Not necessarily to read the following lines
You may be surprised if you saw the amount of money that some of the big charities spend their databases ... top charities tens of thousands of dollars / pound. This may seem like a lot , but they have hundreds of thousands of contacts and hundreds of people using this information. As a small charity, you will not need this type of investment . But you still have a central place to store information about donors and potential donors. top charities
The first thing to consider is that you need a database . The reason usually have a database is to allow you to track donors and friends and contact us quickly , accurately and often. Basically , top charities a database should make your life easier ... no more difficult.
In the beginning ... and when I made my decade career in finance, there was a saying in fundraising is golden Rolodex . And it was only the files or business Rolodex rotating tower at the corner of the desktop cards . top charities Now this has been replaced by PDA ... whatever .
That being said ... there are some questions to ask yourself when thinking about the best way to store contacts . top charities
How many contacts do you have? There are limitations to any system. A book or card file can be good when you have a score of contacts, but not when you have hundreds . Similarly simple top charities Excel spreadsheet can easily manage hundreds , but not thousands . Of course , when there are thousands of people in your database; Hopefully you have the funds to invest in a database "official" database . top charities
What information do you need? Are most of your contact donors take the form of emails ? Maybe all you need is a good messaging system or Outlook.
How important is remote access ? What is needed to access the information from elsewhere in top charities your office regularly ? So maybe an online system or PDA meets your requirements .
What about backup? It is the worst nightmare of any organization ... losing its database . What if the laptop explodes ? Or record your office? Or lose your laptop or PDA ? This is troubling , regardless oftop charities which option you choose . Always have a plan for that.
How many people have access to it at the same time? For most small charities , one of the user systems as they are called works well, but his charity may have special needs .
From these basic questions, you will be better able to assess top charities what kind of system would be best for your small charity . Also remember ... no system is eternal. As toddlers and shoes ... all small charity eventually outgrow their system database . So one last question to consider is transferable how to format the data. top charities
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