Intuitive & Affordable

FundRaiser Software offers 3 powerful programs designed to fit any budget and any installation requirements

FundRaiser experience gained over 30 Years

With more than 30 years of experience in the nonprofit community and a customer retention rate of higher than 90%, our suite of donor management software is the right choice for affordable, intuitive donor management software that will fit your needs now and for years to come.

"I am happy to recommend your software. In the interests of appearing non-partisan, I keep trying to find a software program that is as good as yours, but I can't. I have NEVER heard a complaint about your technical support. I cannot say that about ANY other software company.!" Kim Klein (fundraising consultant, author) Berkeley, CA
Why FundRaiser Software? Features
Multiple Installation Options

Whether you need online access to your data, or wish to have your database installed on your local network, FundRaiser has an installation option built for you.
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Integrated Growth Path

FundRaiser is designed with your success and growth in mind; start with the perfect solution for your needs right now, and know that the software is ready to grow when you are.
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Extensive Standard Features

FundRaiser contains an impressive array of standard features: unlimited donors, customizable interface, and built-in letter templates, to name a few.
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Unrivaled Customer Service

As a small company, we know that the key to customer retention is excellent customer service and we dedicate every minute of our working day to providing outstanding support.
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Making Membership Management Easier with the FundRaiser Memberships Module

by Larry Weaver

Many nonprofits find a membership-based organization encourages a sense of pride and ownership in their supporters, and allows flexibility in attracting people from diverse economic backgrounds to participate at a level they can afford. It requires that the nonprofit spend a bit more effort in developing structures that suit them and their donors, but FundRaiser can help, through the use of the Memberships Module.

Memberships can vary widely between non-profits: some may only require a donation of any amount, while others have minimums and/or levels; some will have all expiration dates falling on the same day of the year, while others will have expiration dates that vary from member to member; some will offer tangible benefits to members, while others will not. All of these differences can be taken into account when using the Membership Module.

New memberships are added by simply adding a gift record that has a Gift Type code of Membership Dues. Prior to doing this, though, you’ll need to set up the following things.

  • Codes
  • Rules
  • Default entries that you want FundRaiser to use

Membership Type Codes

FundRaiser allows you to have multiple Membership Type codes (as many as you need), which you will use to identify members in groups. Different nonprofits will have different ways they need to segment their membership, so there is no hard and fast rule on what these Type codes "should" be. Codes give you information about the kind of member that person is. Most commonly the codes either describe community role, role within the nonprofit, or giving level. For instance, codes based on community role might be Family, Individual, Child, Student, Senior, or Corporate. Codes that describe roles within the nonprofit might be Supporter, Sponsor, Benefactor, Director; and codes that describe giving level might be Samaritan, Angel, or Saint.

The way your nonprofit refers to different levels of membership will vary, of course, but the idea is that the Membership Type code is the highest division of your members, and can be used to target segments of them for various reasons (correspondence, invitations, appeals, etc.).

These Membership Type codes are managed in the Windows | Codes menu. You may add, edit, delete, and even merge codes, just as you can with other codes throughout FundRaiser.

Membership Rules

Membership Rules Window in the FundRaiser Membership Module

The Membership Rules Window is used to set up details of handling membership payments and expiration dates.

 

Rules that govern how memberships will be treated in FundRaiser are set in the Options | Contributions menu. You will see two tabs that affect Memberships, the first of which is "Membership Rules". The first section outlines how you treat dues payments. If your nonprofit considers a gift of ANY amount sufficient for membership, then you’ll want to mark the last choice. Otherwise, you’ll need to determine which of the other two statements best reflects your existing rules. The first choice simply means that you take any overpayment and apply it to the next dues period. The second means that you’ll treat that overpayment as "extra", or, in other words, as a gift in addition to the dues payment.

The next section tells FundRaiser how to figure out the expiration date, for new and renewing memberships. The first choice allows members to start anew, in effect, if they have missed an expiration date, but adds a full payment period to anyone paying early, just as a magazine subscription can be allowed to run out or can be paid early. When a late payment is sent in, the magazine subscription (or membership) starts up again as of that payment date, and runs for another full payment period; when an early payment is sent in, a full payment period is added to the existing subscription (or membership).

The second choice is one that actually penalizes early payment, in a way, as it always figured from the payment date. So, if an annual membership is due to expire in June, for instance, but the member sends payment in April, that membership will then have an expiration date of April in the next year.

