Cost-Effective Fundraising Software

Sponsored by:A Service

Of:

Cost-Effective Fundraising Software

Cheryl J Weissman

December 6, 2011

Sponsored by:A Service

Of:

Protecting and Preserving the

Institutional Memories of

Nonprofits Since 1993

www.cjwconsulting.com

(866) 598-0430

info@cjwconsulting.com

Sponsored by:A Service

Of:

Affordable collaborative data

management in the cloud.

Cost-Effective Fundraising Software

8331 Central AvenueMorton Grove, IL 60053

866/598-0430www.cjwconsulting.com

Presented by

What’s Out There and What Will Work?

Institutional Memory

Our work is about memory: We help organizations create,

maintain and use data as institutional memory.

Elie Wiesel said, “Forgetting means the end of civilization, the

end of culture, the end of generosity, the end of compassion, the

end of humanity.”

Nonprofits work to protect and preserve culture, compassion,

humanity. Nonprofits rely on generosity.

We cannot forget.

Determining your needs

You determine your organization’s needs, current and projected

Think in fund raising terms

What are your priorities

What are your short and long term plans

Think big picture first

Fundraising revenue streams

Allocation of fundraised income

Determining your needs

Getting Specific: Think about your output

Solicitations

Solicitor activity reports

Moves management tracking

Phonathon forms

Email contact

Think about groups or segments

Who gets solicited

Who gets a newsletter

Who CANNOT be contacted

Your data entry choices, along with the capabilities of the software, will have a major impact on your ability to define groups or segments

Your ability to define groups or segments, along with the capabilities of the software, will have a major impact on your ability to output information

Getting it done

Finding your solution

Tech Soup

www.techsoup.org

NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network)

www.nten.org

Google

Searching for cost-effective software returns about 114,000 hits

Finding your solution

Colleagues

DO NOT ask a colleague what they are using and if they like it and buy a product based on that

Consultants

Many software companies have consultant agreements to encourage consultants to recommend their product

Vendors

Vendors will tell you who their competitors are

Prepare

Have list of things you must be able to do

Include details

Have a written list of questions

Upgrades

Training

Longevity

Support/Maintenance

Conversion

# of users

Evaluation

The Demo

Most vendors will offer a short demo highlighting the things they want you to see

If you like the demo, ask the vendor for a more personal session

Evaluation

References

If local, see if you can visit and see the product in action

Ask about the down side to their product

Ask what else they considered and why they made the choice they did

Ask what they switched from and if they converted, ask about the conversion

Evaluation

The Proposal

Be sure that optional services/features/modules are clearly designated as options

Ask vendor to guarantee that there are no hidden costs

Ask for a separate document detailing ongoing costs/pricing structures

The Purchase

Preparing for Change

What do I need to consider about hardware?

Don’t consider it at all until your software selection is made

Always get more than you think you need

Build budget for ongoing upgrades

Preparing for Change

What else do I need to think about?

Staff time needed

Who will be involved in conversion

Training

Where is the training

In what format is the training

Project timeline

Recreation of output

Training

What’s available?

Where do I get it?

How effective is it likely to be?

What’s it going to cost me?

Other Considerations

Support/upgrades

What type of support is available

Phone

Web

Email

Other Considerations

Costs (known and hidden)

Costs vary widely for products and services, so it’s not feasible to consider this question until the desired solution is found. Then, consider:

Conversion

Implementation

Training

Hardware

Time

Ongoing costs

Other Considerations

Internal documentation

Growing your reach Once you can do more than you could

yesterday, you’re going to want to be able to do more tomorrow Online contributions, registrations, etc.

Accepting credit cards and processing them immediately

Online prospect research

Integrating other products/services into your fundraising software

Other Considerations

Software Applications

Total Info (installed on local server)

Easy-ware

Exceed! (installed on desktop or online)

Telosa

eTapestry (Online hosted)

Blackbaud

DonorSnap (Online hosted)

DonorSnap

Software Applications

Results/plus (installed on PC or Online)

Metafile Information Systems

GiftWorks (installed on PC or Online)

Mission Research

360 Degree Solutions (Online hosted)

Dynamic Data Concepts

Sumac (Installed on PC desktops)

Sumac

Software Applications

Thedatabank (Online Hosted)

DataBank

CommonGround (Online Hosted)

Convio

Neon (Online Hosted)

Neon

Click & Pledge (Online Hosted)

Click & Pledge

Software Applications

Salesforce for Nonprofits (Online)

Salesforce

CiviCRM (Installed on your web server)

Social Source Foundation

NetSuite Do Good Better (Online)

Netsuite.org

MatchMaker

Heritage Designs

Contact Me!

Cheri Weissman

866/598-0430

cheryl@cjwconsulting.com

www.cjwconsulting.com

Sponsored by:A ServiceOf:

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