Navigating the Donor Software Maze

I wanted to call this blog from ice picks to applesauce, but I didn't think as many people would read it.

As many of you know, I recently had a second child. This means double the preparation every morning for daycare. My husband and I use a large backpack to carry all the things my kids need for the day. Last week, as I was packing this backpack, I realized that it had been completely repurposed. I purchased the very expensive backpack 5 or 6 years ago, before my husband and I had children. At that time, we were living in Italy and doing some serious alpine hiking. Last week, I put my son's applesauce in the compartment designed for my ice pick. Oh how life changes!! This backpack is a very expensive way to carry stuff to and from daycare every day, but it's what we already have so I will continue to use it.

This same thing happens often when nonprofits purchase technology: they use what they have. Sometimes this means trying to do things in Excel or Access that specialty software could do much better. Or, it means spending a lot of money on specialty software when a simple Access database could do the trick.

It is difficult to know what or how much your organization needs now and for the future. This is particularly true with donor management. I sometimes get asked about good donor management systems. There are so many options out there and each organization has different needs so this question is always difficult for me to answer. Luckily, a friend just sent me the Nonprofit Technology Network's (NTEN) excellent (and free!) report that thoroughly compares donor management systems for differently situated organizations. If you're in the market or wondering if what you have is a good fit, check out: A Consumer's Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems. I hope that this report will help you make a more informed choice.