How should we track our donors?

Will Community Partners keep track of my donors?

Community Partners records revenue and payments made to projects and allocates them to your project's account. Community Partners sends you a scanned copy of check donations and any accompanying materials received as they come in. However, Community Partners does not track or manage individual donors for projects or record details that could be useful for donor management and donor relations. 

What donor and gift information should we track?

At minimum, be sure to record the donor's:

• Preferred name
• Donor category (i.e. Individual, Corporation, Foundation, Government Agency)
• Gift amount
• Gift date
• Gift type (i.e. grant, check, Paypal)
• Contact information

Do we need donor management software?

You should always track donation and donor information. The tools you use to do this depend on how much information you wish to record and the number of donors you currently have. 

Bonterra is the donor management software we recommend and offer at no cost to our model A partners. You can learn more about Bonterra here.

There are numerous other donor and contact tracking systems that appeal to organizations with different needs and budgets, should you choose not to utilize Bonterra. Below are questions to consider before investing in donor management software. 

- Do we have fewer than 100 active donors per year?

- Will we want to track more donation details than the ones listed above?

- How will we use the information we track? 

Special lists and Campaigns

Donor management software is useful for tailoring campaigns and communications to specific groups of donors. Development professionals analyze active and inactive donors, a donor's typical gift amount, the number of new donors in a given month or year, and other kinds of data in order to be more informed about their supporters and increase fundraising effectiveness. 

Suggested Donor Management Software

Bonterra*

Donor Perfect

Raiser's Edge

Neon CRM

Excel**

* CP Comprehensive Model A projects receive Bonterra's donor management product at no additional cost. 

**Excel is not a database and should not be used as a long-term donor tracking solution if you plan to continuously grow your support base. However, it is a practical first step to organizing your contacts as you develop a donor relations strategy and discover which donor information is useful to your project.