Although custom-written software can be next to impossible to maintain, support, and upgrade over the long term, it's nice to have a few features that you can "mold" to suit your organization's particular needs. Here are a few that are found (as noted) in FundRaiser Spark, Select, and/or Professional:
1. Spare Fields
Found in all three versions, Spare Fields are created in the Options section, and are used to hold information that a) needs to be isolated, b) has no other designated field, and c) will commonly be available for all name records. Spares can hold text, numbers, dates, or consist of a logical yes/no checkbox, or even a dropdown containing codes of your own making. Isolating data in spare fields allows it to be more easily merged into correspondence, exported to other programs, and (in Select/Pro) used as columns in User-Defined Reports.
2. Repositionable Master List Columns
In all versions, the columns of the Master List can be moved around to accommodate your style of working with FundRaiser. While you won't be able to delete or add columns to the display, moving your favorite columns to the left of the spreadsheet-like display will have them readily in view each time you start the program. If you are in a multi-user situation, and are taking advantage of the User List Options (see next section), then YOUR column settings will not interfere with anyone else's column settings. Right-clicking any column header will allow you to save the current settings, revert to the previous settings, or (if you get things really messed up) you can set them back to their original default placements.
3. User List Access Control
Usually there will be one (or two) person(s) with complete access to the program, including the ability to set up user-names/passwords for others. It is possible you may want to limit someone's access level, either due to sensitive information, or maybe just to prevent accidental misuse of codes, etc. Perhaps you have some folks who would become lost or intimidated by having too many choices. Controlling these things are what the User List is all about. When you create a user name, you'll have several screens (tabbed pages) of selections from which to choose, including data pages, menus, and other options. You can specify exactly what a user can see, and what they can do with what they can see. It's not quite down to a field-by-field choice, but that would be too cumbersome, anyway. If there are menus that a particular user NEVER needs to access, you can close them to that user. Or just portions of a menu area. You can force a user to use a particular email address when sending email through FundRaiser. You can prevent a user from creating codes, or viewing any financial informaiton, or viewing donor notes. Take a look at the User List/Security menu in the Options menu for even more choices.
4. Custom Pages (Select & Professional)
Custom pages are primarily for displaying, on a single area, a lot of information that is normally spread out over multiple tabbed pages. Instead of having to jump from one tab to the next, remembering the locations of all the information pertinent to your normal use of the program, you simply create a page that has copies of all those elements. You can build multiple "custom pages", and view any one of them, switching them out as needed. Each user could have their own, which automatically loads as they sign onto FundRaiser. Just as with Spare Fields and User List/Security options, the Custom Page creation and maintenance is done through the Options menu. You may have as many different custom pages as you like.
5. Custom Color Schemes
The Options menu has a Colors section that allows you to modify the colors used for status bars, tabs and sub-tabs, text windows, and more. We provide you with some color combination schemes that you might find appealing, but you can create your own, as well, saving them with a name of your choice. It's not just a whimsical addition for the creatively inclined. It can also be a real help for those with sight challenges. Some folks may have trouble reading the text with the color combinations we have selected, so we made them changeable. We also have some special "hidden" options for those with more debilitating sight problems (call Tech Support for help with finding them) that can automatically re-size text to much larger font sizes, if needed.
6. Automatic Mood Music Selection
Okay, so I'm kidding about this one. You'll have to select your own music to fit your mood, and you'll have to do it with a separate program or device. But I'd be willing to wager that once you've discovered and tried a few of the customization ideas above you'll be in a much better mood when working with FundRaiser. To learn more about the program in general, make sure to view the training videos found in the Customer Portal section of our website.