrow for some areas, you’re likely going to need to look for a more powerful—and likely more expensive—system.

Now that you’ve identified what features would be highly useful to integrate with your system, which of these
things does your current system do? Write down the four most important online features that your current
system doesn’t support.

1.

2.

3.

4.

PAGE 13 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#6 WHAT OTHER CONSTITUENTS DO YOU NEED TO TRACK?

You have constituents other than donors—perhaps clients, volunteers, press contacts or others.
Should you track them in your donor management system? It’s hard to decide. Start by identifying
all the constituents you support (use the list at the bottom to help), and plot them where you think
they belong on this matrix. Put them in the appropriate box based on how likely they are to donate,
and how complex the (non-fundraising) data you need to track about them is.

More
likely
to
donate
LIKELIHOOD TO DONATE

Less
likely
to
donate
Need to track lots of data with Only need to track a few
complex interrelations additional fields

COMPLEXITY OF NON-DONOR INFORMATION TRACKED ABOUT CONSTITUENT

POSSIBLE TYPES OF CONSTITUENTS

Activists Families Patrons Service recipients
Alumni Friends People on your email list Sponsors
Board members Grantees People on your mailing list Staff
Card holders Legislators People who purchase tickets Staff alumni
Case managers Local businesses Press Store patrons
Class attendees Members Program Participants Students
Clients Newsletter readers Prospects Vendors
Contributors Partners Resident experts Visitors
Gala attendees Past volunteers Volunteers
Event registrants

The constituents on the top right of the matrix almost certainly should be tracked in your donor management
system—they’re relatively easy to track, and likely to donate. On the flip side, it may well make sense to use a
separate system to track those who require complex data and are unlikely to donate. The hard decisions are for
those in the middle shades of gray. Are they already being tracked in a system—and if so, is that process working?
Would it make sense to only track some data about them, but not all of it? Have staff expressed interest in includ-
ing them in your donor system?

PAGE 14 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

 Based on this analysis, what constituents do you think your current system should track that it doesn’t? List the
top six features that you wish you had to support them.

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.

PAGE 15 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#7 HOW EASY IS YOUR SYSTEM TO USE?

Find out what other people in your organization think about your current system—send out an email
to everyone who uses it. When you get the scores back, lay them out into the matrix below. Put each
person’s score in the box that best corresponds to their relative level of experience with the system
and the relative complexity of their tasks. When you have everyone’s score in, find the average score
in each by adding all the scores in each box and dividing by the number of users in that box.

FOR EXAMPLE

We’re in the process of thinking through whether our current donor management system is the right one for us.
To help, can you respond to this email with your opinion on the usability of the system? On the following scale,
how would you rate the usability overall?
1. I can almost never figure out how to do what I need. 4. Most system tasks are generally straightforward.
2. I’m always having to take time to figure things out. 5. The system works well for me.
3. I can generally do what I need, but it often feels
harder than it needs to be.
As you think about the system, what tasks seem particularly hard to you? Thanks for your help!

NOT MUCH EXPERIENCE FAIR AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE

WITH THE SYSTEM WITH THE SYSTEM
User Usability Score User Usability Score

Only does fairly

straight-forward
tasks in the system

Average: _____________________ Average: _____________________

NOT MUCH EXPERIENCE FAIR AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE
WITH THE SYSTEM WITH THE SYSTEM
User Usability Score User Usability Score

Does more complex

tasks in the system

Average: _____________________ Average: _____________________

PAGE 16 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

Take a look at your scores. Do some quadrants have scores of three or less? You can’t really expect everyone to
love the system, so it’s not practical to expect to have solid fours or fives, but it’s worth considering the implications
of threes or lower. Does the system support one kind of person—like novices doing simple tasks—better than
others, like experts who need to use the system day in and day out?

Based on the scores above, and people’s comments in their emails, summarize the top four things you wish
were easier to do in your system:

1.

2.

3.

4.

PAGE 17 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#8 HOW DO TRAINING, SUPPORT AND PROCESSES FIT IN?
Training, support, and defined business processes are essential to a healthy system and happy
users. Often your staff will feel a system is hard to use because they haven’t had adequate training,
and don’t know where to go for help. How can you tell when usability is a fault of the system, and
when it is due to a lack of training and support?

Training and Support

Use this chart to think through the training and support options you have for your system—both what’s available
and how you and your staff are using this important part of system upkeep. Check all boxes that apply…
IS IT AVAILABLE? ARE YOU USING IT?
An internal Other help: friendly Staff are being Staff are
Through All staff have
staff person nonprofits, consultants, encouraged to actually
your vendor access to this
can help discussion groups, etc. use this using this
TRAINING
Written (Manual)

