There are a couple of free options that a lot of nonprofits I've worked with are using, but the best one I've seen is ebase 2.0 http://www.ebase.org/. However, as far as I know, it's only available for the Mac and Windows platforms, since it's a a FileMakerPro application. (It includes a run-time version of FileMakerPro so you don't even need to buy FMP unless you want to do a lot of customization or use it across a network or have it be web-enabled.) The FAQ are here: http://www.ebase.org/about/faq.htm
ebase® 2.0 Community Relationship Management By Nonprofits for Nonprofits
ebase 2.0 is powerful and affordable database software created by TechRocks, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, for other nonprofits. ebase software and manuals are distributed free of charge, however fees are charged to access online support resources.
In collaboration with nonprofit staff, database developers, and volunteers the ebase community ebase was designed to support the operations of your organization without locking you into a proprietary data structure or expensive software solution.
ebase enables you to build strong and lasting relationships with your communities: members, donors, volunteers, activists, funders, and clients. With ebase 2.0 you can:
* Integrate your data about community members in one place * Manage and personalize email lists within ebase * Track "who knows who" to build deeper relationships * Own your own data: Secure your data and control it in-house * Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of campaigns as you move donors and volunteers up the "ladder of engagement"
ebase 2.0 support community contribution
Although ebase is distributed for free, the cost of supporting ebase is recovered through fees to access online support resources. To help keep costs low for groups that can't afford expensive support services, please consider making a voluntary contribution to support the ebase support community.
It's a At 04:26 PM 1/14/2004 +0000, you wrote:
I'm looking for donor management systems software, preferably GNU-free, although more important to me right now is doing a good job. I am writing a tiny little internal website on my home machine using PhP and MySQL to keep track of this information, but that's a pretty feature-poor solution.
I want to be able to send receipts and thank you notes to donors, and I want to be able to generate summary reports for the accountant, etc.
At some point I can envision (though I have no concrete plans at the moment for this) a quarterly magazine or report containing news about Wikipedia, a few well-chosen articles, etc. This would be made available free on the web in pdf format or similar, and then donors above some threshold could opt to receive a paper copy if they want.
All of this requires that I be conscientious about properly managing information about donors.
Does anyone have direct experience in this area, with specific advice for me as to what packages exist and what features I should be looking for?