donor database for NGO

[windandwaves]

Hi Folk,

A local NGO has asked me to create a donor database for them (who paid when,
how much, etc...)

Does any of you gurus know of any databases out there that can do the job?

It is a pretty simple setup. I imagine there will be two tables. One with
contact details and one with payments. I can set it up from scratch, but I
am trying to do it as efficiently as possible, so a template may help.

TIA

- Nicolaas

[Allen Browne]

You can bet that this database will grow beyond those 2 tables.

Things like recurring memberships or pledges to give periodically,
newsletters , special roles (committees, life memberships, ...), reminder
notices, and so on.

You might consider buying "Building MS Access Applications" by John Viescas
(Microsoft Press, 2005.) It comes with a CD that has a working membership
database. That's a very inexpensive way to get a membership database with a
great "manual" explaining how it works, so you can customise it as you wish.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

"windandwaves" <wi*********@coldmail.com> wrote in message
news:4K********************@news.xtra.co.nz...

A local NGO has asked me to create a donor database for them (who paid
when, how much, etc...)

Does any of you gurus know of any databases out there that can do the job?

It is a pretty simple setup. I imagine there will be two tables. One
with contact details and one with payments. I can set it up from scratch,
but I am trying to do it as efficiently as possible, so a template may
help.

[Bob Alston]

Allen Browne wrote:

You can bet that this database will grow beyond those 2 tables.

Things like recurring memberships or pledges to give periodically,
newsletters , special roles (committees, life memberships, ...), reminder
notices, and so on.

You might consider buying "Building MS Access Applications" by John Viescas
(Microsoft Press, 2005.) It comes with a CD that has a working membership
database. That's a very inexpensive way to get a membership database with a
great "manual" explaining how it works, so you can customise it as you wish.

Take a look at this web site for at least one free donor management
system and some others that are relatively low cost. I would guess that
either free one (eBase or Donation) is at least as good as your proposed
"2 table" Access database.
http://nonprofit.about.com/od/software/
This one is $33 per month but offers much more (including online hosting
I think)
http://www.charityadvantage.com/

More fund raising software. Includes one for $89
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Ec...sing/Software/

Enjoy.

Bob
Bob

[Panzerlied7]

Hi,

You might want to visit TechSoup.org - which seems to be a clearing
house for Non-Profits. They have free software and hardware (donated by
the big guys), and a variety of resources for NPOs. They also have
comments on donor software, what works, etc -

JimA

windandwaves wrote:

Hi Folk,

A local NGO has asked me to create a donor database for them (who paid when,
how much, etc...)

Does any of you gurus know of any databases out there that can do the job?

It is a pretty simple setup. I imagine there will be two tables. One with
contact details and one with payments. I can set it up from scratch, but I
am trying to do it as efficiently as possible, so a template may help.

TIA

- Nicolaas

[windandwaves]

Allen Browne wrote:

You can bet that this database will grow beyond those 2 tables.

Things like recurring memberships or pledges to give periodically,
newsletters , special roles (committees, life memberships, ...),
reminder notices, and so on.

You might consider buying "Building MS Access Applications" by John
Viescas (Microsoft Press, 2005.) It comes with a CD that has a
working membership database. That's a very inexpensive way to get a
membership database with a great "manual" explaining how it works, so
you can customise it as you wish.

"windandwaves" <wi*********@coldmail.com> wrote in message
news:4K********************@news.xtra.co.nz...

A local NGO has asked me to create a donor database for them (who
paid when, how much, etc...)

Does any of you gurus know of any databases out there that can do
the job? It is a pretty simple setup. I imagine there will be two
tables. One with contact details and one with payments. I can set it up
from scratch, but I am trying to do it as efficiently as possible,
so a template may help.

I like that idea. Did you buy the book? I would be interested to find out
more.

Thank you
Nicolaas

[Allen Browne]

I do have a copy of this book.

While I have not examined in detail all 4 of the databases that John
included with the book, the book itself is up to John's usual standard, and
I can recommend the book and and his style of development.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

"windandwaves" <wi*********@coldmail.com> wrote in message
news:7k**********************@news.xtra.co.nz...

Allen Browne wrote:

You can bet that this database will grow beyond those 2 tables.

Things like recurring memberships or pledges to give periodically,
newsletters , special roles (committees, life memberships, ...),
reminder notices, and so on.

You might consider buying "Building MS Access Applications" by John
Viescas (Microsoft Press, 2005.) It comes with a CD that has a
working membership database. That's a very inexpensive way to get a
membership database with a great "manual" explaining how it works, so
you can customise it as you wish.

"windandwaves" <wi*********@coldmail.com> wrote in message
news:4K********************@news.xtra.co.nz...

A local NGO has asked me to create a donor database for them (who
paid when, how much, etc...)

Does any of you gurus know of any databases out there that can do
the job? It is a pretty simple setup. I imagine there will be two
tables. One with contact details and one with payments. I can set it up
from scratch, but I am trying to do it as efficiently as possible,
so a template may help.

I like that idea. Did you buy the book? I would be interested to find
out more.

Thank you

Nicolaas

[Jeremy Wallace]

I work on a free, open-source database for non-profits, and follow this
sector fairly closely. We're about to release a fundraising module
(also free) that is based on extensive research of what non-profits
need to do in their fundraising tasks, tools they currently use, and
tools they wish they had. Feel free to check us out at the URL in my
sig or take a look at this link, which gives a quick overview of a
whole bunch of databases designed for very similar things
http://www.idealware.org/articles/fgt_low_cost_dbs.php.

One strong recommendation that I'll make: do your best to stay away
from building your own database from scratch or hiring a consultant to
build a database from scratch. There are so many folks who do exactly
the same thing you do (fundraising) that thousands of these databases
have been built already. The databases listed on that idealware report
were all built by organizations that have built dozens of similar
databases and are leveraging that experience (and those code bases) to
provide products that will do far more than what a one-off database
would be able to do, with any reasonable expenditure of time and money.

Jeremy
--
Jeremy Wallace
http://metrix.fcny.org