Online

In Person

SUPPORT
Online/Email

Phone

In Person

Business Processes
Documenting your business processes—how you enter and manage information within your system—is essential
to system cleanliness, functionality and usability. Thorough documentation and training on those processes ensures
that everyone using your system is doing so in a uniform way.
Evaluate how your organization manages your business processes by checking all of the boxes that apply…
THOUGHT TRAINED
PROCESS ABOUT IT
COMMUNICATED IT DOCUMENTED IT
ON IT
The minimum amount of information that should
be entered for a donor or donation
The proper format for entering common info, like
names and addresses
How soon donations should be entered after
receiving them
How the system terminology maps to your organi-
zation’s terminology (if mapping is necessary)
How to enter complex donations like matching
gifts, stock gifts, or gifts with soft (aka recognition)
credits

PAGE 18 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

Is it your problem, or your system’s?
If lots of people thought your system was not very usable and you don’t offer much in the way of training, support
or clear business processes, the problem may not lie in your system—think through how you can best support your
staff in effectively using it. Is it worth hiring a consultant to help you document your own best practices and create
training? You may want to reassess usability after providing training and some time to let it sink in. A new system
with the same bad support and training you have now isn’t likely to solve your problems.

PAGE 19 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#9 TALK TO YOUR VENDOR OR CONSULTANT

Through these worksheets, you’ve identified a number of things you wish your current system
would handle better. But are you sure your system doesn’t do them better than you think? Some-
times features are hard to find, available in a new version, or there’s a way to handle your needs
differently.

So call your vendor! But wait? What if you’re using a system (like an open source system) that doesn’t have a
vendor? See if you can find a consultant who knows the system well who can talk through your needs.

Start by prioritizing your top 10 system issues from the lists in worksheets 4, 5, 6 and 7, and enter them into the column
on the left. Next, identify what you actually want to accomplish as opposed to the features you think you need. For
instance, if you need a list of donors that gave as part of a particular campaign, that could potentially be handled by a
search, a query or a report—think through your goal for each at the high level, and then enter it into the second column.

Finally, make a call to your vendor, tell them you’re evaluating whether you should stay with their system or move
to a new one, and ask them how you can achieve your goals. Write down what they have to say in the third column,
and then your reaction to whether that will meet your needs in the last column.

HOW WELL THE

WHAT THE
YOUR ISSUE YOUR OVERALL GOAL VENDOR’S SOLUTION
VENDOR SAYS MEETS YOUR NEEDS
i.e. Can’t search on addresses Need to be able to find names This can be built as a custom It works. It’s a bit tedious to
and contact info for people report. Select the Zip code build the report each time as
who live in a particular Zip field, and enter any part of it can’t be saved
code the Zip code

PAGE 20 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

#10 MAKING YOUR DECISION
Now that you’ve put in all this work, do you in fact need a new donor management system? Take
this final quiz to wrap it all up. Make sure to take into account any issues that turned out not to
be issues after you spoke to your vendor.
1. Based on worksheets 3 and 4, does your current system 4. Based on worksheet 6, does your current system
seem like it’s at the right level for your donor manage- provide the features you need to support constituents
ment needs (Basic, Mid-Range, Advanced)? other than donors?
A. Yes, seems about right (0 points) A. Yes, it supports the constituents we need to
B. It’s a little bit too big or too small (1) track (0 points)
C. It’s way too big or too small (2) B. It would very useful to track one or two other
kinds of constituents it can’t support (1)
2. According to the prices listed at the end of worksheet C. We need to track a number of other kinds of
3, do you seem to be paying about the right amount for constituents it can’t support (2)
your current system?
A. Yes, it seems good (0 points) 5. Looking at worksheet 7, does your current system
B. It seems too expensive (2) seem usable for your staff (assuming you’ve provided
C. It seems like we should spend more (2) training and support, as per worksheet 8)?
A. Yes, staff seem to be able to use it reasonably
3. Looking at worksheet 5, does your current system effectively (0 points)
provide the online features that make sense to be B. Usability issues are slowing us down (1)
integrated with your system? C. Staff aren’t able to figure out how to do
A. Yes, we basically have what we need (0 points) what they need (2)
B. It would be very useful to have more functionality
in one or two areas (1)
C. We need more functionality in three areas or more (2)

INTERPRETING YOUR SCORE

Now, tally your score by counting the points in parentheses after your answers, and interpret it as per the below.

YOUR SCORE: 0-2—STAY WITH YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM You may be having a challenge here or there, but in general your
system is working fairly well for you. There’s no perfect system, and it’s time-consuming to move. Stick with the system you
have—congratulations on choosing a system that maps well to your needs!

YOUR SCORE: 3-4—REPLY HAZY You’re one of the unlucky folks who are on the borderline. You have some significant
concerns about your system, but moving systems is a big effort, and it’s unclear whether it will pay off. Are there other factors
that will help you decide? Are there cheaper options that might work better? Do you plan to expand your fundraising over the
next year or two in ways that might affect your needs?
Looking through the “For More Information” resources at the back of this workbook or spending some time demoing other
systems might help you understand if there are likely to be better options for you.

YOUR SCORE: 5 – 10—LOOK FOR A NEW SYSTEM There are a lot of things you’d like to be able to do that you can’t—or, you’re
paying too much for a system that’s too big. It’s time to move on. Take your analysis and information from this workbook, consult
the “For More Information” resources at the back of this workbook, and start a search for a system that will be a better fit.

