Q. We are growing and need a new database that can do many things at once, such as keeping track of our 65 volunteers, membership renewals, donation histories, monitoring reports for nearly 50 properties, the various accounting tasks required of non-profits, etc. We've used spreadsheets and ebase but now we need to move to something far more sophisticated and something that can grow with us. The only ones that would seem to fit the bill are too expensive for a land trust like ours which covers only one town and has membership of about 500 households.

Any suggestions from those of you who are happy with your databases would be greatly appreciated.

Tom Crider
Southbury [CT] Land Trust, Inc.
"Let us give nature a chance; she understands her business better than we do." Montaigne

Response

Hello Tom, We have recently had to purchase new software to track our records and we went with GiftWorks, which was quite inexpensive ($299). It allows you to track donors/members, you can generate different reports and you can also somehow link it to accounting software i.e. quickbooks. They do offer a free trial period so that you can give it a try before purchasing it. Also, if you are a member of TechSoup, they sometimes have deals on GiftWorks.

Regards,

Amie
Amie Palmer Planned Giving Coordinator
The Nature Trust of New Brunswick
Tel: 506.457.2398
Fax: 506.450.2137
Email: info@ntnb.org
www.naturetrust.nb.ca