The final choice in this middle section allows no "gaps" in membership. If annual dues are paid early, the membership is extended a full year. If annual dues are paid late, the "gap" is considered paid, and the expiration date remains the same day of the next year. In this type of membership expiration date determination, your organization will also need to make a ruling as to how long one can be "overdue" and still renew an existing membership. At some point a membership could be so far overdue that it is no longer a "renewal", but the membership is considered lapsed, and a new payment becomes a "re-join". The statistical report for Memberships will allow you to set those "cut-off" points, by the way.

The last section simply gives FundRaiser a default format for figuring the expiration date for new members, and on which day of the month to place it by default.

Membership Defaults

Membership Defaults in the FundRaiser Membership Module

The Membership Defaults Window is used for setting up the most often used defaults for newly added memberships.

 

This section simply allows you to set the most-often used defaults for newly added memberships. None of the settings you make here will be "written in stone", but are simply the settings that are most common for all memberships. Each membership record can be modified at the time you enter it. The Membership Type code was mentioned earlier in this article, and there are two other codes for which you may set defaults here: Membership Benefit and Membership Miscellaneous. Again, you may create these codes (if any) in the Windows | Codes menu. These are NOT required codes. If you have no use for them, then, by all means, don’t use them.

Membership Benefit can be used to indicate what (if any) benefits the member will receive for their level of membership (Type code). It may be that they receive a newsletter, or a magazine subscription, or use of a particular facility (pool, gym, spa, meeting room), or admission to a special event (banquet, seminar, retreat), or any one of a number of things or combinations of things. Keep in mind that only one code may appear on a membership record, so that, if a particular membership type involves multiple benefits, you may have to have a different benefit code for each possible combination of benefits.

Membership Miscellaneous can be used in any way you like. Just remember that it is a code that can be used to segment your membership, as are the Type and Benefit codes. Any of these codes can be used (separately or in combination) to create groupings, focus reports or correspondence, and otherwise target portions of your membership base.

Membership Period is simply the most-common length of membership. If all of your members pay annual dues, then Annual is the choice to make. Some nonprofits, however, find it convenient to offer other payment periods to attract those who might otherwise not be able to afford an annual dues payment, or who find it difficult to fit that annual payment into their budgets. While you may find that monthly and quarterly dues periods require more management, you may also discover more people willing to support your cause because you are willing to fit into their economic situations.

Default is the dues amount that you will most often be using. Minimum is the least amount that one can pay for a membership (if you have a minimum, otherwise leave this set to zero).

FundRaiser Basic and memberships

While FundRaiser Basic is not designed to handle memberships, per se, it can be used effectively by some non-profits. If your have only annual memberships and they all come due on the same day of the year, for instance, then expiration dates are not a problem. All you have to do is identify that someone is a member, and renewal letters will be a once-per-year occurence. You may identify a member using either the Category code or the Donor Source code. You may even have several of these codes, each one indicating a different level of membership. You may identify a membership dues payment using the Gift Source code that is a part of each gift. Using these codes, you’ll have the ability to use the "query" to pull together members for targeted mailings. If you have expiration dates that fall throughout the year, it would take a bit more management, but you can certainly query for anyone who had a gift a year ago with a membership gift source code that you created, which would allow you to see which ones have not renewed, and you’ll be able to send them a renewal letter. It may require that you use the "Que" feature, or some other work-around method, but it may get you by until the day you can afford to move up to FundRaiser Select or Professional with the Membership Module.


Larry Weaver leads online training for FundRaiser Select and Pro. In his free time Larry enjoys music, motorcycles and being a grandfather.


Resources

Childcare Resources of Indian River

Indian River Land Trust

Museum of Performance & Design

Article: How Can Memberships Benefit My Nonprofit Organization? by Sasha Daucus

Article: Why Memberships? Three Nonprofits Tell Why by Sasha Daucus

FundRaiser SoftwareFundRaiser Software offers non-profit organizations intuitive donor management software that is easy to learn and easy to use. Three programs, ranging from simple to sophisticated, let you choose the features you need now, while guaranteeing a built-in growth path for the future. Software flexibility, budget options, and superb technical support make FundRaiser Software uniquely adaptable to the needs of non-profit organizations - whatever their mission.