How does that feel? Does the recommendation seem right to you? Make sure you do a gut-check before relying on
anything you’ve gotten out of a workbook. You know your situation better than any workbook can.
And best of luck on your donor management journey!

PAGE 21 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

A Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems (Idealware)

http://www.idealware.org/reports/consumers-guide-low-cost-donor-management-systems
An in-depth report looking at 34 different donor management systems that cost less than $4000 per year, from
March 2009.

Comparing Lower-Cost Online Integrated Applications (TechSoup/ Idealware)

http://www.idealware.org/articles/low_cost_integrated.php
A comparison of six different tools that provide online tools and constituent management functionality, from
December 2007.

Four Principles of Choosing Donor Management Software (Idealware)

http://www.idealware.org/articles/four-principles-choosing-donor-management-software-0
Keith Heller takes a look at the key things to keep in mind throughout the software selection process.

Donor Management Software Comparison (TechSoup)

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page5961.cfm
A comparison chart of eleven different donor management tools, from May 2009.

A Few Good Association Management Systems (TechSoup/ Idealware)

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page10975.cfm
We summarize technology professionals’ recommendations for their picks for association management systems,
from November 2008.

Ten Common Mistakes in Selecting Donor Databases (And How to Avoid Them) (Idealware)
http://www.idealware.org/articles/ten_common_mistakes_in_selecting_donor_databases.php
A look at some of the ways you can go wrong (or right) in selecting a donor database from Robert Weiner.

Robert Weiner’s Donor Management Resources (Robert Weiner)

http://www.rlweiner.com/resources
A detailed list of other great resources about donor management systems.

TechSoup’s Technology for Fundraising Discussion Forum (TechSoup)

http://www.techsoup.org/fb/index.cfm?fuseaction=forums.showSingleForum&forum=2022&cid=117&
A discussion group where you can ask peers and experts your questions about donor management systems.

PAGE 22 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

ABOUT TECHSOUP
TechSoup.org offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources
and discounted software. They provide instructional articles and worksheets for nonprofit staff members who
make use of information technologies, as well as technology planning information for executives and other deci-
sion makers. In addition, their TechSoup Stock program offers more than 600 donated and discounted products at
very low administrative fees.

ABOUT IDEALWARE
Idealware helps nonprofits make smart software decisions by synthesizing vast amounts of original research and
information into thorough, approachable resources that make even the smallest organizations feel confident in
taking the next step in their software selection process. We provide a trusted and authoritative online guide to
nonprofit software including scrupulously researched in-depth reports, an online training library, and many articles
and case studies—for free—through our website, www.idealware.org. We also partner with organizations to develop
customized training and research to benefit entire networks of nonprofits.

PAGE 23 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?

AUTHORS
Laura Quinn
Laura has been working in the software sector for more than 15 years. As Idealware’s Executive Director, she directs
Idealware’s research and writing to provide candid reports and articles about nonprofit software. Prior to Idealware,
Laura founded Alder Consulting, where she helped nonprofits create Internet strategies, select appropriate software, and
then build sophisticated websites on a limited budget. She has also selected software, designed interfaces and conducted
user research for multi-million dollar software and website implementations with such companies as Accenture and iXL.
Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.

Andrea Berry
Andrea oversees Idealware’s fundraising and training activities including the Field Guide to Nonprofit Software, spon-
sorship, corporate and individual giving, grants management and online seminars. Prior to joining Idealware, Andrea
held fundraising positions in education, health research and museums and has taught math, performing arts and history
in traditional and non-traditional educational settings. She brings a breadth of experience with fundraising software,
particularly as it relates to small nonprofits, and has worked as a consultant with nonprofits across New England to
help identify appropriate donor management software. Additionally, as a former teacher, Andrea brings front-line tested
expertise in curriculum development and training.

Chris Bernard
Chris is a longtime freelance writer. Prior to joining Idealware, he worked as a newspaper, magazine and public radio
journalist and managing editor, as senior copywriter at an advertising agency, as a corporate marketing and communica-
tions specialist, and as a technical writer. He also wrote a travel book about biking in New England.

Molly Ahearn
Award-winning graphic designer Molly Ahearn has worked with nonprofit organizations as well as large and
small-size companies making an impact nationally as well as locally.

CONTRIBUTORS AND REVIEWERS

Many thanks to the consultants and nonprofit staff members who reviewed drafts of this workbook:

Duff Batchelder, Management Solutions for Lisa Smith, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Nonprofit Organizations Robin Steinkraus, Flathead Lakers
Steve Beshuk, JCA Smita Vadakekalam, Heller Consulting, Inc
Liz Ferrari, Palm Drive Health Care Foundation Kevin Watters, Albert Baker Fund
Rob Jordan, Idealist Consulting Becky Weigand, TechSoup
Pamela Kepler, River City Food Bank Robert Weiner, Nonprofit Fundraising
Eric Leland, FivePaths Technology Consulting

PAGE 24 Do You Need a New Donor Management System?