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Donor Management Software Flexibility and Integration
 There are many different types of nonprofit organizations, such as arts & museums, humane societies, social services, educational, healthcare, etc. Each group and each organization has many different areas of fundraising administration, and unique donor management needs. As a result, a product's ability to adapt to the needs of your organization is critical. However, products vary widely in their level of flexibility with donor management software.
Software Flexibility
Some donor software programs describe flexibility as the ability
to create just a few user-defined fields that can be used to
enter unique information. However, true flexibility means:
- Easily adding, changing or deleting any fields
- Adding any type of field that you want (numeric, dates, notes,
picklists,...)
- Moving fields wherever you want
- Organizing screens to match your paper forms for more efficient
data entry
In addition to having unique and appropriate fields and screens,
you also need the ability to report on standard data as well
as any fields you create. Look for a donor management software
system that allows you to easily create and save any sorts, filters
and reports you want, without needing someone with computer or
technical skills to do it.
Software Integration
There are many specialized tools that focus on unique aspects of donor management, so it makes sense for your software to integrate with other best of breed solutions. The integration should enable you to eliminate duplicate data entry.
Some common tools that you should look for to help integrate and synchronzie with other systems include:
Accounting Interface – Post income to popular accounting systems such as QuickBooks, Great Plains and others
API (Application Program Interface) – create real time data exchange with your website or web applications
Import Tools – Add or update donor and/or gift information with data from other software
Export Tools – Easily create files containing selected constituent data to share use in reports, newsletters, or manipulate in other programs.
Some common systems you would want to integrate with include:
- Your Website
- Wealth Screening Tools
- Legacy Databases
- Sponsored Event Tools
- Web Content Management
- Auction Systems
- Payment Processing
- Broadcast Email tools *
* Let professionals deal with spam reports, blacklists, whitelists, etc.
Intead, look for donor management solutions that integrate with best of breed solutions so that your staff doesn't have to spend hours of time ensuring that your email is actually delivered!
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