Donor management software packages help you manage vital relationships with active and prospective donors by tracking contact information, keeping records of correspondence and donations, managing grant deadlines, and producing detailed reports. If you are considering a donor database, this guide from NPower Seattle can help you choose the right donor management software for your nonprofit.
Who is this toolkit for?
- This toolkit is for any nonprofit employee or manager given the task of selecting software for managing donors. If you use donor management software today, you probably have a long list of things you like and dislike about your current system. The toolkit will help you document and prioritize your needs moving forward. On the other hand, if your organization has no donor management software today, this a great place to start. Whatever your software needs or budget, we believe that the process we suggest for selecting a donor management solution will help you move forward. In some cases, your organization may need additional help from technology professionals in planning for and selecting software; we’ll point out some of the reasons to seek additional help and recommend places to look.
How this toolkit will help
- When planning for new technology, we have seen nonprofits achieve the best outcome when they think in terms of a process – a series of conversations that brings the technical solutions into ever-greater focus – rather than in terms of a single decision. After all, any software selection is as much about the requirements of the buyer as the technology available. What tools do you need to get your work done and meet the organization’s mission? Examining your organization’s plans, people, and processes will help you best understand the hierarchy of technical needs that any new technology must meet. This toolkit has been designed to walk you through that process of discovery. At the end of it, we think that you’ll be ready to choose software that allows you to work the way you want to, rather than adjusting your needs to do what the software allows. Ultimately, we hope you’ll have made a technology decision that helps you better serve your community.