Beyond Donors

Michelle Hespenhide

Hi,


My organization is currently using Raiser's Edge to manage strictly our financial donations. We also run a material donation program for our thrift stores and also we have a food program where we receiving millions of pounds of food products that we redistribute. At this time we have an outdated access database tracking this information. They have asked me to begin looking into ways that we may be able to utilize RE to track this information or find another program that is suited. I was wondering if anyone is currently using RE to do something similar and if so if could give me some information regarding this. 


Also they are looking to create a mobile app to be used with whatever database program by our drivers when they pick up the donation.


I would appreciate any thoughts on this topic.


Thanks. 

Debra Holcomb

There are many good reasons to do this and it can add valuable insights into the work of your organization!  It sounds like everything you want to track is still a type of gift and RE is set up to do that.  You may want to add new constituent codes, funds, campaigns and appeals to help you report the info as you want it.  In our database we also track people who purchase certain services from us and we exclude all of those payments from any giving reports.  But, it helps us have a more complete picture of the relationship an individual has with our organization and that's very useful for fundraising segmentation.


Regarding the mobile app, I can't help with that.  However, we do have an online donation form which is mobile friendly.  We had a third-party vendor build it for us (it was built by the company that manages our overall website -- it's not a Blackbaud product) and use OMatic to get the data into RE.


It might be a lot of work to set up, but it will be useful information in the future.  Good luck.

 

Crystal Bruce

Michelle McClellan:

Hi,


My organization is currently using Raiser's Edge to manage strictly our financial donations. We also run a material donation program for our thrift stores and also we have a food program where we receiving millions of pounds of food products that we redistribute. At this time we have an outdated access database tracking this information. They have asked me to begin looking into ways that we may be able to utilize RE to track this information or find another program that is suited. I was wondering if anyone is currently using RE to do something similar and if so if could give me some information regarding this. 


Also they are looking to create a mobile app to be used with whatever database program by our drivers when they pick up the donation.


I would appreciate any thoughts on this topic.


Thanks. 

Discussion moved to Raiser's Edge forums. Thanks!

Christine Cooke 2

Michelle McClellan:

Hi,


My organization is currently using Raiser's Edge to manage strictly our financial donations. We also run a material donation program for our thrift stores and also we have a food program where we receiving millions of pounds of food products that we redistribute. At this time we have an outdated access database tracking this information. They have asked me to begin looking into ways that we may be able to utilize RE to track this information or find another program that is suited. I was wondering if anyone is currently using RE to do something similar and if so if could give me some information regarding this. 


Also they are looking to create a mobile app to be used with whatever database program by our drivers when they pick up the donation.


I would appreciate any thoughts on this topic.


Thanks. 

As Debra said, RE can do this.  You would just set up Consitutent Codes, Campaigns, Funds, Appeals, Relationships and possibly some Actions that are specific to those programs, so that you can report, reconcile etc.


As far as a mobile app for gift entry on the road... not sure about tackling that one.  The mobile app that is RE does not allow for gift entry, understandably, because you don't want just anyone to willy nilly enter gifts that is not trained fully to do that (since it affects your audit process).

Heather MacKenzie

Michelle McClellan:

Hi,


My organization is currently using Raiser's Edge to manage strictly our financial donations. We also run a material donation program for our thrift stores and also we have a food program where we receiving millions of pounds of food products that we redistribute. At this time we have an outdated access database tracking this information. They have asked me to begin looking into ways that we may be able to utilize RE to track this information or find another program that is suited. I was wondering if anyone is currently using RE to do something similar and if so if could give me some information regarding this. 


Also they are looking to create a mobile app to be used with whatever database program by our drivers when they pick up the donation.


I would appreciate any thoughts on this topic.


Thanks. 

Adding to what the others have already said, your gift type would be "gift in kind" rather than any of the cash types.  Or maybe consider other.... but in your shoes, my org would use gift in kind.