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  • 1.  Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 23, 2023 01:46 PM
    Hi all! I'm looking into donor management software and my director would like me to find out what a handful of libraries are using for this. If anyone uses any kind of donor management software and would like to share a little bit about how it works, if it seems worthwhile, etc., I would really appreciate it. Feel free to respond to this thread or email me at lday@chathamlibrary.org. Thank you in advance!

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    Liz Day
    Emerging Technologies/Teen Librarian
    Library of The Chathams
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  • 2.  RE: Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 24, 2023 08:45 AM
    I don't have a suggestion, but I would love to hear what others are doing. Our solution is an Excel spreadsheet.

    Alicia

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    Alicia Pearson
    Metadata and Cataloging Librarian
    Siena College
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 24, 2023 10:14 AM
    Good morning! When I worked for a non-profit organization, we used Raiser's Edge from Blackbaud. It's comprehensive software to track donors, pledges, donations, and plenty of notes about each. It also has reporting functionality. You don't have to be a database administrator to run it, but it does help if you want to create custom Crystal reports. Otherwise, the regular reports are normally sufficient. It has an integration with an email functionality so that you can contact donors and prospects directly.
    I'm not sure how much it is because I wasn't involved in the budget, but it looks like they have pricing for different types of organizations. If you want or need a powerhouse to store, analyze, and report on donor and donation information, I would recommend it.

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    Amber Eakin
    Instructional Librarian
    Strayer University
    She/Her/Hers
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 24, 2023 11:29 AM
    My library uses Bloomerang. 

    There are some things that are a little clunky, but overall, it's a great system.  You can use it to collect online credit card donations in addition to mailed in donations. You can also set up the system so you can generate reports, showing what individual Campaigns have generated in the way of support, etc.  All in all, it's a pretty nice system.  I believe because my library is so small and our donor pool is small too, we are actually able to use Bloomerang for free, so definite bonus!




    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 25, 2023 08:34 AM
    At my last library we used Flipcause. No system is perfect, but this was a really comprehensive and cost-effective solution. We used it for fundraising events, sponsorships, volunteer applications as well as our Capital Campaign and annual fund drives. You are assigned a small team that works with you and can even set up campaigns, run reports, et. if you would like them to. The reporting was very easy to customize and get the information you were looking for. They were always quick to respond which was a really nice change from our previous CRM. The other really nice thing was the payment processing feature and the fact that you would never pay more than 1.6% in processing fees. If you were over, they reimbursed you quarterly. The only feature missing was the ability to enter pledges in a straightforward way. Home - Flipcause.

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    Mary Gazdik
    Director
    Chester County Library & District CenterShe/Her/Hers
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 26, 2023 07:56 AM
    We use DonorPerfect. It saved us from having separate spreadsheets for event sponsors, raffle basket donors, capital campaign donors, foundations that give us grants, annual appeal letter recipients etc.  Its financial reporting and mail merge functions are quite good.  However, other reports, like lists of donors, are not what we librarians have come to expect. For example you can't Boolean search multiple fields and have little control over what fields appear on the output. Even so we are very happy we have it.

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    Scott Thomas
    Chief Executive Officer
    Scranton Public Library
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Donor Management Software

    Posted Jan 26, 2023 08:25 AM
    Thank you to everyone who has responded to my question! This has been very helpful for my research into this; much appreciated.

    Thanks again!
    Liz

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    Liz Day
    Emerging Technologies/Teen Librarian
    Library of the Chathams
    214 Main Street
    Chatham, NJ 07928
    973-635-0603



    Original Message