Non-profits are similar in many ways i have learned. Not necessarily having a product to offer they rely on goodwill and staying in touch with their constituents. The art of the repeated touches, solicitations, and "The Ask" are their life-blood. Some donors are dedicated to the cause others have to be courted / nourished along.
This is where accurate record keeping is critical. Ignoring a potential donor means there support will go elsewhere. There are many non-profits willing to accept new donations.
Here is an example: While working as a membership coordinator at a local museum, I had the job of opening all in-coming renewal mail and updating their membership. I noticed that a woman had been a low-tier member for over 20 years. Clearly she enjoyed the museum. I mentioned her to our development manger and said that a "thank-you call / visit" might be in order. On the visit she said, "I wondered when someone was going to contact me? I would like to give a million dollars. I enjoy the museum so much."
Good record keeping is critical. Someone might not be in a position today, however through persistence goodwill, one never knows when the time might be right.
Excel is not a precise relationship record keeper. A database can maintain links between those that attend events and those that are members. And, members that are consistent donors that are capable of major gifts.
My system is written using MS Office Access; an inexpensive, mature platform that is a add-on to The MS Office Suite 365 Professional. My system is self contained in two files. One, the program with forms, reports, and letters. The other, a linked (network) data file that contains multiple tables. Hardware requirements are modest (any system that runs Office 365) and installation is simple as copy two files.
My offer to the non-profit world - Free!
My only requirement is that you have me import your data into the database. (EXCEL to ACCESS / SQL). That way you are up and running immediately with out re-entering all your historical data. Customization and trainings is available. I support contributions / donations, memberships, annual giving, volunteers scheduling, accounting and events. I provide an already written general ledger / income repot for accounting. The source code is provided along with an EXCEL export interface for Word mail-merges / letters.
Interested? Or know a non-profit that has needs. Please, contacted me at rhonds.williams.FL at Gmail. or use the contact form associated with this BLOG.
One more part tomorrow: Rhonda's Installation #2 (Proof of Concept)
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