You need one centralized location to house the important details about your donors, from their birthdays to their payment information to their history with your organization. Donor profiles organize all this information, including predetermined and custom fields.
When you use a donor database to track your communications, you’ll never have to worry about forgetting whether you already invited that one major donor to your event. Plus, you can segment your supporter base to send more targeted, effective donation requests.
Whether it’s a periodic reminder to update payment information or an automatic thank-you message for a donation to your annual fund, your donor database software can make sure the right people receive the right message at the right time.
All donation management software should store data about how your donors have given and engaged with your communications in the past. Some will help you understand how this information can make your operations better in the future by producing reports.
Accepting donations is a cornerstone of your nonprofit’s operations, and it doesn’t take complex financial software to do it. Some donor databases will facilitate payment processing and funds allocation, then combine those records with your donor profiles.
We know that no two nonprofits are the same, especially when it comes to the supporter information that they need to store. You can reflect the reality of your organizational structure by setting custom fields and hierarchies for your donor profiles.
The most important element of a donor database is its constituent profiles. Housing giving history, contact information, and other important details, these donor profiles should be easy to update, scan, and search. Take a look at Salsa Labs’ CRM for a great example of an easy-to-use donor profile.
To make use of the information gathered by your donor database, good solutions like Salsa Labs’ CRM provide automatic reporting.
How many donors do you have? As you grow in the next few years, how many will you gain? How much information do you need to enter for those donors? Make sure that the donor database you choose has the capacity to handle your full supporter base.
Also, don’t forget that many donor databases are priced based on the number of constituents they can store. Make sure you’re purchasing a donor database that meets your capacity and your budget.
Not every nonprofit will need the same features in its donor database software. Take stock of the tasks that your staff spends too much time on, then look for software that can help you automate them.
You should also look into to how a good donor management system can expand with your organization in the future. If you don’t need a specific reporting feature right now, for example, consider whether you might need it later as your nonprofit grows.
There’s no need to break the bank for a donor database. You might need to look for fewer features or lower capacity to accommodate a lower budget. And budget goes both ways — just because you can afford an all-inclusive solution doesn’t mean you need it, and it might actually overcomplicate your operations.
Take into account the time you have available, not just the money. If a donor database will take too much of your staff’s time to learn, then you should look for a simpler solution.
The information you know about your donors is valuable to you, but you’re not the only one. Your donors trust you with their information. You owe it to them to keep that information safe.
You might not be able to find out from a website how a donor database provider keeps their data safe. It’s worth it to request a call to ask about security, and to ask other nonprofits about their own experiences with the product.
Keep your donor information and your organization safe by choosing a donor database like DonorPerfect that allows you to program custom permissions for different users.
Chances are good that more than one person at your nonprofit will need to use your donation management software. Don’t forget to ask the software provider how many user profiles you can create and if the price affects that number.
And also remember that it’s good security practice to restrict access from some users. Not everyone needs administrative access to view or modify your most sensitive information.
The price listed on the website isn’t always what you end up paying, and one of the major culprits of a price hike is customization.
If you’re asking for a customized solution, be prepared for the price tag. Many nonprofits will find that it’s worth a little more to get a software solution build precisely for their needs, but just make sure you talk this over with your team before signing the contract.
It’s good consumer practice to read online reviews before making any purchase. You should definitely read reviews of any software you’re considering.
As you read, remember that companies with extremely good or bad experiences are the most motivated to post. Ask the provider for testimonials, and be sure to also ask around yourself.
Will you get to use the donor database on a demo or trial basis before committing to a long-term contract? What kind of support will be available to you for that time? What will it cost you to initiate a trial period or cancel a demo?
Especially if you don’t have a technical team on staff, will your donor database software provider send a team to train you? Can you reach someone on the phone if something goes wrong after initial onboarding?
What other software solutions does your nonprofit rely on? Will you need to integrate them with your new donor management system, and is that even possible? Could you replace your current software with features that comes built-in to a database?
If you’re not keeping your other software solutions, how will you move the information you need over to your new donor database? How long will that process take? Will you need access to your records in the meantime?
As your organization grows, will your donor database have the ability to grow with it? Can you add constituent capacity or additional features when you need them? What kind of pricing increase would that involve?
How complicated is your donor database system to use? How hard is it to teach a staff member to use? Do you have written or video training materials? Is there one staff member designated as the point person for questions about the software?
Now that you’ve got the basics of donor databases under your belt, it’s time to find the perfect solution for your organization.
We’ve got you covered — check out our reviews and rankings of the top donor management tools for nonprofits.
Overhauling all your software solutions, not just your donor database? Become your organization’s nonprofit software expert.
Get familiar with the top nonprofit software in any sector before making your next software purchase.
Do you need something different than donor management software to keep track of your supporters?
Try one of the membership and association management tools that made our list of the best in the business.
