The document provides guidance on evaluating and selecting fundraising software for nonprofits, emphasizing the importance of understanding organizational needs before making a decision. It outlines key considerations including annual goals, data management capabilities, vendor selection, and the importance of thorough preparation and research. The author encourages proactive measures by asking specific questions to vendors and understanding the costs and procedures involved in software selection.

1. Evaluating and Selecting Fundraising
Software
Cheryl J Weissman
October 25, 2011
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2. Protecting and Preserving the www.cjwconsulting.com
Institutional Memories of
Nonprofits Since 1993 (866) 598-0430
info@cjwconsulting.com
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3. Affordable collaborative data
management in the cloud.
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4. Today’s Speaker & Host
Cheryl J Weissman
President
CJW Consulting & Services, Inc.
Assisting with chat questions:
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5. Evaluating and Selecting Fundraising
Software
Decide before you decide
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6. Institutional Memory
Our work is about memory: We help organizations create,
maintain and use data as institutional memory.
Elie Wiesel said, “Forgetting means the end of civilization, the
end of culture, the end of generosity, the end of compassion, the
end of humanity.”
Nonprofits work to protect and preserve culture, compassion,
humanity. Nonprofits rely on generosity.
We cannot forget.

7. Decide what you need
 Think big picture first, then get to the
details
 Annual Goals – financial and otherwise
 Fundraising revenue streams
 Allocation of fundraised income

8. Decide what you need
 Think about your output
 Solicitations
 Board reports
 Solicitor activity reports
 Moves management tracking
 Phonathon forms
 Pledge reminders
 Email contact

9. Decide how to do it
 Your data entry choices, along with the
capabilities of the software, will have a
major impact on your ability to define
groups or segments
 Your ability to define groups or
segments, along with the capabilities of
the software, will have a major impact
on your ability to output information

10. Decide how to find it
 How do I know what’s out there?
 Tech Soup
 NTEN
 Google
 Low cost fundraising software
 Software comparison
 Colleagues
 Consultants
 Vendors

11. Decide how to look at it
 Colleagues
 DO NOT ask a colleague what they are using and
if they like it and buy a product based on that
 Consultants
 Many software companies have consultant
agreements to encourage consultants to
recommend their product
 Vendors
 Vendors will tell you who their competitors are

12. Decide to be informed
 Prepare
 Have list of things you must be able to do
 Include details
 Have a written list of questions
 Upgrades
 Training
 Longevity
 Support
 Annual maintenance

13. Decide to be proactive
 Prepare
 Have a written list of questions
 Conversion
 Timeframe
 Number of users
 References
 Biggest competitor

14. Decide to push the envelope
 The Demo
 Most vendors will offer a short demo
highlighting the things they want you to
see
 Come armed with specific questions about
features you know you need
 Ask vendors to show you how you can do
what you need with their solution

15. Decide to learn more
 References
 If local, see if you can visit and see the
product in action
 Ask about the down side to their product
 Ask what else they considered and why
they made the choice they did
 Ask what they switched from and if they
converted, ask about the conversion

16. Decide to be aware
 The Proposal
 Be sure that optional
services/features/modules are clearly
designated as options
 Ask vendor to guarantee that there are no
hidden costs
 Ask for a separate document detailing
ongoing costs/pricing structures

17. Decide to change
 What do I need to consider about
hardware?
 Don’t consider it at all until your software
selection is made
 Always get more than you think you need
 Build budget for ongoing upgrades

18. Decide to be prepared
 What else do I need to think about?
 Staff time needed
 Who will be involved in conversion
 Training
 Where is the training
 In what format is the training
 Project timeline
 Recreation of output

19. Decide to be prepared
 Costs (known and hidden)
 Costs vary widely for products and services, so it’s
not feasible to consider this question until the
desired solution is found. Then, consider:
 Conversion
 Implementation
 Training
 Hardware
 Time
 Ongoing costs
 Support

20. Decide to be proactive
 Internal documentation
 Growing your reach
 Once you can do more than you could
yesterday, you’re going to want to be able
to do more tomorrow
 Online contributions, registrations, etc.
 Accepting credit cards and processing them
immediately
 Online prospect research
 Integrating other products/services into your
fundraising software

21. Questions?
 Cheryl J. Weissman
cheryl@cjwconsulting.com
866/598-0430

22. Find listings for our current season
of webinars and register at:
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