Organizations that do frequent fundraising may find that the purchase of specialized fundraiser software is a good investment to stay organized, keep track of donor gifts, and solicit more. Though the price and features of fundraiser software may vary, most offer similar basic features that work well for many different types of organizations. Most fundraising software offers the ability to create a database of donors, and to see the donations or pledges the donors have made. It also gives the opportunity to track monetary gifts, and many software programs will sync up with accounting software for tracking the budget of the entire organization.
The ability to create donor profiles is one of the most important aspects of most different types of fundraiser software. This allows the organization to put the donor's name, address, and phone number, as well as other relevant information such as family members or name changes. Associated with this donor profile will be a donation history, or a record of pledges he or she has made to the organization, if she donates on a regular, planned basis. The fundraiser software may also be able to compile these donor profiles very quickly for creating mailings, newsletters, or solicitations. For instance, it will make it easier to add a personal greeting to the letter, and to print address labels, or to create advertisements for special fundraising events throughout the year.
In addition to maintaining donor profiles, the fundraiser software will also help to keep track of donations over a period of time, such as months or years. This allows the organization to see at a glance if their fundraising efforts are paying off, or if they need to do more soliciting in a certain area. If the software is able to sync up with other accounting software, it can help to factor the fundraising into the yearly budget for the organization, which can help to save time as well.
For organizations with a lot of volunteers as well, fundraiser software might include features that divide up certain donors into categories for volunteers to work through when they are placing phone calls or sending letters to solicit funds. This allows volunteers to make notes, and let other volunteers know when they have already contacted someone. Some types of fundraisers software will also offer online access for this purpose, allowing volunteers to collaborate and work together even if they are at their home offices.
