Have you ever embarked on a project because you had some time and thought it would be a lot cheaper than hiring a “professional?” I have. And it wasn’t worth it.

I learned and taught dance as a hobby for a number of years. We were a small group and troupe members provided their own costumes. This practice allowed each dancer to bring his or her personal style to the show. 

I’ll save the gory details and merely say that my home-grown costumes consumed a lot of my time. Not only did I usually over-design the costume, adding details that put me over my budget, but the costume also became the sole focus of my free time, to a fault.

In the end I purchased what I needed. Seeking out professionals who specialized in my needs gave me a higher-quality product than I had the skills to produce, for less time and money than I would have spent creating the costume myself.

The above example is certainly low-risk. However, I’m baffled by charities that choose to tackle software development, web site design, and technology implementations with similar mindsets. Why do we think we can tackle something so critical to the organization’s operations on our own? 

Trust me, I know the politics involved. I hope this article can help navigate you out of a home-grown solution while guiding you with a few technology considerations.

I know! Fred can build it!

Tailor-made software programs often sound like good ideas initially. Some charities turn to a volunteer or consultant to build a solution for “free.” Others may purchase a solution that isn’t readily used in the marketplace but was built for a similar organization.

The problem with these scenarios lies in two areas: the functionality of the custom application, and the technical support (including upgrades) thereafter.

First, ask yourself if the custom application will put your charity in the same predicament that prompted your original search. Typically a custom solution is built around a specific set of requirements, so it hasn’t benefited from thousands of users’ input. Much of the development time goes to the same basic functionality that other fundraising software packages have already mastered.

Often, organizations that use a custom application find that getting the data into the application is not the issue; it’s getting the data back out of the system that’s the dilemma. With increasing pressures to meet stringent reporting requirements of grantors, donors, and auditors, is this custom application able to measure up? Or, will you still need to spend hours massaging data in spreadsheets to analyze your results?

As your organization’s needs change and grow, updated functionality to match your new requirements can come at a substantial financial cost. Moreover, technical support often becomes difficult, if not impossible. In a worst-case scenario, the company could go out of business, rendering your expensive system instantly obsolete. Or the volunteer who built the custom application for you is unable to make the updates or provide ongoing support. These predicaments can leave you right back where you started prior to choosing a custom solution: evaluating fundraising software. Again.

Don’t confuse a custom solution with the ability to customize a proven, on-the-market donor management system. With the increasingly flexible and sophisticated fundraising systems available, fewer charities are turning to custom solutions.

Don’t be lured into the mystique of doing it yourself. Evaluate your options carefully before deciding that customized software is your only available option.

Plan to buy hardware too – now and in future

I’m assuming you’ve heeded my caution, and are continuing your path with commercially available applications. Now I want to spend a few minutes on technology considerations.

The hardware, operating system and environment will play an important role in your selection of fundraising software. Today’s rapidly changing technology can quickly make software and hardware obsolete. If you’ve not been investing in this area in the last three years, anticipate a hardware upgrade investment in order to run new software.

Many organizations find it useful to develop a technology plan to set a long-term strategy. The plan will not only help you with this purchase, but might also help the entire organization meet future technology needs.

Understanding your current assets will help you determine if you’ll need additional equipment to successfully implement your new software. A comprehensive list of hardware, operating systems, networking information and other critical software can help you determine technical compatibility when speaking to a software vendor.

Know your technology environment

You will need to review your technology on several different levels:

• Network – Understand your current computing environment so you can communicate it to vendors. Do you need stand-alone workstations or a network? A network is necessary if more than one person needs to share data access. Networks vary considerably in complexity, type, and capacity.
• Hardware – Know the characteristics of the computers you will use in your development office. List their RAM, processing speeds, available storage and operating systems. Again, older computers may require an upgrade to accommodate even basic fundraising software. Find out the type of server your organization uses and its capacity level.
• Software – Review the critical software that you use every day. Consider each software application and determine if it needs to interface with the new fundraising software package.

If you’re unfamiliar with the technology lingo, an IT consultant can help. While you need to choose a system that’s user-friendly for your development staff, an IT consultant can ensure that system fits within the current or future technology state of the organization.

I’ve talked a lot about the software side of the purchase. Next month I’ll address the other purchase considerations such as support, training and professional services. Until then, happy evaluating!

Heather Burton is a senior marketing manager for Sage North America’s Nonprofit Solutions business. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maine and prior to joining Sage worked in the semiconductor industry. During that time, she began her community involvement and worked on her company’s charitable giving team, which provided the opportunity for her career change to a full-time fundraiser.

Just before joining Sage in 2005, Burton worked in several development roles and as a loan executive for United Way. She also led volunteer fundraising teams for a local hospice. Because of her technical expertise, Burton continually finds herself consulting on everything from software selections and implementation to web site development practices.