With the increasing availability of Web-based fundraising software, also known as software as a service (SaaS), non-profit groups now have the option of paying a monthly fee to use fundraising software rather than having to purchase the software and install it, maintain it, and support it themselves.

"We don't have an IT department, and we can't afford to hire someone to take care of our software," says Donna Salacuse, donations manager for Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic lay organization based in Newton, Massachusetts. Previously, before installing DonorPerfect Online, the fundraising database had been written in Microsoft Access, "and we had constant problems backing up the server. We decided we really needed to move to the online hosted application."

If your best employees don’t believe trust is a key ingredient for your staff, you can be sure they will develop a roving eye for other employment opportunities. For public benefit organizations with small administrative budges and tight staffing, losing a good employee can be a substantial loss of your trained and competent workforce.

Can you visualize this? You are settling in for the evening and put a movie into the DVD player. You decided to make popcorn and have turned on the stove, added the oil and popcorn to the pan when the phone rings. You turn the heat down and inadvertently take the lid with you as you sprint into the adjoining room to answer the phone. It’s an important contact you have been waiting for all week. Little do you realize that turning down the heat did not stop the popcorn from reaching the popping point. The popcorn pops. You are holding the lid.

Heather Carpenter , a veteran nonprofit manager and consultant who’s now a Ph.D. student in Nonprofit Leadership, recalls an event she planned for Aspiration , an organization that advises other nonprofits on technology.  “For one meal we were having hamburgers. We had everything we needed -- except condiments."

No big deal, right?  Wrong, says Carpenter. "People noticed that. People notice everything."

Standalone donor databases are on their way out, integrated Web-based services on their way in.

Fundraising is one of the most important things you do. Yet finding the right software to adequately support all aspects of your fundraising efforts can be a challenge—and bewildering—especially with recent developments in that particular technology niche.

Formerly dominated by large standalone donor databases, the fundraising software space has been undergoing a swift evolution in recent years. New integrated packages that provide a broader range of functionality are coming into their own. And customer relationship management (CRM) packages are gaining popularity due to their ability to provide a more holistic view of all the individuals who might be touched by the fundraising process—no matter how tangentially.