Choosing the right fundraising software for your organization can be a daunting task. This webinar will help you define your needs, ask the right questions of vendors and references, and define what you need to focus on in addition to software functionality.
1. Evaluating and Selecting Fundraising
Software
Cheryl J Weissman
October 25, 2011
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2. Protecting and Preserving the www.cjwconsulting.com
Institutional Memories of
Nonprofits Since 1993 (866) 598-0430
info@cjwconsulting.com
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4. Today’s Speaker & Host
Cheryl J Weissman
President
CJW Consulting & Services, Inc.
Assisting with chat questions:
April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars
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5. Evaluating and Selecting Fundraising
Software
Decide before you decide
Presented by
8331 Central Avenue
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www.cjwconsulting.com
6. 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.
7. Decide what you need
Think big picture first, then get to the
details
Annual Goals – financial and otherwise
Fundraising revenue streams
Allocation of fundraised income
8. Decide what you need
Think about your output
Solicitations
Board reports
Solicitor activity reports
Moves management tracking
Phonathon forms
Pledge reminders
Email contact
9. Decide how to do it
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
10. Decide how to find it
How do I know what’s out there?
Tech Soup
NTEN
Google
Low cost fundraising software
Software comparison
Colleagues
Consultants
Vendors
11. Decide how to look at it
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
12. Decide to be informed
Prepare
Have list of things you must be able to do
Include details
Have a written list of questions
Upgrades
Training
Longevity
Support
Annual maintenance
13. Decide to be proactive
Prepare
Have a written list of questions
Conversion
Timeframe
Number of users
References
Biggest competitor
14. Decide to push the envelope
The Demo
Most vendors will offer a short demo
highlighting the things they want you to
see
Come armed with specific questions about
features you know you need
Ask vendors to show you how you can do
what you need with their solution
15. Decide to learn more
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
16. Decide to be aware
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
17. Decide to 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
18. Decide to be prepared
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
19. Decide to be prepared
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
Support
20. Decide to be proactive
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
21. Questions?
Cheryl J. Weissman
cheryl@cjwconsulting.com
866/598-0430
22. Find listings for our current season
of webinars and register at:
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