  • FundRaiser Spark
  • Available Online or Installed
  • Includes:
  • Unlimited Donors
  • Unlimited Codes
  • Unlimited Email
  • Custom Letters
  • Memberships
  • More Details
  • Try Free
  • FundRaiser Select
  • Available Online or Installed
  • Plus:
  • Online Donations
  • Recurring Gifts
  • Households
  • Solicitor Tracking
  • Add-On Modules
  • More Details
  • Try Free
  • FundRaiser Professional
  • Available Online or Installed
  • Includes:
  • Rapid Gift Entry
  • Relationships
  • Event Management
  • Secure Fields
  • Unlimited Spares
  • More Details
  • Try Free

The FundRaiser Difference

  • Our Mission is You
  • Our Track Record
  • Support & Service
  • Budget-Friendly
A Better World through You
You believe in your mission, and you work very hard to see that mission come to fruition. We believe that it is our job to work just as hard to help you achieve it. Every day, we make it our mission to be right beside you helping you become more effective through better donor management practices. Our company is built on the belief that nonprofits are working for a better world, and we are working to achieve a better world through you. When you become a FundRaiser Customer, you become part of the FundRaiser Family. Meet the FundRaiser Family
Right Beside You
Simply stated, we've been doing this for a long time (since 1983!), and we'll be here for a long time to come. Our small company provides donor management software that is used by more than 5,000 nonprofits worldwide, and that means that we have a very strong commitment to staying in the game. We believe that we are helping the world through you, and we look forward to doing so for many more decades. FundRaiser History
Real Customer Service

Part of our mission is to provide excellence in service, and we are passionate about our mission. We believe that we must all work for a better world, and our part in it is to support you and your mission. We do that by pledging to be right beside you every step of the way with the best customer service you have ever experienced. Our customers use words like "refreshing", "informative", "patient", "unparalleled" and "tremendous" when they talk about the support they receive from us - but we think that providing the best service we can is our responsibility, so we just call it real customer service. Don't take our word for it, though: take a look at what our customers say about our support & service by checking out our Testimonials.

Affordable for all Nonprofits

Organizations of all types and sizes use FundRaiser, but our target customers are small, mid-sized, and growing organizations, so we work very hard to keep our software both powerful and affordable. All three of our programs can be purchased or leased, and we offer the most flexible interest-free payment plans in the industry. With our low prices and built-in growth path, FundRaiser Software is the ideal choice for organizations that are looking for an affordable option that will grow with them. View Pricing

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Features/Products

FundRaiser Spark

FundRaiser Select

FundRaiser Professional

Feature

Number of Donors
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited Gifts Per Donor
Custom Letters
Targeted Mailings
Built-in Reports
Integrated Word Processor
Canadian User Features
Import & Export Capabilities
Donor Segmentation
Email Correspondence
Membership Management

optional module
Donation Segmentation

(three codes per gift)
Duplicate Checking
Partial
Contact Management
Partial
Recurring Donations
Partial


User-Defined Spare Fields


(three)

(five)

(unlimited)
Event Tracking
Partial

limited
Multi-User Capability
Not Available
Custom Page
Not Available


Reminder System (Tickles)
Not Available


Households
Not Available
In-Kind Donations
Not Available


Bulk Mail Features
Not Available
Solicitor Tracking
Not Available
Pledge Tracking
Not Available

optional module
Volunteer Management
Not Available

optional module
Tributes Management
Not Available

optional module
QuickBooks Integration
Not Available

(optional, third-party integration)

(third-party integration)
Wintix Integration
Not Available

(third-party integration)

(third-party integration)
Premiums Management
Not Available

optional module
Phonathon Management
Not Available

optional module
Complete Campaign Management
Not Available
Not Available
Soft Credits
Not Available
Not Available
Split Donations
Not Available
Not Available
Relationship Tracking
Not Available
Not Available
Rapid Gift Entry
Not Available
Not Available
Online Donations

optional for Spark Online

optional module

optional module
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Pricing

FundRaiser Spark

FundRaiser Spark

FundRaiser Professional

Single-User Version
$649 installed
$69/mo online
$1400+ installed
$179/mo online
$3800+ installed
$349/mo online
optional modules
N/A
$300-$500
Included
Multiple Users
N/A
$250 each installed
+$25/mo online
+$400 each installed
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